Technological Developments in Fiber Glass for Lightweight Automotive Components
Juan Camilo Serrano
SPE ACCE 2012
Outline
• Technology Drivers
• Technology developments through the value chain
• Automotive composites – Reinforcements and technologies
• Fiber reinforcement landscape
• Areas of reinforcement opportunity (Fiber Glass) – High stiffness: Structural beams
– High stiffness: Exterior body panels
– High strength/Toughness: Integrated components
– High temperature: Under the hood components
– Impact/Energy management: Underbody panels
• Summary
Technology Drivers
Drivers for the utilization of composite materials in automotive applications include: – New CAFE standards for fuel economy
– Reduction in CO2 emissions
– Recyclability
*Source US Department of Energy, US Department of transportation.
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1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
New
Veh
icle
Fu
el E
con
om
y (m
pg)
Passenger car
Domestic
Imported
passenger car CAFE
Light truck CAFE
Light truck (<8,500 lbs GVWR)d
1nm 1μ 1mm 1cm
Technology developments through the value chain
Sizing Chemistry (strength, process ability)
Fiber Composition (strength + stiffness)
Fiber Volume Fraction (strength + stiffness)
Insert bumper
beam photo
Fiber reinforcement landscape
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4000
5000
50 60 70 80 90 100
Fib
er
Ten
sile
Str
en
gth
(M
Pa)
Tensile Modulus (GPa)
S Glass
R Glass
INNOFIBER XM Fiber Glass
INNOFIBER HP Fiber Glass
E Glass
Target Value Proposition : 1. Higher stiffness composites
2. Higher energy absorption
composites
Lighter, thinner parts
*Strand tensile strength and modulus per ASTM D2343
Glass composition changes to drive performance
Glass composition combined with state of the art sizing technology
• Yarn-based product for specialty fabrics
• High strain to failure
• High strength
• Low density
• Low CTE
New family of fiber glass compositions
Proprietary sizing technology for thermosets
Proprietary sizing technology for long fiber thermoplastics
• Direct draw roving product
• High modulus of elasticity
• High fatigue performance
Additional benefits
Low density glass compositions, global footprint and competitive cost structure further enhance the value proposition
*Fiber density measured with helium pycnometer
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Rel
ativ
e Fi
ber
Co
st (
x E-
glas
s)
Relative Fiber Cost
2.65 2.61 2.55
2.49 2.41
1.7
1.5
1.7
1.9
2.1
2.3
2.5
2.7
2.9
E-Glass INNOFIBERXM Fiber
Glass
R Glass S2 Glass INNOFIBERHP Fiber
Glass
Carbon
Fib
er
De
nsi
ty (
g/cc
)
Fiber Density
Solutions for semi-structural parts
Higher stiffness glass composites – Lighter weight / thinner parts
*Testing performed according to ISO 527-5. FVF measured by ISO 1172. Values represent average of 5 test specimens. Thermoset and thermoplastic resins included.
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40 45 50 55 60 65 70
UD
Co
mp
osi
te T
en
sile
Mo
du
lus
(GP
a)
Fiber Volume Fraction (%)
E-Glass
INNOFIBER XM Fiber Glass
Leveraging fiber glass reinforcements in automotive applications
Image sources: PPG Marketing and Communications, Department of Transportation, www.magna.com
Case 1. Bumper beam
Beam material Area Density Weight* Moment of Inertia (MOI) E E * MOI Weight savings
m2 kg/m3 kg cm4 GPa %
Steel beam 0.0006 7850 9.8 16.5 200
3300
0
E-Glass/epoxy beam 0.0027 1948 9.7 80.7 42 -0.9
INNOFIBER XM Fiber Glass/ epoxy beam
0.0021 1926 7.6 71.4 46.5 -22.7
Combining higher material properties with innovative design can result in equivalent stiffness parts with considerable weight savings
Steel Baseline
Load direction
*Composite mechanical properties : HYBON 2026 XM rovings, 1200 gsm UD stitch-bonded fabric laminates & epoxy resin
E-Glass Solution INNOFIBER XM Fiber Glass Solution
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3000
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5000
6000
7000
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
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3.00
3.50
4.00
Car
bo
nFi
ber
Lam
inat
e
Alu
min
um
INN
OFI
BER
® X
M F
iber
Gla
ssC
om
po
site
E-G
lass
Co
mp
osi
te
PC
/AB
S
Stee
l
We
ight (g)
Th
ick
ne
ss
(m
m)
Thickness
Weight
Case 2. Exterior body panels Higher stiffness: INNOFIBER XM fiber glass composites can further reduce body panel thickness and weight.
