Mazda Motor Corporation, with Japan Polypropylene Corporation, has developed jointly resin material for vehicle parts claimed to maintain the same rigidity as parts made with conventional materials while achieving claimed “significant weight reduction”.
“Using this material, the parts manufactured are thinner than those using conventional resin, resulting in a significant reduction in the resin required to manufacture parts,” Mazda said. “When the material is used for both front and rear bumpers, it contributes to weight reduction of approximately 20%. In the bumper production process, this reduced thickness allows for a shorter cooling period for moulding and, by using computer-aided engineering (CAE) technology, the fluidity of the resin material has also been optimised.
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“As a result, bumper moulding time, previously 60 seconds, has been halved to 30 seconds, leading to major reductions in the amount of energy consumed in the production process.”
Mazda plans to adopt the claimed lightest bumpers in the class using this new resin material in the CX-5 SUV due on sale this spring plus other planned new models.
Bumper weight has a major impact on fuel economy and driving performance, the automaker added. They also are multi-functional, requiring both rigidity to absorb impact, and moulding and painting properties suitable for attractive exterior design.
The new material blends two components found in polypropylene and rubber, the constituents of resin, that have different properties, and distributes them in a double-layer structure in line with the required function for the surface and the inside of the base bumper material. As a result, the surface has excellent paint film adhesion and the inner section retains high rigidity and impact absorption, with reduced thickness.
