Interior Trim Parts Research Articles

Design and validation of fixation points of polymeric components for the automotive industry

ABSTRACT The incorporation of polymeric materials in car structure components plays a key role in the automotive sector, enabling the production of more efficient and ecological vehicles. Among the many options to fix these components, there are clips and snap-fits, which not only facilitate assembly and disassembly, but also contribute to reduce the total mass of the car. This work aims to design and validate these fixation points of polymeric components using the Design Science Research (DSR) methodology. The work resulted from the need for a more rigorous control involving some internal standardized fixation points, namely interior trim parts. Experimental tests were carried out according to the specifications of the automotive brand, including the strength of the fixation points, to enable incorporation as standard components. Using the Finite Element Method (FEM), static simulations were performed in the Abaqus® software, where the conditions of the physical tests were replicated to correlate both tests and validate the numerical approach. Improvement of the fixation points was next undertaken, by making changes in the areas that were identified as critical. The improved fixation points were able to meet the specifications of the company and were proposed as new geometry for standard interior trim parts.

A study on the multi layers of automotive interior trim parts to improve the acoustic performance with microfiber applied to the surface layer

As the world joins environmental regulations, there is an increasing demand for the production of eco-friendly cars. As a result, the driving method of the vehicle was changed from the engine to the electric motor, and the main noise source was changed. In case of existing internal combustion engines (ICE), the low-frequency sound range, which is the engine's main noise, is the main source of sound. As it is converted into an eco-friendly car, the noise that was hidden by the engine combustion sound and the high-frequency noise of the motor are being highlightened. PP meltblown generally has a lower denier than other fibers, so it is effective in improving sound absorption performance because the surfaces of the fibers are large compared to the same weight of another fibers. In conclusion, by applying this PP meltblown fibers to the structure of Dash Insulation, sound absorption performance is improved and resulting in lightweighten effect of Dash Insulation

Study on the Acoustic Properties of Light-weight PU-GF Composites by Content of Glass Fiber for Automotive Interior Trim Parts

Recently, the demand for Light-weight vehicles in the automobile industry has increased in response to environmental regulations and the need for improved fuel efficiency, leading to the development of highly functional materials. The lightening of materials has the greatest impact on reducing vehicle weight, and the headlining, which takes up a significant portion of a vehicle, is a suitable target for material Light-weight research. The current mass-produced headlining structure is multi-layered, containing a high proportion of glass fiber material and polyurethane foam to reinforce bending strength. This study has developed a lighter product by combining the existing PU foam used in headlining with polyurethane and glass fiber, and the effects of different types of glass fiber on product characteristics were confirmed through sound absorption and physical property test. The results of the study conducted sound absorption tests and found similar performance to mass-produced products.

Modelling Inhomogeneity of Veneer Laminates with a Finite Element Mapping Method Based on Arbitrary Grayscale Images.

Failure and deformation behavior of veneer laminates of ring porous wood species vary with the individual arrangement of early- and latewood zones over a veneer sheet. Therefore, a method is presented, where local failure and damage modes are considered for finite element models with respect to forming simulations, during the development process of automotive interior trim parts. Within the mapping tool Envyo, a routine has been realized for the discretization of early- and latewood zones from ash wood veneer surfaces to finite element meshes. The routine performs the following steps: reading a grayscale image of known size and generation of a point cloud based on the number of pixels; transformation and scaling of the generated point cloud to align with a target finite element mesh; nearest neighbor search and transfer of grayscale values to the target mesh element centroids; assigning part and therefore material properties to the target elements based on the mapped grayscale value and user-defined grayscale ranges. Due to the absence of measurement data for early- and latewood, optimization was used to identify locally varying material constants. A set of material input parameters for early- and latewood was created, calibrating the force-displacement response of tensile test simulations to corresponding experimental curves. The numerical results gave a very good agreement to the failure behavior of tensile tests in the loading directions longitudinal and transverse to the fiber orientation. Furthermore, in a stochastic analysis the characteristic distribution of tensile strength and ultimate strain could be verified for the suggested procedure. The introduced modelling approach can be applied for the discrete implementation of inhomogeneity to numerical simulations.

Polymeric feedstock from post-consumer and post-industrial plastic wastes for automotive interior applications

In this study, an economically-viable methodology is discussed where a blend of post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastics and post-industrial scrap (PIS) polymers is refined and used as the feedstock for manufacturing of interior structural products for automotive industry. A comprehensive thermo-mechanical characterisation suggest that feedstock obtained using a melt-filtering based refining process, offers performance on par with the virgin materials with reduced cost and environmental impact. Using both lab-scale prototyping and pilot plant trials, interior trim parts have successfully been produced to demonstrate the viability of using this new feedstock in mainstream polymer production processes such as injection moulding and thermoforming for automotive applications.

