In today's automotive industry, electrification, intelligence and other new trends are developing rapidly, in this process, non-metallic materials can improve the weight of automobiles, optimize the safety performance of automobile crashes, and improve comfort, the development prospects are widely optimistic.
Not just weight loss, non-metallic materials incarnate "all-rounder"
Although traditional fuel vehicles still have an absolute advantage in quantity, new energy vehicles, as the development direction of the automobile industry, are ushering in explosive growth. According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, in 2021, the production and sales of new energy vehicles reached 3.545 million units and 3.521 million units, respectively, an increase of 1.6 times year-on-year, and the market share increased to 13.4%, 8 percentage points higher than that of the previous year.
New energy vehicles are growing rapidly; image source: Gaz Auto
As far as new energy vehicles, especially pure electric vehicles, are concerned, the mileage has always been the focus of consumers' attention, and it is also the selling point for manufacturers to compete for the market. Because of this, related manufacturers attach more importance to the lightweight of automobiles than before.
Related studies have found that for pure electric vehicles, the weight of the vehicle is reduced by 10kg, and the driving range can be increased by 2.5km. Another data shows that only a 10% increase in body-in-white weight will lead to an 8% reduction in the range of an electric vehicle on a single charge. Not only that, once the cruising range is reduced, it may also affect the consumer's intelligent and comfortable experience.
However, the lightweight of automobiles is not an easy task, not only to achieve weight reduction, but also to take into account the performance of collision, safety and other aspects, which is a complex system engineering. In this regard, non-metallic materials have great potential.
Henkel has a lot of say in this.
Founded in 1876, the company has the unique strength to focus on the adhesives business for more than 100 years and is the world's leading supplier of adhesives, sealants and functional coating solutions. Over the years, Henkel has been highly competitive in the field of high-tech industry, providing a wide range of precision adhesive products for the aviation industry, so the dimensionality reduction is used in the automotive industry, Henkel has obvious advantages, and it is easy to do. In the automotive industry, Henkel has become an important partner in the development and manufacturing processes of OEMs and component suppliers, and its high-performance adhesives and sealants help manufacturers design and manufacture high-performance, lightweight vehicles, while also actively working to improve safety, comfort and added value to create a competitive advantage for customers.
In addition to the profound accumulation of product technology, in order to help downstream manufacturers respond to industry trends such as electric vehicles, driverless cars and lightweighting, Henkel has also continuously strengthened its engineering design capabilities through cooperation and other means.
In 2018, Henkel formed a strategic alliance with RLE International to jointly promote the innovation of new energy concepts and lightweight in the automotive industry. It is reported that the global core business of Ruili Technology mainly provides efficient and advanced engineering expertise for the field of automotive vehicle development and design, involving concept development, vehicle and safety engineering, electrical/electronic systems, new energy and lightweight design, etc. Through the strong combination with Ruili Technology, Henkel's engineering design capabilities have been greatly improved, and it can intervene in project engineering development from an early stage, evaluate relevant performance and provide design optimization solutions to better meet the requirements of automobile lightweight, crash performance, NVH performance and other aspects. As the so-called "good steel makes on the blade", as an advanced materials expert, Henkel, the advantages of material properties, through the organic combination of excellent design and simulation capabilities, such as tiger wings, so that the product is continuously optimized and upgraded, continue to bring multiple benefits to customers, and reduce costs.
Henkel offers design optimization solutions; Image source: Henkel
According to Gaz Automotive, Henkel's non-metallic material solutions have been able to reduce the weight of the car body-in-white by 50 kg, while providing the same or even higher performance in terms of collision and safety. At present, Henkel has provided complete structural solutions for the mass production models of many domestic new energy vehicle head enterprises. Specifically, Henkel offers a comprehensive body structure portfolio, including structural reinforcements (reinforced skeletons, structural foams), reinforced patches and structural tapes.
Henkel's comprehensive body structure portfolio; Image source: Henkel
As far as structural reinforcements are concerned, henkel products use lightweight, high-performance structural foam and reinforced nylon skeletons for columns, sills, beams, frames, engine mounts, doors, and body panels, which have been proven to reduce the weight of body-in-white and open-close parts by more than 40 kg, meet or exceed crash and NVH safety standards, and reduce joints by 6%.
Henkel reinforcement SMDs are used to reinforce and reinforce body panels, thin metal sections or high-stress area door panels, hoods, fenders, body and roof panels with an expansion rate of 0-100% for design flexibility. It is reported that the reinforced patch is suitable for aluminum plate, ultra-high strength steel plate, traditional steel plate and other different substrates, the use of low-density, pre-designed reinforced patch, can reduce the thickness of the corresponding plate, in order to achieve the purpose of weight reduction.
