Sheet molding compound (SMC) is a molding compound used for dry manufacturing of unsaturated polyester fiberglass products. It first appeared in Europe in the early 1960s. Around 1965, the United States and Japan successively developed this technology. SMC in the world market began to take shape in the late 1960s. Since then, it has been growing rapidly at an annual growth rate of 20% to 25%, and is widely used in transportation vehicles, construction, electronics/electrical and other industries.
SMC (sheet molding compound)
SMC composite material is the abbreviation of Sheet molding compound, which is sheet molding compound. The main raw materials are composed of GF (special yarn), UP (unsaturated resin), low shrinkage additives, MD (filler) and various additives. It first appeared in Europe in the early 1960s. Around 1965, the United States and Japan successively developed this technology. In the late 1980s, my country introduced advanced foreign SMC production lines and production processes.
Current application status in the automotive industry
Since the world's first FRP car, the GM Corvette, was successfully manufactured in 1953, fiberglass/composite materials have become a new force in the automotive industry. The traditional hand lay-up molding process is only suitable for small-displacement production and cannot meet the needs of the continuous development of the automotive industry. Since the 1970s, due to the successful development of SMC materials and the application of mechanized molding technology and in-mold coating technology, the annual growth rate of FRP/composite materials in automotive applications has reached 25%, forming the first step in the development of automotive FRP products. A period of rapid development; by the early 1990s, with the increasing calls for environmental protection, lightweighting, and energy conservation, GMT (glass fiber mat reinforced thermoplastic composites) and LFT (long fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites) were represented Thermoplastic composite materials have developed rapidly and are mainly used in the manufacturing of automobile structural components. The annual growth rate has reached 10 to 15%, setting off a second period of rapid development. As the forefront of new materials, composite materials are gradually replacing metal products and other traditional materials in automotive parts, and are achieving more economical and safer results.
Fiberglass/composite automotive parts can be divided into: body parts, structural parts, functional parts and other related parts.
1. Body parts, including body shells, hood hardtops, sunroofs, doors, radiator grilles, headlight reflectors, front and rear bumpers, etc., as well as interior accessories. This is the main direction for the application of FRP/composite materials in automobiles. It mainly meets the needs of streamlined design of the body and high-quality appearance requirements. The current development and application potential is still huge. Mainly based on glass fiber reinforced thermosetting plastics, typical molding processes include: SMC/BMC, RTM and hand lay-up/injection, etc.
2. Structural parts: including front-end brackets, bumper frames, seat frames, floors, etc. The purpose is to improve the design freedom, versatility and integrity of the parts. Mainly use SMC, GMT, LFT and other materials.
3. Functional parts: Their main features are high temperature resistance and oil corrosion resistance, mainly for engines and engine peripheral parts. Such as: engine valve cover, intake manifold, oil pan, air filter cover, gear chamber cover, air guide cover, intake pipe guard, fan blades, fan air guide ring, heater cover, water tank parts, Water outlet casing, water pump turbine, engine sound insulation board, etc. The main process materials are: SMC/BMC, RTM, GMT and glass fiber reinforced nylon, etc.
4. Other related parts: such as CNG gas cylinders, sanitary facilities parts for buses and RVs, motorcycle parts, highway anti-glare boards and anti-collision columns, highway isolation piers, product inspection roof cabinets, etc.
Current application status in the automotive industry in developed countries such as Europe and the United States
The United States is the world's largest producer and consumer of FRP/composite materials. The United States uses a large number of FRP/composite materials in automobiles, which has achieved remarkable results in lightweighting automobiles. In the United States, 65% of American cars use SMC for front faces and radiator grilles; more than 95% of car headlight reflectors use BMC as the main material. The application of composite materials in automobiles covers almost all automobile manufacturers in the United States, such as the three major automobile companies, General Motors, Ford Motor, and DaimlerChrysler (DC), as well as heavy-duty vehicle manufacturers such as Mack and Aero-star.
Applications:
1. GM EV1 full FRP body electric vehicle, including SMC roof, SMC engine cover, SMC trunk lid, SMC doors, RRIM front fenders, RRIM front and rear panels, RRIM rear corner panels and rear wheel linings, SRIM full body Aerodynamic front panel, glass fiber reinforced PUR dashboard, RTM chassis.
2. Ford Calaxy front end bracket (GMT), Focus/C-MAX front window lower trim panel (SMC), Thunderbird front end panel, engine cover, front fender, rear trunk lid, rear seat cover (SMC), Cadillac XLR door panels, trunk lid, fenders, front end panel (SMC), Lincoln Continental hood, fenders, trunk lid (SMC), etc.
3. Chrysler Crossfire rear spoiler, windshield cover/a-pillar (SMC); Maybach trunk lid (SMC); engine cover, trunk lid (SMC) of Alfa Romeo Spider and Smart Roadster, etc. wait.
European applications
In Europe, countries such as Britain, Germany, France, Italy, and Sweden were early adopters of fiberglass/composite automotive parts. At present, fiberglass/composite materials have been widely used in various models of cars, buses and trucks from European automobile manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, Peugeot-Citroen, Volvo, Fiat, Lotus, and Mann. The annual consumption of automotive composite materials accounts for about 25% of its annual composite material output; about 35% of SMC and more than 80% of GMT and LFT are used in the manufacturing of automotive parts.
Applications:
1. Mercedes-Benz sedan: CL coupe trunk lid (SMC), sports coupe rear tailgate (SMC, as shown in Figure 1); SLR sunroof, soundproof cover, ventilated side panels, rear spoiler (SMC ); S series rear bumper bracket (GMT/LFT); E series headlight reflector (BMC), etc.
Mercedes-Benz Coupe model SMC rear door
2. Rear spoiler (SMC) for BMW 3 Series Touring and X5, BMW Z4 hardtop (SMC), BMW series rear bumper bracket (GMT/LFT), BMW 5 Series headlight reflector (BMC), etc.
3. VW Touareq/Polo GT1/Lupo GT1/FS1 rear spoiler (SMC), VW Golf R32 engine cover (SMC), Audi A2 split storage box (SMC), Audi A4 foldable trunk lid ( SMC), VW Golf A4 headlight reflector (BMC), and Golf all-composite body electric vehicle.
Full FRP body electric vehicle
4. Peugeot 607 spare tire box (LFT), Peugeot 405 bumper bracket (LFT), Peugeot 807 rear tailgate and fender (SMC); and Citroën series Berlingo roof template (SMC), Xantian front end bracket (LFT) , AX tail floor assembly (GMT), C80 rear tailgate (SMC), etc.
5. Volvo XC70, (BMC).
6. On new heavy-duty truck models such as Mercedes-Benz Actros/Actros Megaspace, MAN TG-A and F2000, Volvo FH/FM series, Renault Magnum/Premium/Midlum, Premium H130, Scania and Iveco Stralis, etc. All use a large number of composite materials dominated by SMC.
Asia Applications
Japan is still a recognized economic power today, and its automobile manufacturing industry is in a leading position with Europe and the United States. However, the pace and progress of using fiberglass/composite materials lags far behind. The main reason is that Japan's metallurgical industry is developed and steel materials are high-quality and low-cost. It was not until the mid-1980s that Japan officially began to actively research and develop FRP automotive parts and transitioned to large-scale production. Most of them used SMC technology, and the trend was increasing year by year. The Korean automobile industry basically follows the development path of Japanese automobile materials.
Application status in my country's automobile industry
By the mid-to-late 1980s, with the major transformation of the national automobile development policy and the introduction of foreign advanced automobile technology and capital, the application of automobile composite materials made breakthroughs with the vigorous development of my country's automobile industry, gradually changing the original traditional methods. The single operation mode of the paste process has been integrated into SMC, RTM, injection and other process technologies through technology introduction and absorption, forming certain large-scale production technology and capabilities. The quality of parts has been greatly improved, and the automotive OEMs have greatly recognized the automotive composite materials. Enhance. The large-scale application of automotive composite materials in my country began with imported models and has also been applied in some independently developed models. It has made great progress especially in recent years.
Application in sedans: my country's sedan production is still dominated by imported models, which are mainly divided into American, European and Japanese and Korean models. There are also some independent brands, such as Hongqi, Geely, BYD, Chery, Great Wall, etc. Composite material parts of imported models basically follow the original factory design, and some are locally produced and matched. However, a considerable part of the parts still need to be imported as KD parts; the use of composite materials for the upper parts of domestic brand cars will also become more and more widespread.
Applications:
1. Beijing Benz 300C fuel tank auxiliary heat insulation panel (vinyl ester SMC);
2. The hard top, engine cover, fenders (hand-lay-up FRP), front and rear bumpers, battery bracket (SMC), etc. of BAIC's second-generation military vehicle - Warrior series (Figure 5);
