Thermoplastic Composites for High Performance Automotive Applications

Major plastics material utilisation in motor vehicle applications has been concentrated in relatively non-critical performance areas. These areas particularly interior trim parts are now almost saturated offering scope only for interplastic substitution. The development of first generation thermoplastic based composites has resulted over the last few years in the introduction of, for example, toughened, filled and reinforced grades of polypropylene and polyamide for more critical under bonnet and vehicle exterior applications and examples of these are given. It is recognised that the future successful utilisation of plastics materials in even more performance critical applications will be crucially dependent on an ability to demonstrate attractive component cost factors in addition to technical viability.