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Issue link: https://adp.epubxp.com/i/696759
www.ADandP.media AD&P; ∕ JULY 2016 IAC The IAC FiberFrame: a sunroof reinforcement frame based on natural fbers. It is half the weight of the traditional steel component. It is produced from kenaf and hemp fbers in a water-based thermoset binder. mat and then placed in the mold so that their edges overlap. This approach minimizes scrap (consider if they simply used a sheet: they would need to cut a large hole out of the center of it to get the frame shape). The material is subjected to both heat (approximately 200°C) and pressure. It is necessary to open the mold a couple of times during the cycle in order to let the steam dissipate. The entire cycle time, which includes both trimming and the molding in of fasteners, requires about a minute. Behnke says that the development program was largely driven by trying to reduce weight. The headliner sandwich has been subjected to mass reduction, so they looked to talking weight out of the sunroof frame. While there are, as mentioned, applications of ABS glass- flled frames, Schweindl points out that (1) those frames don't save a whole lot of mass compared to the steel unit because of the need to have thick plastic sections in order to achieve the required rigidity and (2) the coefcient of thermal expansion is sufciently diferent from that of the headliner material so that warpage and wrinkling occurs at about 100°C. Which is not an issue with the fber-based frame. (While the coefcient of thermal expansion of the fbers in the thermoset binder is similar to that of steel, the expansion of aluminum is greater than steel, which is one of the reasons why the light metal is not used in the application.) In addition to which, the natural fbers are not as abrasive as the glass fbers, which is better for tool life. Tools are another advantage of the fber frame, but in this case compared with a steel frame. While the fber frame can be made with a single tool, it may be necessary to have as many as fve for the steel component. This is not only costly, but it is also time consuming. In fact, one of the key reasons why the natural fber frame is cost-neutral compared with the traditional steel relates to the reduced tooling costs. The IAC fber frame is being used for the 2017 Mercedes E-Class. Well, at least the models that are not sold in the U.S. Realize that whereas steel is homogeneous and so its prop- erties can be simulated, that's not the case with the non-ori- ented fbers in the EcoMat Hot mat. While IAC engineers have developed the CAE data defning the properties of the fber mat, when this work was proceeding three years ago, they didn't have it and so they were unable to perform the FMVSS (Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards) head impact tests in time to make the production launch, so they tooled the part for the U.S. vehicles in steel. 51