Faurecia bags JEC innovation award for composites
February 26, 2016 - France
Faurecia, world’s largest automotive equipment suppliers, has won the JEC World 2016 Innovation Award for its “one-shot” manufacturing process for visible composite parts. Faurecia will receive the award on March 8, 2016, at the JEC World 2016 trade show, to be held at the Paris Nord Villepinte Exhibition Centre, from March 8 to 10, 2016.
The technology makes it possible to insert a pre-heated thermoplastic composite reinforcement into the injection mould and secure it in a stable position. The efficient process was demonstrated on a plastic tailgate with a pre-impregnated (prepreg) glass fibre reinforcement and is particularly suited to tailgates, lower tailgates, and semi-structural parts, according to a press release.
The main benefits of the process are improvements in weight, quality, cost, and cycle times. Faurecia has earmarked composites as a key enabler for vehicle lightweighting and is concentrating its R&D efforts in two directions, namely, developing affordable carbon fibre and reaching automotive industry cycle times of one part per minute.
The “one-shot” project, led by Faurecia’s Franco-German R&D teams, started in 2014. It is designed to produce visible and non-visible automotive parts based on three key goals: cutting, heating, and installing the inserts for the flexible composite reinforcements (glass, carbon or natural fibre) in the injection mould; holding the reinforceme0nt in position during injection; injecting via a process that ensures the inserts hold their shape and position.
The process took 3,000 man hours to develop and draws on the full range of Faurecia engineering and innovation expertise in design, laboratory, CAE, materials, simulation, validation and production.
Jacques Hoffner, vice president R&D and Innovation at Faurecia Automotive Exteriors said, “The originality of the “one-shot” process lies in combining shaping and injection stages in a single step, primarily to obtain a net shape part that requires no further modification to alter its appearance. The process also delivers properties compatible with automaker specifications for semi-structural parts through the use of reinforcements made from thermoplastic composite fibres, which are known for their mechanical and lightweight properties.” (GK)
The technology makes it possible to insert a pre-heated thermoplastic composite reinforcement into the injection mould and secure it in a stable position. The efficient process was demonstrated on a plastic tailgate with a pre-impregnated (prepreg) glass fibre reinforcement and is particularly suited to tailgates, lower tailgates, and semi-structural parts, according to a press release.
The main benefits of the process are improvements in weight, quality, cost, and cycle times. Faurecia has earmarked composites as a key enabler for vehicle lightweighting and is concentrating its R&D efforts in two directions, namely, developing affordable carbon fibre and reaching automotive industry cycle times of one part per minute.
The “one-shot” project, led by Faurecia’s Franco-German R&D teams, started in 2014. It is designed to produce visible and non-visible automotive parts based on three key goals: cutting, heating, and installing the inserts for the flexible composite reinforcements (glass, carbon or natural fibre) in the injection mould; holding the reinforceme0nt in position during injection; injecting via a process that ensures the inserts hold their shape and position.
The process took 3,000 man hours to develop and draws on the full range of Faurecia engineering and innovation expertise in design, laboratory, CAE, materials, simulation, validation and production.
Jacques Hoffner, vice president R&D and Innovation at Faurecia Automotive Exteriors said, “The originality of the “one-shot” process lies in combining shaping and injection stages in a single step, primarily to obtain a net shape part that requires no further modification to alter its appearance. The process also delivers properties compatible with automaker specifications for semi-structural parts through the use of reinforcements made from thermoplastic composite fibres, which are known for their mechanical and lightweight properties.” (GK)