In JEC World 2018, Sabic announced the results of life cycle assessment of passenger car side doors made with its hybrid material solution, including laminates made from its continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic composite (CFRTC) and UDMAX GPP 45-70 strip.
This material system is designed to help automakers better meet stringent energy consumption standards and emissions regulations.
This externally certified life cycle evaluation from cradle to grave shows that the doors made of glass-reinforced polypropylene composites have the potential to “make global warming potential and accumulate energy demand” two important environments. The indicators are better than metal doors.
In addition to being significantly lower in weight than steel, aluminum and magnesium, CFRTC parts also provide superior strength and corrosion resistance, and can be used in injection molding to achieve high volume production.
This life cycle assessment is performed in accordance with the ISO 14040/44 standard and is based on the use of a thermoplastic resin matrix composite containing UDMAX GPP 45-70 tape, together with an injection grade grade of glass filled thermoplastic resin. The passenger car (typical car) side door was compared with the same car door made of steel, aluminum and magnesium alloys.
According to design requirements, the UDMAX tape was first converted into a laminate and then Sabic's STAMAX glass-reinforced polypropylene was overmolded on both sides of the substrate to create a hybrid material system.
In the comparative test, the new European driving cycle standard was used to test the vehicle operating parameters of the three kinds of powertrains, namely the internal combustion engine drive, plug-in hybrid and electric drive, and the life cycle of the test car was over 200,000 km.
Tests on internal combustion engine vehicles show that the doors of this thermoplastic composite material have lower global warming potential than three metal doors: 26% lower than steel doors, 21% lower than aluminum doors, and higher than magnesium doors. 37% lower. For hybrid cars and electric cars, these figures are slightly different.
In terms of cumulative energy consumption requirements, the door of this thermoplastic composite material is also lower than the data of metal doors. In the comparison of internal combustion engine cars, the cumulative energy consumption required for thermoplastic composite doors is 10% lower than that of steel doors. The door is 13% lower, 26% lower than the magnesium door. Similarly, these data are slightly different for hybrid and electric vehicles.
An important reason for these results is the lighter weight brought by the UDMAX GPP laminates: 40% lighter than steel, 15% lighter than aluminum, and 7% lighter than magnesium.