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Design and Manufacturing of a

TP Composite Bumper Beam by QSP®

JEC world 2017 conference

CETIM : Damien Guillon, Clément Callens

SNOP : Mickaël Moscardo, Eric Deprun, Georges TEIXEIRA

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A regional, national and international player:

➢ 115 M€ turn over,

➢ 900 employees,

➢ 8 sites in France,

➢ 44,000 m² of laboratories and platforms

➢ 3 subsidiaries in France and North Africa

Part of a strategic French R&D network:

➢ Covering all topics in the mechanical field with 9 open labs with universities

➢ Paving the way to innovative technologies on the whole product’s lifecycle

A strategy geared around innovation:➢ R&T development & support for more than 4,000 customers per year➢ Acting in standardization committees (216 seats)

Cetim the french innovation maker in mechanics

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Cetim Composite at a glance:

Polymer Material expertise for 40 years

+120 PhD, Engineers and Technicians

18M€ turn over in composite activity

Scientific partnership with:

ECNantes,

ENSCachan,

Onera,

Imperial College of London

Industrial partnership with AFPT for Spide TP

and Pinette, Loiretech and Compose for QSP

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Key Figures

➢ 834 M€ turn over,

➢ 5740 employees,

➢ 27 manufacturing plants

➢ Operating in 11 countries

➢ 400 000 Tons of steels stamped per year

3 main activities:

➢ Development and industrialization Manufacturing of BIW subassemblies

➢ Design and manufacturing of stamping dies

➢ Design and manufacturing of production means : presses and roll forming lines

Advanced Engineering :

➢ Reason for being part of the project consortium : Weight reduction thought usage of Composite must be anticipated and Product/Process knowledge acquired early.

SNOP – French leading Supplier for Body in White

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TP composite bumper beam project

Demonstration of the QSP capability

Results of a three years long process development project

A one year long part development

Design :

Specification and validation by SNOP, automotive bumper supplier

Optimization methodology to choose the better lay-up configuration

Process simulation in input of mold design and product simulation

Manufacturing

Use of in house pultruded tape

Continuous automated production with less than 2 minutes cycle time

Testing and costing

Real performance and accurate cost analysis

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Design : Use of optimization methodology

Optimization results : Thickness and anisotropy in each area

5mm thicknesswith 95% of 0° fiber

5.5 mm thicknesswith 50% of 0° fiber

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Design : Process analysis for real composite sizing

Use of « drape estimator » :

Real fiber orientation in

calculation

Choice of ply shape to avoid

material scrap

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Design : Forming Simulation

Use of Hyperform :

Validation of process estimation with explicit Finite Element Analysis using fabrics

material and inter-ply contact behavior

Precise patch shape definition and lay-up position

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Multi-thickness / multi-orientation / multi-material solution

Composite part lay-upTwo versions of patch 1 and 9 : - 4:1 fabrics- UD tape 1,2mm 0° + 0,3mm 90°

Multi-material front end bumper system1,8kg composite + 0,5kg plastics + 1,3 kg aluminium + 0,1kg rivets= 3,7 kg total weight

26% mass saving on the steel reference

①

②

③

④

⑤

⑥

⑦

⑧

⑨

Welding of aluminium part

Riveting of the beamsandwiched betweenaluminium parts

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Specification fulfill!

Test case Target

Damner crash

16 km/h

Fmax < 65 kN OK

Eabs > 4000 J OK

No Body in white damage OK

Front Pole test crash

25km/h

Finit > 20 kN OK

No final failure before 200mm calculation OK, test TBC

RCAR Bumper crash

10,5km/h

Fmax < 65 kN calculation OK, test TBC

Eabs = 3100 J calculation OK, test TBC

Enfoncement maxi. = 70 mm calculation OK, test TBC

ECE42 parking crash

4km/h

Flèche < 30mm OK

No damage OK

Towage

750daN (30°/40°)

No damage OK

Sufficient Stiffness OK

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11 General possibilities of the QSP® (Cetim’s pilot line)THERMOFORMING &

OVERMOULDINGTo add a maximum value

intra-mold& get a netshape part

RAW MATERIALS

Fibers & Thermoplastic

HIGH SPEED CUTTINGTo cut all patches needed for the multi-thickness preform

TP PULTRUSIONTo create semi-products with a low cost and high

speed of production FAST HEATINGCombining conduction & High-Speed IR ovens for multi-thickness preforms

PREFORM ASSEMBLYTo make an automated assembly of a multilayer “netshape” preform < 1min

HIGH SPEED TRANSFER< 5sec

Any other organosheets or tapes

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12 From the raw material to the preform

Pultrusion of the main reinforcement

85% of the part’s mass at lower cost

The right width to avoid scrap

The optimized thickness (1,2 mm)

and 50% volume of fibre content.

0% of scrap thanks to

rectangular cut patern

Patch 1 Patch 9 Patch 62 34 5

78

Cut patern of the pultruded tape (230 mm specific width)

Cut patern of the thin CELSTRAN tape (305 mm standard width)

1a 1b 1c1d9d

9a 9b 9c

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13 From the preform to the part

95 seconds heating time (5,7mm maximum thickness)

Temperature homogeneity (deviation<20°C) thanks to combined ovens

Forming, holes drilling and

overmoulding in one step

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14 From the preform to the part

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15 Testing

« Parking » low velocity

ECE 42 crash test

No damage

-40

-30

-20

-10

0

-40 -20 0

Forc

e (

kN)

displacement (mm)

Test simulation

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16 Testing

Pole test 36km/h

No final breaking

before 200mm of

intrusion, thanks to a

progressive failure

0

2

4

6

8

10

0 50 100 150 200

Forc

e (

kN)

displacement (mm)

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17 Economical summary

Detailed cost analysis according to automotive standard have been made

Function integration needed to enhance the performance/cost ratio.

Step Price

Composite material (prepreg price 3€/kg) 5,7 €

Cutting 0,6 €

Plastic material (compound price 3€/kg) 1,2 €

QSP 3,4 €

Composite beam total 10,9 €

Aluminium parts 11,2 €

Final assembly 1,8 €

Total system cost 23,9€

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18 Next step : Towards an integrated composite crashbox

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19 Key Benefits of QSP Bumper beam

Multi-thickness/multi-orientation preform

- 20% of composite mass compared to a constant thickness design

Proven and efficient industrial process

300,000 part/year capacity demonstrated on CETIM pilot line

With 2 cavities on a 500T press

Acceptable over-cost (comparable with the one for aluminium solution)

Prepreg price of 3€/kg possible with a 3 meters/minute pultrusion process

Freedom in material choice and 0% scrap design

Ability to mix pultrusion, fabric sheet, thin tape, and to integrate local carbon patches

Come and visit us : Composites in action - Hall 5a - Stand M81