JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #85 - November/December 2013 - 25

g/km to 95 g/km by 2020
(Germany could request
that this schedule be moved
back to 2023-2024 to avoid
jeopardizing its exports).
A number of original equipment manufacturers (OEM)
in the automotive sector are
exploring the technology
with Audi (which belongs
to Volkswagen Group and
owns Lamborghini), BMW,
General Motors, Hyundai,
Opel, Renault and PSA
Peugeot Citroën. Automotive suppliers also believe
in the technology, including
Faurecia, Johnson Controls,
Magna Decoma Exterior
Systems, Minda Schenk, Recaro, Reinert Kunststofftechnik, SeaTcon, SedisTec,
Takata-Petri and ZF Friendrichshafen.
Figure 5 shows the potential for creating parts using
this technology, according
to BASF. The potential is
high in terms not just of all
the different types of part
that can be created, but also
of volume, since we're not
talking here about racing
or high-end cars, but about
"everyman's" car that must
be made lighter; i.e. millions
of parts. As often happens
in project management,
acronyms are flourishing:
DEMOS (Design & Manufacturing Of composite Seat
Structures), LIPA Series
(Lightweight Integrated
Process Application), LYCOS (Lightweight Hybrid
Composite Structure),
SUSCO 1.5 (SUStainable
COmfort), and more. The
list of automotive projects is
very long for the technology,
which is relatively recent
in the sector (the "critical"

development started around
2008). It would be difficult
to describe all of them, but
here are a few examples:
- A series production for
the seat of the Opel Astra
OPC, for which the seat pan
is made of glass-fibre-reinforced polyamide-6 for both
the organo-sheet and the
overmoulding compound
(Figure 6). It is the first automotive bucket seat in the
world based on this technology to be manufactured for a
series car and to weigh 45%
less than its predecessor.
Two different teams worked
on this solution. This is an
automotive paradigm for
a solution: having at least
two or even three suppliers
among one's OEMs. Reinert
Kunststofftechnik (manufacturer) co-operated with
Lanxess/Bond-Laminates
(Tepex®), SeaTcon, SedisTec
and Maier Formenbau, while
Recaro teamed up with
BASF (Ultramid®).
- A carbon/polyamide
suspension arm developed
by Cetim, Onera (French
aerospace laboratory),

PSA Peugeot Citroen, PEI
(Pinette Emidecau) and
Compose. This innovative
thermoplastic composite
suspension arm allows a 50%
weight reduction compared
to the reference metal
design solution. The thick,
high-quality steel sheet is replaced by two thin composite shells forming a hollow
shape, weighing only half of
as much as the metallic sheet
(1050 grams instead of 2400
grams, excluding connections). The two composite
sheets are thermoformed
and welded simultaneously using an innovative
tool placed on a standard
industrial press. Organosheets made of continuous
carbon fibre and polyamide
are used as the raw material, the fibres oriented to
optimize the mechanical
behaviour. In a second step,
rubber connections are
joined to the composite
shell by overmoulding with
fibre-reinforced compatible
polyamide.

To produce the lever, they
overmoulded organic sheets
with long-fibre-reinforced
PP and, in a cycle time of 40
seconds, produced a highstrength composite component that has additional
functional and reinforcement elements and measures
over 500 mm in length but
weighing just 200 grams.
- A side impact beam made

Fig. 8: Glass/PP demonstration lever
© Arburg

of DuPont's glass/PA 6.6
solution and tested by
PSA Peugeot Citroen. The
beam showed a 40% weight
reduction compared to
ultra-high-strength (UHHS)
steel, while absorbing more
energy than metal and short
glass-fibre polymer beams
(Figure 9).

Fig. 7: Composite suspension arm
demonstrator (© Compose)

Fig. 6: The Opel Astra OPC seat
featuring a seat pan made from continuous-fibre-reinforced thermoplastic
laminate (© BASF)

- A demonstration lever developed by Georg Kaufmann
Formenbau in partnership
with Bond Laminates, Arburg and FPT Robotik. The
lever combines direct longfibre injection moulding
with the overmoulding of
two continuous-fibre-reinforced thermoplastic inserts
of different thicknesses.

No85 November - December 2013 /

Fig. 9: Testing the side impact beam
demonstrator developed by PSA
Peugeot Citroen and DuPont (©)

- ZF Friendrichshafen's
brake pedal (Figure 10)
based on glass/PA6, devel-

jec composites magazine 25
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #85 - November/December 2013

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