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Customer's expectations are increasing in the competitive automotive market. In an effort to enhance marketability, interior and exterior trim parts that are comprised of plastic, paints, and films are being assessed for scratch and scuff durability. There are many different methods used inside and outside the automotive industry to determine the performance of these materials. However, the majority of these methods do not correlate the performance of the material to the customer's expectations. This paper reviews existing scratch/scuff methods and advancements in scratch/scuff performance test methodology from analyzing driver and passenger zones, customer expectations, and part design.

The spray characteristics and inside flow of a marine diesel injector were investigated both experimentally and numerically. From the experiments, we observed that the penetration of the sprays in the early injection stage gradually increases. This phenomenon differs significantly from that of the small automobile diesel injector, in which penetration increases linearly with time. Using the momentum method to obtain injection rate measurements, we observed an injection rate spike at each injection event just after the injection began. The observed spray results show that the small portion of fuel remaining inside the nozzle from the previous injection event is ejected first, and then the main volume of fuel is ejected. Both fuels accumulate as spray droplets and gradually accelerate after the early injection stage. Numerical simulations of the injector's inside flow show that the fuel injection rate becomes saturated in needle lifts larger than 0.3 mm.