DOI: 10.18245/ijaet.1877826 ISSN: 2146-9067

Study on the overmolding of aluminum with thermoplastics for automotive lightweight applications

Biniyam Ayele Abebe, Recep Kılıç
Show PDF Cite
The current research aims to determine the influence of thermoplastic overmolding on the impact response of aluminum alloys. The objective of the study is to improve the impact response of lightweight automotive components. The paper assesses the influence of adding polypropylene (PP) to aluminum alloy on the redistribution of stress and strain and energy absorption during impact loads. To achieve the objective, FEM simulation of an open box model made up of aluminum alloy and PP with overall thickness of 2 mm was done using ANSYS. In addition, the impact load of 10 m/s was simulated on the box. The results show that there is a significant reduction in the peak von Mises stress from 72 MPa in monolithic aluminum alloy to 52 MPa when the aluminum alloy is overmolded with PP. This is an indication of improvement in stress redistribution in the material. On the other hand, energy absorption improves when there is an overmolded polymer in the material since the impact load is absorbed better. However, the amount of deformation increases owing to the higher ductility of the polymer. Based on thickness comparison, 1 mm aluminum alloy with 1 mm polymer overmolding yields the best results in terms of stress reduction and deformation control.

More from our Archive