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It is difficult, if not impossible; to select any single test that will model the expected performance of any hydraulic fluid in a wide range of hydraulic pumps made by many different manufacturers. Increasing pressures often encountered in new hydraulic pump applications compounds this problem. However, some basic assessment of hydraulic fluid performance is necessary for numerous reasons such as: developing an appropriate fluid purchase policy, international standard development, fluid classification and others. Since the now-classic standard tests such as: ASTM D-2882, DIN 51389 and others are simply inadequate for this task and also since the manufacturer, Eaton Inc., no longer manufactures these pumps, it has been necessary to develop an alternative testing strategy [1, 2 and 3]. The Bosch-Rexroth Corporation has developed a high-pressure piston pump test that has been an excellent predictor of hydraulic fluid performance for many years.

The QUESTRA* Crystalline Polymer product family, based on syndiotactic polystyrene (SPS), has been improved to meet the needs of the automotive connector and light socket applications in a very cost effective manner. In this paper, the attributes of two new SPS formulations, SPS/polyamide (PA) blends and low gas SPS formulations, are compared to existing SPS formulations and competitive resins. It is shown that the SPS/PA blends have significantly improved strength and ductility over existing SPS formulations. This improves the SPS formulation technology to include the full range of strength and ductility options the designer of automotive connectors needs to achieve the terminal retention forces and latch deflection distances necessary for the smaller connectors like the .64 mm terminal systems that the automotive industry is migrating towards.

The challenging economic climate of today is causing many suppliers to develop new and creative ways to improve efficiency and meet the needs of customers without jeopardizing the quality of service and support. The Dow Automotive business group is evaluating a new mechanism for remotely supporting customers' injection molding trials by combining wireless video camera technology and traditional videoconference (VC) capabilities. The Video Response System™ (VRS), from Teleco Video Systems, incorporates a wireless remote camera on a wheeled tripod and a wireless audio connection to allow users to transmit a real-time video and audio signal from anywhere within a location to other sites around the globe. The video and audio signals generated by the VRS system are transmitted to a traditional VC unit in the molding shop which in turn transmits the signals over ISDN lines to an awaiting VC unit.

The trend in the automotive industry to establish higher quality, comfort and safety levels, while at the same time reducing cost and weight, is pushing production techniques, materials and the development cycle to become as efficient as possible. The automotive supplier has to choose from a broad range of fabrication technologies and material alternatives to achieve the highest performance level at the lowest possible cost. This paper outlines the process followed by a multi-functional team to design and develop the interior door panels for the VW Golf, in ABS resin for large scale production. The team effort, headed by the Tier 1 (Sommer Allibert Industrie), with extensive interaction with the OEM, and the support of the material supplier and tool-maker, led to a thin-walled part with integrated mountings, high quality appearance and excellent dimensional stability.

The material data provided by resin suppliers in their product datasheets generally focuses on single point data only and does not include the data useful to the design engineers. Even though the single-point data bears little relevance to the end-use performance of the material and provides very little insight into its behavior, design engineers rely heavily on these data because it is readily available. However, to enhance their confidence in their material selection decisions, they ask for large quantity of data without taking into consideration the cost of data measurement. Today, as resin suppliers struggle to justify the cost of generating all the data requested against the tremendous pressure to reduce their cost, it is important to put the direct costs of material data measurement in perspective.

Field cracking in some instrument panels (IP) manufactured with a competitive grade of polycarbonate/acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (PC/ABS) material was observed in high temperature/high humidity geographies. OEMs and tier molders are: 1) questioning the thermal and hydrolytic stability of the various suppliers' PC/ABS resins, and 2) converting to grades with advantaged stability. A study was undertaken to compare the thermal and hydrolytic stability of two suppliers' high flow PC/ABS resins. Materials were aged at 90C/95% relative humidity up to 1000 hours. Samples were tested to compare the retention of properties. This paper will discuss the experimental procedures, resulting data, and the common factor in the PC/ABS resins showing the best stability.