Polymer dashboard

This method is eminently suited for the manufacture of large objects such as containers of several m3 content, and also non-closed articles such as furniture, dashboards etc. The normally applied material thickness is in between 1.5 and 15 mm, dependent on the type of article. The maximum possible thickness is about 30 mm, because with thicker parts the time needed to melt the polymer is so long that part of the material may already decompose before the whole mass is sufficiently heated. It is, sometimes, tried to circumvent this difficulty by filling the mould with pre-melted material, obtained from an extruder. 

All rubbers, glasses, and plastics are polymers. You are probably familiar with natural polymers like cellulose (the building block of plant fibers) and synthetic polymers like polyethylene (plastic milk cartons), polyisoprene (automobile tires), polyethylene terephthalate (soft drink bottles), polymethyl methacrylate (Plexiglas ), polyvinylidene chloride (transparent plastic wrap), polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon ), and various polyesters (fabrics). Polyvinyl chloride, the polymer shown earlier, is used to make rigid pipes, house siding, and protective coverings for automobile seals and dashboards, among many other applications. 

Major polymer applications housings for electronic and electrical plications, instrument lenses packaging for higli barrier properties, bottles, appliances (housings, air conditioner parts, refrigerator shelves, blenders, lenses), house-wares (eating utensils, beverage/food containers, display boxes), automotive (dashboard, battery cases)... 

Table 3.5 presents the various types of polymer materials used in a vehicle, their quantities, and their approximate mass. At 20 kg, interior trim represents the highest amount of polymer usage, followed closely by the dashboard and seats. 

Stretch of a dashboard structure built with polyolefin-based polymers. 

Polymers Thermoplastics Pump casings Fan impellers, frontend, underbody Surfboard, packaging, dashboard... 

Among Ihe most commercially prevalent of these alloys is the PVC-NBR blends, the properties of which approach those of thermoplastic elastomers. Since nitiile elastomers are well established in conventional elastomer applications such as hoses, belts, and calendared goods, these alloys are found in many of the same fabricated products. NBR s are available in a variety of molecular weights, gel levels, comonomer rahos, and in physical forms ranging from powders to crumb rubber to slabs or bales of rubber. Alloys of these polymers are commonly found in automotive dashboard skins, wire and cable compounds, water and fuel hoses, and oil resistant boots and outerwear, among others (83). 

In this process, gas (nitrogen) is injected into the molten polymer to form hollow sections inside a part. The gas can be injected via the machine nozzle or through mold nozzles. GAIM is widely employed in the automotive, consumer and furniture industry, especially for parts with thick sections. Typical products are bumpers, dashboards, pillar covers, pedals, rear guidances, automotive door panels and arm rests, handles, copier doors, housings and covers, TV and monitor cabinets, CD-ROM trays, crates, chair legs, etc. [4]. 

The enthusiasm in this field is explained by the number of potential applications. For example wood-polymer composites (WPC), mostly manufactured through extmsion and injection moulding processes are used in automotive (dashboards or screen-doors of the vehicles) and construction applications (interior floor coverings, profiles for doors and windows, ornamental panels, external shutters, pavements, garage, or entrance doors). Replacement of wood products for building applications such as particleboard and fiberboard materials or injection mouldable wood is another area where natural fibers are generating increased interest. 

Optically active polymers (OAPs) have made many significant contributions to optical fibers for cable TV, optical scanners, optical fiber telephone cables, optical data storage, optical monitors for antilock brakes, optical fiber dashboard displays, computer-generated optical elements, optical inspection of labeling and packaging, optical stereo-lithography and many more. 

Figure 6 shows a sketch of the dashboard designed for recycling and obtained with a process based on the previously described assembhng technique. The system has three basic components, that, in the past were made of different materials in a new design this system has been molded from TPO based polymers to provide rigidity, comfort, safety, and aesthetics. Some prototypes have been recycled following the traditional procedures for the scrap recovery of thermoplastic materials. The mechanical characteristics of the obtained materials are reported in Table 9. 

Regarding the whole dashboard or interior cladding part, it becomes obvious that different pol5miers are combined. At the end of the vehicle hfe-cycle, the recycling of these parts requires the separation of the different materials. Due to a new directive of the European Parliament and of the Coimcil on end-of-life vehicles, the automotive manufacturers are responsible for the recycling of the vehicles they produce. Therefore, the production of parts that are made from only one polymer type becomes more important. Future trends predict the demand of the automotive manufacturers to their sub-suppliers to deliver parts made from only one material. Thus, the whole part can be shredded and re-processed without delaminating of the single layers. 

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