Automotive trim panel
AssigneeArco Chemical Company
InventorsAngela L. Brant, Ahid D. Nashif
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Abstract
The acoustical performance of automotive trim panels is improved, especially with respect to noise generated by structural vibration of an automobile and synchronous vibration of the trim panel itself, by positioning a dead, vibration-damping, foam material between the automobile frame and a semi-flexible support layer of the trim panel, the trim panel also including an open-celled, flexible, airborne sound-absorbing foam layer bonded to the opposing face of the support layer, and wherein the dead foam material has a substantially lower resilience value and a substantially higher recovery rate than the open-celled foam layer.
Claims23
A laminar, automotive trim panel having improved acoustical performance, said panel comprising a semi-flexible support layer enabling snap-in mounting of the panel on an automobile frame, an open-celled, flexible, sound-absorbing foam layer bonded to one face of the support layer, and a dead, vibration damping, foam material in contact with the opposing face of the support layer, wherein the dead foam material is capable of non-adhesive affixing to the metal of an automobile frame and has a substantially lower resilience value and a substantially higher recovery rate than the open-celled foam layer, said improved acoustical performance including reduction of sound produced by structural vibrations of the panel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.