“IMC Technology for Light Weighting”

Abstract

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">Over the last decade, Climate change due to fossil fuel burning has taken centre stage in all discussions. Automotive sector has come under some flak for being one of the contributors to this Climate Change. Active steps have been taken by Vehicle Manufacturers and their Suppliers to address this issue. This sector has been facing below challenges to reduce pollutant in the air by</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">A. Reducing Emissions, B. Increasing Energy Efficiency C. Use of Renewable Energy.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">One of the many alternatives by the Automotive Industry was to have a phased introduction to Electric Vehicles (EV), Hybrids, Fuel cells and other variants. As various emission norms and safety requirements takes Centre stage, it invariably, increases the weight of the vehicle. Now a days, Vehicles are having challenges to make it lightweight to achieve Range for an EV and improve fuel efficiency without sacrificing safety. It has also been observed that the weight of a vehicles is more due to the Structural Members made out of metal to meet all the Safety Norms.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">Innovative plastics and fiber reinforced composite materials offer a means to lightweight vehicle structures. Injection Moulding Composites (IMC) is one of the Technology to achieve this Light weighting target. IMC Technology is the combination of the Injection Moulded Process and Reinforcement Material to achieve the desired result. IMC is a suitable Technology for conversion of Metal to Plastics for Structural Parts, which gives the required strength and reduces weight of the parts.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">The IMC has a significant advantage over a traditional injection molding machine. With the IMC, the processor can compound his own material himself, i. e. introduce fibers, fillers or master batches, into the process directly during processing. Since the material purchasing represents the largest cost block in the injection molding of a part, the use of an IMC increases cost efficiency. Compared with premixed compounds, the purchasing of individual components is much more cost effective.</div></div>