Method of making a hollow core structural member
AssigneeAzdel, Inc.
InventorsAlbert H. Berghuis, Richard C. McKechnie, Albert Drenth
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An improved method for forming a hollow core structural member, such as an automotive bumper beam, from moldable plastic sheets, such as fiberglass reinforced plastic sheets, by providing a press having a desired shape on the opposing members of the press, placing opposed sheets in the press with a layer of frozen, meltable material, such as ice, in place between them, forming the sheets into the desired article configuration in the press, removing the formed member from the press, then melting and removing the meltable material from the interior of the formed member.
Claims13
A method for making a lightweight hollow core structural member, comprising:
- providing a mold having opposed mold tools, each having a desired configuration;
- heating two composite, fiber-reinforced stampable sheets selected from the group consisting of thermoplastic and thermosetting resins;
- placing the sheets in the mold with a meltable material between them;
- pressing the sheets together in the mold by pressing the opposed mold tools together to form a structural member with the meltable material between the sheets;
- removing the structural member from the mold;
- and
- melting and removing the meltable material to form the hollow core member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.