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The I-Section bumper design has evolved over the past 10 years into a lightweight, low cost, high performance alternative to traditional bumper beams. Initial I-Section Bumpers were developed with 40% Chopped fiberglass GMT. Through the development of lower cost Mineral-Filled/Chopped fiberglass GMT, improved static load and dynamic impact performance results have been achieved in I-Section Bumper Designs.

The C-section bumper design has become a de-facto engineering standard for the majority of thermoplastic bumpers on production vehicles. C-section beams can provide satisfactory performance in a wide range of crash scenarios and can be produced using a variety of plastics processing methods. However, owing to changes in bumper design requirements and advances in composites technology, recently many OEMs have begun considering use of I-section geometry, which has the potential to provide significant weight and packaging size savings while providing equivalent performance at a lower cost. This report will compare the performance of C- and I-section designs using a variety of different compression-moldable, glass-mat thermoplastic (GMT) composite materials. A software package will be introduced that makes it possible to evaluate an I-beam design for a given set of packaging requirements in a very short period of time.

Developed specifically for the automotive industry, a new glass-mat thermoplastic (GMT) composite technology provides significant improvements in strength and energy management behavior for automotive bumper applications. This increased performance is achieved through the use of new fiberglass mat design, sizing chemistry, and binder resin technology vs. standard GMT composite products with the same type and percentage of glass loading. No substantial tooling and processing changes are required to make use of the new products, which are interchangeable in current GMT molds. In order to fully evaluate the new materials, actual direct-mountable automotive bumper beams were molded and tested in both static and dynamic modes. The results of this testing demonstrate the new composites' ability to achieve Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 581 8 km/h impact performance without the need for costly hydraulic or foam energy absorption (EA) units.

Now, end-users demand to know the recycling characteristics of the products they specify due to a worldwide environmental impact awareness. In turn, the material suppliers are aggressively evaluating the retention of product properties and the feasibility of reuse options. Today, cost effective glass fiber thermoplastic composites are growing fast in automotive applications; especially for energy management systems. AZDEL® composites are employed in bumper beam, instrument panel, knee bolster, and load floor applications; specifically, because of their excellent strength-to-weight advantage and toughness. These composites consist of polypropylene resin and glass fiber reinforcement in mat or chopped forms.