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New targets for auto-interior components seek to improve thermal aging, low-temperature impact strength, recyclability, emissions/odor, processing productivity, and costs in order to meet new requirements for a 10-year car and new standards for consumer comfort. The pace of these demands is creating opportunities for blending technologies in a range of applications, including instrument panels, glove-box doors, top covers, retainers, and trim. A new generation of high-performance polycarbonate/acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (PC/ABS) resins based on proprietary formulation technology has been specifically developed to meet these demands in IP and other interior applications. This paper will focus specifically on a high-impact grade for IPs (in both standard- and low-emission formulations). This new technology was benchmarked against several earlier generation products from the same family, a new high-flow version using the same technology, and several competitive offsets.

The design and development of thermoplastic energy absorber (EA) systems rely heavily upon computer aided engineering methods to minimize the costs of prototyping and late stage design modifications. As these EAs become more broadly implemented in the automotive marketplace, the impact of prototyping and design costs must be addressed. This paper describes advances in the understanding of low speed bumper impact events and subsequent methods for evaluating those events using predictive dynamic analysis tools. Included are testing and analysis comparisons of impact events exploring the significance of vehicle design elements to the performance of low speed bumper systems.

The use of injection molded long glass fiber composites to replace metal in automotive components continues to find success. This paper will discuss the use of these composites to replace steel in running boards, a very demanding application. The success of an injection molded-in-color composite running board on a 2004 mid size SUV has opened the door to realize the benefits of composites in these large exterior parts. These benefits include significant weight reduction, corrosion resistance, scratch and mar resistance, design flexibility, and cost out opportunities. 40% long glass fiber polypropylene was formulated to meet the rigorous structural and aesthetic requirements demanded by global OEM manufacturers for these large structural parts.

This paper presents the effect of finite element analysis (FEA) model improvements to better correlate predictive analyses to pedestrian protection lower leg impact tests. The FEA analysis model prediction is now within 10% of the tested values for tibia deceleration, knee bending angle and knee shear. By using this improved FEA model, new, more efficient energy absorber and vehicle front end design strategies can been developed. A numerical approach to optimizing vehicle front end structures is presented.