In addition, Henkel Structural Adhesives effectively bond materials that are not easy to weld, enabling lightweight designs. The American Chemistry Council study showed that using 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of glue can reduce the weight of a car by 25 kilograms (55 pounds). According to the Sealant Association, in the North American market, more than 26 meters (87 extended feet) of structural adhesive are used per vehicle. Not only that, Henkel points out that not only is it lightweight, but the bonded flange faces can distribute the load evenly compared to welding, which can increase energy absorption by up to 25% to improve collision performance. It also reduces structural vibrations.
It can be seen that in the process of automobile lightweighting, non-metallic materials have become "all-rounders", which can play a lot of "tricks", and the potential is expected to be further released with the promotion of Henkel and other related manufacturers.
To meet the high demands of comfort, non-metallic materials play a key role
While the trend of electrification and intelligence is developing, the comfort requirements of automobiles are also rapidly improving, which has become a key factor affecting the decision of automobile consumers to buy cars.
Dale Jamieson, Automotive OEM Engineering Director of Henkel Adhesive Technologies, notes that some of the factors affecting passenger comfort are obvious, such as seat heaters, multi-zone air conditioning, one-button start, etc., but some are less obvious, such as NVH (noise, vibration and harshness). Specifically, this can be divided into two main aspects, the first is structured noise, which refers to the noise generated by the body itself, followed by the noise of wind and air, which refers to the noise and air of the car through the body when driving.
This puts forward higher requirements for non-metallic materials, not only to achieve vehicle lightweighting under the premise of taking into account the performance of collision and safety, but also to meet the higher requirements of NVH. In fact, as we can already see from the foregoing, NVH is already one of the key considerations in related material solutions.
In the case of Henkel, there are already many solutions in place in this regard. It is reported that Henkel's solution can reduce structure noise and wind noise, helping to improve passenger comfort. Examples include structural reinforcements that increase the vehicle's bending and torsional stiffness and high-damping foam that helps absorb vibrations on the roof or door panels at high speeds. In addition, to help reduce the impact of wind and air noise, Henkel offers sealing expansion blocks as 3D parts that help suppress noise propagation, and Henkel also has a pumpable column foam sealing material that can be used to fill sheet metal gaps in welding workshops to stop the spread of noise.
Henkel damping foam can replace vibration isolation clay; Image source: Henkel
Specifically, Henkel damping foam (HDF) can replace vibration isolation glue, eliminate butyl rubber pads, and achieve or exceed the original NVH performance, which can significantly reduce roar, raindrops, and road noise. It is also understood that its expansion rate is 10% to 30%, with the potential to reduce weight and cost, can be pumped, supports fully automatic production lines, can support effective beads and light touch applications to reduce trial and error.
Henkel's acoustic seals of expansion blocks and tapes fill the cavity gap and prevent air and noise from entering. Both have variable expansion rates for flexible design. Among them, the expansion block can seal a large cavity of more than 25 mm, the expansion rate is 400% to 2500%, support pumpable applications, and the sound insulation tape can seal a gap of 1.4 to 22 mm, and the expansion rate is 200% to 1000%.
In addition, Henkel pumps and extruses sealants that prevent water, wind and flue gas ingress, seal seams and welds with expansion rates from 0 to 300% and are used in instrument panels, roof headers, sill plates, taillight openings, etc.
Henkel can pump and extrude sealants in applications; Image source: Henkel
Although the above are only some product cases, it can be seen that related products play a key role in improving vehicle NVH and passenger comfort. Behind these products is Henkel's emphasis on the development of new materials for many years, trying to reduce or eliminate noise sources and optimize the transmission path of in-car noise. It is understood that Henkel's acoustic centers around the world can provide engineering and physical assessment services to help related companies choose the right materials in the right place.
Dale Jamieson said: "Henkel has the ability to help achieve this goal with CAE simulation analysis. We can determine which parts of the vehicle need to be assigned materials, and we can use the material properties to determine which suitable materials to add to which parts of the vehicle. We are also able to help achieve this with a wide range of qualitative and quantitative analysis equipment, including laser vibrometers, reverberation chambers and anechoic chambers, in order to most accurately identify options for improving these areas. By leveraging our NVH portfolio, we can truly help improve passenger comfort in the vehicles of the future. ”
Combined with the above, non-metallic materials can not only reduce vehicle weight and reduce costs, but also have great advantages in improving safety and comfort. Not only that, driven by head manufacturers such as Henkel, the continuous innovation of related products is becoming more obvious. Because of this, when new trends such as electrification and intelligence become more and more intense, non-metallic materials are expected to be applied in automobiles at an unprecedented speed and play an increasingly important role.