Performance research on coir fiber and wood debris hybrid boards

In response to increasing awareness of the environment and energy, the fields of application for new types of plant fiber functional materials are expanding. In this study, different weight proportions of coir fiber were added to wood particle debris to produce hybrid boards. The two forms of coir fiber used were random distribution and non-woven needle mat. A mixed orthogonal experiment was designed to use the weight mixing ratio of wood debris and coir, the density of the hybrid boards, and the mixing form of the raw material as the experimental factors. The mechanical and sound absorption performances were evaluated. The experimental results provided evidence that the addition of the coir fibers enhanced the mechanical performance and sound absorption performance of the hybrid boards. The non-woven needle mat form in particular was effective at evenly distributing the fibers. The optimal plan for this kind of hybrid composite was obtained through experimental analysis. The excellent sound absorption performance and sufficient strength of the hybrid boards made them suitable for use on inner walls as sound-absorbing material or on interior trim parts in automotive applications. The research results demonstrated the advantages of using coir fiber and wood debris resources.

Kenaf/Ramie Composite for Automotive Headliner

An increasing industrial interest is applications of kenaf and ramie fiber nonwovens for making automotive interior trim parts because of their excellent strength and renewability. This paper presents a study on the manufacture and evaluation of the kenaf/ramie nonwoven composite for this automotive end use. Carding, needle-punching, and wet bonding were used to fabricate the composite. End-use performance of the composite, in terms of tensile strength, thermal conductivity, dynamic mechanical property, and bonding structure, was tested using a series of instruments in accordance with the ASTM methods. Bonding performance of the polyvinyl alcohol binder and acrylic copolymer binder was also compared. Research results revealed that the acrylic-copolymer bonded composite was significantly anisotropic in both tensile and bending deformation and the polyvinyl-alcohol bonded composite was significantly anisotropic only in bending deformation. For the acrylic-copolymer bonded composite, increase of padding times helped enhance tensile properties. The acrylic-copolymer bonded composite also exhibited a better performance in dynamic thermal mechanical deformation but indicated insignificant difference of thermal conductivity compared to the polyvinyl-alcohol bonded composite.

Comparative study between gas sensors arrays device, sensory evaluation and GC/MS analysis for QC in automotive industry

Odours of new cars are important today for the consumers’ comfort. Due to the interior trim parts’ manufacturing process and to their petrochemical compounds based, many rubbers and foams used in automotive materials result in a “new car odour” mostly enjoyed but sometimes felt as unpleasant by customers. The use of olfactory sensory panels, especially trained to describe odours, is only one way of addressing that issue. Although they offer interesting characterisation methods, olfactory sensory panels may also have some drawbacks.The odours of several PVC skins were described by human assessors and the corresponding volatile organic compounds were also characterised by a commercially available Electronic Nose technique, based on QMB sensors, whereas their identification was carried out by GC/MS analysis.Finally, a confrontation of the three types of obtained data was performed and showed the existence of correlation as well as the interest of gas sensors device for automotive industry.

Comparative study of the cutting of car interior trim panels reinforced by natural fibers

The use of natural fibers, such as flax, sisal, or kenaf to reinforce plastic body panels for automotive applications is being introduced for car interior trim parts such as door panels, hat shelves, roofing, etc. The benefits derived from using natural fibers instead of glass fibers are mainly ecological and economical. As a renewable product, natural fibers have a greater environmental interest than oil based plastics. Natural fibers can be recycled and reused in a better way than glass fibers. On the other hand, panels made of natural fibers have good mechanical properties but are lighter than glass fiber reinforced panels, which means lower fuel consumption and therefore cost savings. The aim of this work is to explore the capabilities of lasers to effectively cut these new types of natural fiber reinforced panels. A comparison between the abrasive water jet cutting and the use of a CO2 and Nd:YAG lasers is carried out. The experiments show that the laser can be used satisfactorily to cut the car interior panels reinforced by natural fibers.

The discoloration of vinyl instrument panels by polyurethane foam backing. II: Crosslinking of the vinyl resin

Current designs put automotive instrument panels and other interior trim parts under severe heat and light stress. Vinyl by itself can easily be formulated to pass the most rigorous oven aging and light stability tests. With a semirigid polyurethane foam backing, as is currently used in these applications, even the most stable vinyls fail to pass proposed new specifications. This study deals with the mechanism of what occurs in the polyurethane backed vinyl to cause this instability.

Thermoformable Polyurethane Foam for the Manufacturing of Headliners and Other Automotive Interior Trim Parts

Utilisation de la mousse Elastoflex W. Composition chimique, proprietes physiques, mise en œuvre, proprietes des pieces finies