SPE Automotive Awards Hail ‘Firsts’ and New Technologies
The 2022 automotive innovations awards gave nods to several ‘firsts’ and added alternative vehicle systems category
The 51st annual Society of Plastics Engineers Automotive Div. Blue Ribbon Automotive Innovations Awards once again showcased several “firsts” among 10 categories, which included innovations in the new categories of Electric & Autonomous Vehicle Systems and Aftermarket & Limited Edition/Specialty Vehicles and an expanded Environmental category renamed to Sustainability. As has been the case for the last several years, thermoplastics led by far in all categories, though this year’s grand award winner went to a thermoset system also winning in the Chassis/Hardware category; and other hybrid thermoplastic/thermoset parts were also included. (Full details at ptonline.com.)
The Grand Award went to what is reportedly the first all-composite leaf spring for light trucks, featured on the 2022 General Motors Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra. Produced by Mubea, a German tier 1 automotive and aviation supplier with fiberglass/epoxy prepreg layup and compression molding, this part reduces mass up to 75% vs. all-steel and 58% vs. hybrid steel/composite solutions while doubling durability, eliminating corrosion, improving ride comfort, lowering NVH, and increasing payload.
Other winning “firsts” included 60,000 TPU spoiler closeout seals for the rear spoiler on the 2022 Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban, Cadillace Escalade and GMC Yukon made by powder-bed fusion; injection molded carbon-fiber/thermoplastic C-brade on the 2022 Ford Bronco Raptor; second-row seatback and cushion structure for the 2022 Toyota Tundra, made of a pultruded glass/PUR beam injection overmolded with short-glass nylon 6; and a panoramic sunroof frame on the 2022 Hyundai Kia Sorento that’s injection molded of nylon 6 reinforced with novel flat long-glass fibers. Also noteworthy were a high-pressure oil-cooler gasket seals for the 2022 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra made of a new ethylene acrylic TPV that competes with fluoropolymers, developed jointly by DuPont and the Tier 1, Uchiyama Marketing & Development America; polycarbonate light guides for the 2022 Chevrolet Blazer made by a new direct-exposure laser-welding process.
The winner of the new Electric & Autonomous Vehicle Systems category is a customizable shielded high-voltage power-distribution system on the 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck. It permits seven sets of subassemblies and up to 64 possible configurations from a single tool, providing both flexibility and scalability for future programs. It was produced by Yazaki North America with three different materials from DuPont (now part of Celanese). A flame-retardant, 25%-glass PBT forms the injection molded internal assembly and terminal blocks, and a silicone seal is overmolded directly onto a 30%-glass PBT cover. A unique shielding system uses stamped connection interfaces that reduce mass by two-thirds vs. cast metal while maintaining electromagnetic shielding.
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