48” x 36” plate with dummy distributed load. All edges simply supported. All plates designed for equivalent flexural stiffness
*Deformation calculations performed per guidelines on Roark’s formulas for stress and strain.
INNOFIBER XM fiber glass data obtained from [0/90] HYBON® 2026 XM roving & vinyl ester prepreg laminate (ISO 14125)
Industry standards
Case 3: Integrated components
New grades of PP specific sizing products continue to push the envelope of mechanical performance for semi structural applications.
Industry standards
Case 3. Under hood components
Nylon grade LFT sizings continue to advance towards higher strength and impact performance where higher temperature is a concern.
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50
100
150
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400
ASH%
DENSITY (g/cc)
TENSILESTRENGTH
(MPa)
FLEXURALSTRENGTH
(MPa)
UN NOTCHEDCHARPY
IMPACT (kJ/m2)
NOTCHEDCHARPY
IMPACT (kJ/m2)
4510 - 60GF PA 4588 -60GF PA
114
97
33
38
190 234
1.66 57%
362
310
16% improvement in notched charpy 18% higher un-notched charpy 16% higher flexural strength 23% higher tensile strength
Industry standard TUFROV 4510 Direct Roving
Industry standard TUFROV 4510 Direct Roving
Improved Impact performance for glass fiber laminates • ~7% lower specific gravity than E-Glass
• ~25% higher strain to failure than E-Glass
• ~9% higher strength than E-Glass
100% 218% 0%
50%100%150%200%250%
E-Glass INNOFIBER® HPFiber Glass
Energy to Maximum Load*
100% 132% 0%
50%
100%
150%
E-Glass INNOFIBER® HPFiber Glass
Total Energy Absorbed*
*LVI performance of equivalent 7781/epoxy prepreg laminates. Hemispherical impactor
Case 4. Underbody panels
INNOFIBER HP fiber glass laminate
E-Glass laminate
Hybrid composites with INNOFIBER HP fiber glass for improved damage tolerance of carbon fiber laminates.
Case 5. Exterior body panels
CF laminate CF + INNOFIBER HP fiber glass
laminate
Higher energy absorption and damage tolerance for carbon fiber structural laminates
*LVI performance measured on 3mm BIAX NCF carbon fiber epoxy laminates and INNOFIBER HP fiber glass (7781 fabric)
CF + 1 layer INNOFIBER
HP fiber glass
CF + 2 layer INNOFIBER
HP fiber glass
Summary PPG’s studies have shown that combining innovative design practices with new generation of fiber glass products for automotive can result in:
INNOFIBER XM Fiber Glass: 1. 22% weight savings compared to steel bumper beams.
2. 9% weight savings in comparison to Fiber Glass body panels and equivalent weight to Aluminum based body panel solutions.
INNOFIBER HP Fiber Glass: 1. 32% total energy absorbed compared to E-glass laminates and potential
for hybrid body panel solutions
TUFROV G-LFT products: 1. ~18% in flexural strength and ~30% in impact properties for PP GLFT
applications.
2. ~16% in impact properties and ~18% in flexural properties for PA GLFT applications.
Thank you for your attention
For more information
Contact:
Juan Camilo Serrano