Search Results

Premium instrument panels (IPs) contain passenger airbag (PAB) systems that are typically comprised of a stiff plastic substrate and a soft ‘skin’ material which are adhesively bonded. During airbag deployment, the skin tears along the scored edges of the door holding the PAB system, the door opens, and the airbag inflates to protect the occupant. To accurately simulate the PAB deployment dynamics during a crash event all components of the instrument panel and the PAB system, including the skin, must be included in the model. It has been recognized that the material characterization and modeling of the skin tearing behavior are critical for predicting the timing and inflation kinematics of the airbag. Even so, limited data exists in the literature for skin material properties at hot and cold temperatures and at the strain rates created during the airbag deployment.

Felt-based dash panel insulation materials have traditionally been used as a sound barrier between the engine and passenger compartments in a vehicle to reduce the transmission of engine noise to the occupant space. Their structural performance has been mainly ignored due to the typically low stiffness and strength characteristics. Consequently, studies of the acoustic properties of these materials have been found in literature while no information was found on their mechanical behavior especially in dynamic loading conditions. More stringent requirements for occupant and pedestrian safety imposed by government regulations and the position of these materials in the impact zones of pedestrian head impact have brought attention to the material contribution to the energy absorption during the impact and the need to assess the mechanical properties of these materials.

Fabric materials have diverse applications in the automotive industry which include upholstery, carpeting, safety devices, and interior trim components. The textile industry has invested substantial effort toward development of standard testing techniques for characterizing mechanical properties of different fabric types (e.g. woven and knitted). However, there are presently no standards for determination of Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio and tensile stress-strain properties required for the detailed modeling of fabric materials in vehicle structural simulations. This paper presents results from uniaxial tensile tests of different automotive seat cover fabric materials. Digital image correlation, a full field optical method for measuring surface deformation, was used to determine tensile properties in both the warp/wale and the weft/course directions. The fabrics were tested with and without the foam backing.