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US 12,459,228 B2Granted
Method of using a deep drawn composite
AssigneeHanwha Azdel, Inc.
InventorsKumar Kunal, Thomas Arnold Ebeling, Jesse Guy Hipwell, Erich James Vorenkamp
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Certain embodiments described herein are directed to composite materials effective for use in deep draw processes. In some examples, the composites can be used to provide vehicle panels such as, for example, vehicle underbody panels. In some configurations, the composite comprises a fiber reinforced polymer core and a skin material disposed on at least some portion of the fiber reinforced polymer core, in which the skin material comprises a basis weight of at least 65 g/m2 and an elongation at break of at least 20%.
Claims19
A method of forming a vehicle panel, the method comprising:
- adding discontinuous reinforcing glass fibers and a polypropylene resin to an agitated liquid-containing foam to form a dispersed mixture of the polypropylene resin and the discontinuous reinforcing glass fibers;
- depositing the dispersed mixture of the discontinuous reinforcing glass fibers and the polypropylene resin onto a forming support element;
- evacuating liquid from the deposited, dispersed mixture to form a porous web comprising open cell structures formed by random crossing over of the discontinuous reinforcing glass fibers held together by the polypropylene resin;
- heating the formed, porous web above a softening temperature of the polypropylene resin in the formed, porous web;
- compressing the heated web to a predetermined thickness to form a polymer material, wherein the polymer material has a density of 0.1 g/cm3 to 2.25 g/cm3, a porosity of 5% to 95%, and 30% by weight to 60% by weight discontinuous reinforcing glass fibers;
- disposing adhesive particles on the formed polymer material to provide scattered adhesive particles on the formed polymer material;
- disposing a porous non-woven scrim on the disposed adhesive particles to provide a composite material, in which the porous non-woven scrim comprises a basis weight of at least 65 g/m2 and an elongation at break of at least 20%;
- and
- deep draw molding the composite material into a vehicle panel comprising thermoforming the composite material to provide an area with a thermoformed depth of least 5 cm without breakthrough of the deep draw molded vehicle panel at the thermoformed area with the depth of at least 5 cm, wherein the composite material passes a torture tool test with an average draw height of at least 5 cm using a ramp mold without breakthrough of the composite material at the ramp mold, and wherein the torture tool test comprises suspending the composite material using a pin-chains assembly, heating the suspended composite material in an infrared oven above the softening temperature of the polypropylene resin, and compressing the heated composite material in a test-mold comprising the ramp mold and different shapes and dimensions.
6 more elements
The method of 1, wherein thermoplastic polyolefin polymer resin comprises polypropylene.
A method of forming a vehicle panel, the method comprising:
- adding discontinuous reinforcing glass fibers and a thermoplastic polyolefin polymer resin to an agitated liquid-containing foam to form a dispersed mixture of the thermoplastic polyolefin polymer resin and the discontinuous reinforcing glass fibers;
- depositing the dispersed mixture of the discontinuous reinforcing glass fibers and the thermoplastic polyolefin polymer resin onto a forming support element;
- evacuating liquid from the deposited, dispersed mixture to form a porous web comprising open cell structures formed by random crossing over of the discontinuous reinforcing glass fibers held together by the thermoplastic polyolefin polymer resin;
- heating the formed, porous web above a softening temperature of the thermoplastic polyolefin polymer resin in the formed, porous web;
- compressing the heated web to a predetermined thickness to form a polymer material;
- disposing adhesive particles on the formed polymer material to provide scattered adhesive particles on the formed polymer material;
- disposing a porous non-woven scrim on the disposed adhesive particles to provide a composite material, in which the porous non-woven scrim comprises a basis weight of at least 65 g/m2 and an elongation at break of at least 20%;
- and
- deep draw molding the composite material into a vehicle panel comprising thermoforming the composite material to provide an area with a thermoformed depth of least 5 cm without breakthrough of the deep draw molded vehicle panel at the thermoformed area with the depth of at least 5 cm, and wherein the composite material passes a torture tool test with an average draw height of at least 5 cm using a ramp mold without breakthrough of the composite material at the ramp mold, wherein the composite material has a basis weight of 700 g/m2, the non-woven scrim has a basis weight of 80 g/m2 and a fabric elongation (MD/CD) of 38/40, and wherein the thermoplastic adhesive layer comprises a 98 g/m2 polypropylene thermoplastic adhesive, and wherein the average draw height with the ramp mold is 6 cm, and wherein the torture tool test comprises suspending the composite material using a pin-chains assembly, heating the suspended composite material in an infrared oven above the softening temperature of the thermoplastic polyolefin polymer resin, and compressing the heated composite material in a test-mold comprising the ramp mold and different shapes and dimensions.
6 more elements
A method of forming a vehicle panel, the method comprising:
- adding discontinuous reinforcing glass fibers and a thermoplastic polyolefin polymer resin to an agitated liquid-containing foam to form a dispersed mixture of the thermoplastic polyolefin polymer resin and the discontinuous reinforcing glass fibers;
- depositing the dispersed mixture of the discontinuous reinforcing glass fibers and the thermoplastic polyolefin polymer resin onto a forming support element;
- evacuating liquid from the deposited, dispersed mixture to form a porous web comprising open cell structures formed by random crossing over of the discontinuous reinforcing glass fibers held together by the thermoplastic polyolefin polymer resin;
- heating the formed, porous web above a softening temperature of the thermoplastic polyolefin polymer resin in the formed, porous web;
- compressing the heated web to a predetermined thickness to form a polymer material;
- disposing adhesive particles on the formed polymer material to provide scattered adhesive particles on the formed polymer material;
- disposing a porous non-woven scrim on the disposed adhesive particles to provide a composite material, in which the porous non-woven scrim comprises a basis weight of at least 65 g/m2 and an elongation at break of at least 20%;
- and
- deep draw molding the composite material into a vehicle panel comprising thermoforming the composite material to provide an area with a thermoformed depth of least 5 cm without breakthrough of the deep draw molded vehicle panel at the thermoformed area with the depth of at least 5 cm, and wherein the composite material passes a torture tool test with an average draw height of at least 5 cm using a ramp mold without breakthrough of the composite material at the ramp mold, wherein the composite material has a basis weight of 700 g/m2, the non-woven scrim has a basis weight of 70 g/m2 and a fabric elongation (MD/CD) of 20/30, and wherein the thermoplastic adhesive layer comprises a 20 g/m2 scatter coat thermoplastic adhesive, and wherein the average draw height with the ramp mold is 6.11 cm, and wherein the torture tool test comprises suspending the composite material using a pin-chains assembly, heating the suspended composite material in an infrared oven above the softening temperature of the thermoplastic polyolefin polymer resin, and compressing the heated composite material in a test-mold comprising the ramp mold and different shapes and dimensions.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.