Motor vehicles must constantly meet new demands. Thus, there is a general need to reduce the weight of the motor vehicle while the safety requirements remain the same. The safety requirements are guaranteed by structural or chassis components. Thus, considered as structural parts in the context of the present invention are, for example, parts of the undercarriage, floor panels, floor pans, door impact bars, roof reinforcements, window frame reinforcements, bumpers, B-column reinforcements and B-columns, instrument panel supports, battery cases, tank containers, water tanks, spare wheel recesses, etc. Common to the mentioned structural parts is that they are not part of the visible skin of the motor vehicle and are mainly used, due to their supporting function, to receive and/or transmit forces which act on the motor vehicle. Considered as chassis components in the context of the present invention are, for example, crossmembers of the chassis, subframes, suspension arms, hinge bearings, stabilisers, engine cross members, twist-beam rear axles, wheel control modules, but also the wheel shell of a rim. Chassis components are therefore components which have a functional association with the chassis or with the driving characteristics of the motor vehicle and thereby with the safety requirements for motor vehicles.
In the case of materials which have generally been used hitherto for structural and chassis components of a motor vehicle, the limits for further reductions in weight for structural or chassis components consisting of a single material have almost been reached. German patent DE 102 21 582 B4 discloses the use of composite materials in motor vehicles for skin components, in particular vehicle roofs. The composite material consists of a metal layer with an underlying plastics layer of thermoplastic and of a third layer consisting of a fibre-reinforced plastics material.
Furthermore, DE 10 2009 006 130 A1 discloses a planar component for motor vehicles which consists of a composite component of at least three different material layers, namely a carrier layer of metal, an adhesive layer of elastomer and a cover layer of carbon fibre-reinforced or mixed carbon fibre-reinforced plastics material.
From the prior art (DE 38 18 479 A1), a composite material is also known for external components of motor vehicles, which consists of a metal layer, an adhesive and a polypropylene layer.
Finally, DE 10 2007 009 928 A1 discloses a hybrid component for automobile manufacture which also consists of a metal-plastics-composite body with a metal component and a glass fibre-reinforced plastics component, an adhesive layer being provided between the two components.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds