Engineering Plastics And Plastic Composites In Automotive Applications

Before the 1970s, plastics were considered primarily as non-engineering materials and were used in applications such as belts, hoses, gaskets, carpet backing, sealing, adhesives, tires, and so forth as a part of an engineering solution. More recently, plastics have replaced traditional materials and emerged as a significant "engineering application" within the automotive industry. Plastics have proven to be cost effective while providing automakers with the design freedom to accommodate safety, styling, and comfort. Engineering Plastics and Plastic Composites In Automotive Applications focuses on some of the various types of plastics and plastic composites and their applications and advantages within passenger vehicles.

Automotive Plastics and Composites: Materials and Processing is an essential guide to the use of plastic and polymer composites in automotive applications, whether in the exterior, interior, under-the-hood, or powertrain, with a focus on materials, properties, and processing. The book begins by introducing plastics and polymers for the automotive industry, discussing polymer materials and structures, mechanical, chemical, and physical properties, rheology, and flow analysis. In the second part of the book, each chapter is dedicated to a category of material, and considers the manufacture, processing, properties, shrinkage, and possible applications, in each case. Two chapters on polymer processing provide detailed information on both closed-mold and open-mold processing. The final chapters explain other key aspects, such as recycling and sustainability, design principles, tooling, and future trends. This book is an ideal reference for plastics engineers, product designers, technicians, scientists, and R&D professionals who are looking to develop materials, components, or products for automotive applications. The book also intends to guide researchers, scientists, and advanced students in plastics engineering, polymer processing, and materials science and engineering. Analyzes mechanical, chemical, physical, and thermal properties, enabling the reader to select the appropriate material for specific applications Explains polymer processing, with thorough coverage of operations across both closed-mold and open-mold processing Provides systematic coverage of materials, including commodity and engineering thermoplastics, bio-based plastics, thermosets, composites, elastomeric polymers, and 3D-printed plastics

Various factors in the automotive sector have combined to create a favourable climate for the development of materials and fabrication techniques for polymer-based composite body panels and structures. The cond104 in which composites are used within the automotive industry has been reviewed in this report and those materials and processes that are used in the fabrication of components and structures are described in detail. For this reason, this report is essential reading for the composites, plastics industries and the land transport/automotive sectors. An additional indexed section containing several hundred abstracts from the Rapra Polymer Library database gives useful references for further reading.

This report is intended to provide a basic understanding of the major products, technologies, applications, marketing practices and competitive scenario of the plastic automotive business. In addition, this study will offer current market estimates of the most important polymers broken down by specific automotive application and will furnish projections estimating the growth of each market segment over the next five years. Inherent in these estimates and projections will be an assessment of both intraplastic competition as well as the battle between plastics and glass, rubber and metals within the automotive industry. The impact of new technologies, volume of car production, and enforcement of federal and state legislation by the EPA will be major considerations in evaluating the automotive plastics market over the next five years. This study will also present opportunities for new plastic systems in both current and future automotive design and applications.

This book provides a basic understanding of the major products, technologies, applications, marketing practices and competitive scenario of the plastic automotive business in U.S. It offers current market estimates of the most important polymers broken down by specific automotive application.

This Rapra Review Report looks at the major applications of polymers in automotives, (excluding tyres), and describes the reasons behind their adoption and development, with many examples drawn from the European, US and Japanese car industries. The review and the 395 abstracts provided from the Rapra Polymer Library database refer primarily to developments since 1987.

Automotive manufacturers are required to decrease CO2 emissions and increase fuel economy while assuring driver comfort and safety. In recent years, there has been rapid development in the application of lightweight and sustainable materials in the automotive industry to help meet these criteria. This book provides critical reviews and the latest research results of various lightweight and sustainable materials in automotive applications. It discusses current applications and future trends of lightweight materials in the automotive area. While there are a few books published mainly focusing on automotive applications of metallic lightweight materials, to date there is no available book focusing on a broad spectrum of lightweight materials, including metal, plastic, composites, bio-fiber, bio-polymer, carbon fiber, glass fiber, nanomaterials, rubber materials, and foaming materials, as this work does. The book also includes case studies of commercial lightweight automotive parts from sustainable lightweight materials, providing an invaluable resource to those involved in this in-demand research and commercialization area.

A survey of the role of plastics materials in the motor industry. It discusses progress in the different sectors of automotive engineering, and the possible effect of economic and environmental pressures on the growth of the plastics contribution. Emphasis is given to materials selection and the author explains how a material can be 'right' or 'wrong' for a particular job – and what extraneous factors could change things.