3. Zhengzhou Nissan Ruiqi (SUV) roof trim assembly and partition window (SMC);
4. Dongfeng Citroen Peugeot 307 front end bracket (LFT);
5. SAIC Roewe’s bottom deflector (SMC);
6. Sunroof panel (SMC) and rear backrest frame assembly (GMT) of Shanghai GM Buick Hyatt and Grand Hyatt;
7. Shanghai Volkswagen Passat B5 bottom fender (GMT); Nanjing MG roof (SMC);
8. Chery designs and uses SMC to manufacture doors in the development of new models.
Second Generation Military Vehicle Warrior Series
Application in passenger cars: FRP/composite materials are used in domestic large and luxury buses, including almost all models of all bus manufacturers such as Xiamen/Suzhou Jinlong, Xiwo, Ankai, Zhengzhou Yutong, Dandong Huanghai, Foton OV and so on. , involving application parts including front and rear surrounds, front and rear bumpers, fenders, wheel guards, skirts (side panels), rearview mirrors, instrument panels, door panels, etc. Since the parts of this type of bus are numerous, large, and small in quantity, they are generally formed using hand lay-up/injection or RTM processes.
In small and medium-sized buses, fiberglass/composite materials are also widely used. Such as SMC front bumper, hand lay-up/RTM hard top, BMC headlight reflector for Nanjing Iveco S series cars, SMC luxury visor, electric door assembly, triangle window assembly, rear luggage compartment door for Turin V series cars. Assembly and FRP rear enclosure assembly, etc. In recent years, the application of FRP/composite materials has increased in the field of minibuses, and there is a trend of using SMC and RTM processes to gradually replace the traditional hand lay-up process.
Application in trucks: With the introduction, digestion, absorption and independent innovation of truck technology, fiberglass/composite materials have achieved breakthrough applications in trucks, especially in medium and heavy trucks. The application of composite materials led by SMC and RTM is particularly active, involving cab roofs, front flip-up covers, cowl masks, bumpers, fenders, side panels, foot pedals, wheel covers and their decorative panels , door lower decorative panels, front wall decorative covers, wind deflectors, air deflectors, air deflectors, side skirts, glove boxes and internal engine parts, etc.
Application examples of automotive composite materials in Auman ETX heavy-duty trucks
Application prospects of automotive composite materials in my country
Data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers shows that in January 2024, China's automobile production and sales reached 2.41 million and 2.439 million vehicles respectively, a year-on-year increase of 51.2% and 47.9% respectively. Sales of major Chinese automobile groups such as FAW, Dongfeng, Changan, BYD and Geely continue to maintain a high growth rate. The auto market has had a good start, making a good start for the development of the auto industry throughout the year.
China's auto market has ranked first in the world in terms of production and sales for 15 consecutive years. New energy vehicle production and sales have ranked first in the world for nine consecutive years. Exports hit a new high last year...
The cars of the future won't be that different from today's cars in many ways. In today's society, people's perspective has gradually shifted to the relationship between man and nature. Environment and energy issues have become the key to the survival and development of every country in the world. With the continuous improvement of people's environmental awareness and the successive introduction of environmental protection regulations in various countries, green cars have become an inevitable trend in future automobile development. As the mainstream of future automotive material development, composite materials will surely play a very important role in it. Build a material system that integrates materials, molding processing, design, and inspection to form an alliance and group organizational system, which will make fuller use of resources (technical resources, material resources) in all aspects, closely connect the advantages of all aspects, and Promote the further development of the composite materials industry.
The automobile industry is developing rapidly, and the research on composite materials is also advancing rapidly. Various new models and new materials are constantly emerging. It can be predicted that in the near future, higher performance composite materials will be widely used in the automotive field.
Taizhou Huacheng Mold Co., Ltd. was established in 1994 and is located in Tiantai County Industrial Park, Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province. It has a moldmaking history of nearly 30 years. It is the honorary president unit of the 10th Council of the Shanghai Mold Technology Association and a governing unit of the China Composite Materials Industry Association. The company covers an area of more than 20,000 square meters and has more than 70 professional and technical personnel. In the early days of its establishment, the company mainly manufactured various types of plastic molds. Since 2003, it has transformed and focused on the R&D and manufacturing of SMC, BMC, GMT, LFT-D, HP-RTM, PCM and other composite material molds. It is a professional composite material mold solution provider.
Huacheng Company's composite material molds include aerospace, high-speed rail and subway, automobile, electrical appliances, building materials, sporting goods, integrated bathroom, water treatment series and other fields. We also have unique experience in complex aerospace mold structures and vacuum mold structures. We have jointly developed with European customers, and our mold technology has reached the international level. Form a professional mold manufacturer with many varieties, good quality and high cost performance. About 50% of the company's molds are exported to European, American and Southeast Asian countries and regions. It has been awarded the title of National High-tech Enterprise, Zhejiang Province Innovation Enterprise, Taizhou City High-tech Enterprise, and Tiantai Fifty Excellent Enterprise. It is a leading enterprise in the regional mold industry.
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