JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #82 - July 2013 - 34

reinforcement

New sheet metal-free structure
Even passenger car front end carriers can now be designed exclusively of plastic, as illustrated by the new Skoda Octavia. Its front end
carrier is made of a highly reinforced polyamide 6 from Lanxess with
60% glass fibres.

T

he special feature of this structural
component is that it contains absolutely no sheet-metal reinforcements.
This holds true even when compared to the
few all-plastic front end carriers in existence, even those with a top cross-member,
extending all the way to the fender carriers.
The extremely high stiffness and strength of
Lanxess’ high-tech polyamide permits the
intricate, thin-walled design of the carrier.
The lightweight component was engineered
by Faurecia Kunststoffe Automobilsysteme
GmbH, Ingolstadt, Germany.

Simple, economical
production process
Faurecia’s objective was to simplify the
production process for the front end carrier.
They wanted to design a totally plastic part,
so that they could manage with just one
injection mould and eliminate the complicated handling and shaping of sheet metal.
The biggest challenge was to fulfil the high
demands imposed on stiffness, for example
in the region of the radiator bearing and
hood lock, which are subject to very strong
forces. The significantly higher stiffness of
Lanxess’ highly filled material in reference to
its weight, compared to standard polyamides
with only 30 or 40% glass fibre reinforcement, ensures that the component is strong
enough to withstand the high stresses. For
instance, in the conditioned state, the polyamide 6 has a modulus of elasticity at room
temperature of 13,100 MPa (ISO 527-1,-2).

One particularly “tricky” spot was the design
of the cross-member at the transition to the
fender carriers. Only little space is available
for this section, which incorporates mounts
for the headlamps and hood bumpers, making it necessary to achieve a very thin, but
extremely strong design.

Thin walls,
low component weight
Although the polyamide has a much
greater density on account of its glass fibre
content, the component is very lightweight.
Compared to a virtual carrier designed
from a standard polyamide 6 with 30% glass
fibres, it is only about 1.2 kilograms or 25%
lighter. Responsible for these results are the
significantly better mechanical properties,
and also the good flow behaviour of the
material, which allows for very thin walls.
In fact, the wall thickness in areas subject to
lower stresses could be reduced to just 1.8
millimetres.

for minimizing warpage and shrinkage, and
mould filling. The company’s experts further
provided advice for selecting the gating
system and optimizing wall thicknesses, and
assisted with launching full-scale production. In view of the good experience with
the front end carrier on the Octavia, Lanxess
is certain that other automotive structural
components likewise can be designed as
totally polyamide parts. The company currently envisions mounts for the battery or
for electronic components in electric and
hybrid vehicles. n
More information:
www.lanxess.com

High surface quality
What is more, the component is provided
directly with a decorative cover, meaning
that this part does not need to be assembled separately. Despite the high glass fibre
content, Lanxess was able to give the cover
a finely grained texture to make it fit in well
with the overall visual appearance.

Outlook
Lanxess provided its partner with services in
developing the front end carrier, including
help with the structural design, mechanical
FEM calculations and rheological analyses

34 jec composites magazine / No82 July 2013

New type of front end carrier
Photo: Lanxess AG©

About Lanxess

Lanxess is a leading specialty chemicals
company with sales of EUR 8.8 billion in 2011
and currently around 17,100 employees in 31
countries. The company currently operates
48 production sites worldwide. Its core business is the development, manufacturing and
marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates
and specialty chemicals.
http://www.lanxess.com
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #82 - July 2013

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