54 - Wednesday, November 25, 1987 - North Shore News

BY THE 1990s, plastics will make
up a significant proportion of the
structure of automobiles, including
exterior panels, the body frame
and parts of the engine.

The use of more plastics helps
manufacturers build lighter, safer,
more fuel-efficient cars.

Plastics expert, Dr. Jean-Michel
Charrier, a professor of Chemical
Engineering at McGill University,
says that by 1995 the average
North American car will weigh
about 150 kilograms less than the
1986/87 average.

By JOHN MITCHELL
Contributing Writer

The weight loss will be ac-
complished by reducing the use of
cast iron and steel where they can
be replaced by plastics and
aluminum.

The appearance in recent years
of a new range of high-technology
materials, dubbed ‘‘engineering
plastics’’, allows the replacement
of metals by plastics where a com-
bination of light weight and
strength is needled.

Drive carefully in the dark

THIS TIME of year many people
drive to and from work in the
dark.

Use extra caution by increasing
your following distance,- keep .all °
vehicle lights clean and in working

THE ONE STOP DIRECTORY FOR ALL YOUR (cout

order, and make sure headlights
are properly aimed.

The B.C. and Vancouver Safety
Councils are sponsoring a one-day
free defensive driving course Dec.
4and 5:

Call 420-4110 to register.

OF special importance is a class
of plastic materials known as
“‘composites’’. The most familiar
composites are the glass fibre rein-
forced plastics that are used in the
manufacture of small boats and,
since the mid-1950s, in the body of
some cars such as the Chevrolet
Corvette.

The aerospace industry pio-
neered the use of plastic-based
composites for the same reasons of
light weight and high strength, and
the automobile industry is adop-
ting the new technology.

In many cases, glass fibre has
been superseded as the reinforcing
fibre by ultra-high-strength fibres
such as carbon filaments.

Charrier says that the amount of
cast iron in automobiles will prob-
ably decline by as much as 50 per
cent, while the amount of plastics
and aluminum could doubic.

Although the engine block will
continue to be cast of metal, a
number; of important engine parts
can be made of light-weight high-
strength plastics. For example, the

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upper cam cover and the oil
underpan of an engine have been
fabricated from glass fibre rein-
forced plastics.

Even piston connecting rods and
valve stems have been made from
fibre-reinforced plastics, because
plastics’ light weight reduces the
power needed to move these rapid-
ly-oscillating parts.

Plastic composites are being us-
ed instead of metals to construct
the long drive shafts in vans and
trucks, leading to reduced weight
and less vibration. General Motors
has introduced springs made of
plastic composites in the Corvette.

Composites are being evaluated
for use in automobile body frames,
replacing the heavier metal frames
row in use.

Charrier says one promising
possibility is a passen-
ger-compartment frame made of
plastic composites, attached to
molded front and rear composite
frames; the latter would collapse in
a controlled manner under severe

Reflect on
Tsave| ON

impact, leaving the passenger space
intact.

Wraparound bumpers, made
entirely of molded plastics, feature
a “honeycomb”’ structure that ab-
sorbs energy in low-speed colli-
sions. The Ford Escort already
carries all-plastic bumpers.

First introduced in the 1960s by
Citroen, fibre-reinforced plastic
wheel rims are now being consid-
ered by other automobile manu-
facturers to further reduce weight.

The vertical sides, and the hori-
zontal hood and rear deck panels,
of cars are expected to be made to
an increasing extent from high-
strength plastics. Even the
tempered glass in the side and rear
windows may be replaced by
lighter-weight acrylic or polycar-
bonate plastic glazing, Charrier
says.

Plastic materials are already be-
ing used as sound-deadening
coatings, and plastic-based floor
panels are expected to provide fur-
ther noise reduction.

(Canadian Science News)

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| EXPIRES DECEMBER 31, 1987

be
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