Characterization of microcellular plastics for weight reduction in automotive interior parts

Abstract

The present work deals with foaming plastic materials in order to reduce weight, cost and carbon footprint in automative parts. Glass-fiber-reinforced polypropylene (PP GF) was injection-modded in the solid and foamed states by means of the already known MuCell process and a newly emerged technology. IQ Foam, developed by Volkswagen AG. Both processes were combined with the complementary tool technology of core-back expansion molding. By increasing the thickness of the part, the apparent density decreased but the flexural stiffness was greatly enhanced. The new IQ Foam technology is able to produce foamed parts with properties compareble to that of the MuCell process, offering additional benefits such as cost-effectiveness, ease of use and machine-independence.