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A NEW INTEGRATED DOOR FROM QUADRANT PLASTIC COMPOSITES
11 June 2006 - Quadrant EPP
| A new integrated door from Quadrant Plastic Composites hardware module, produced by the Ranger Group for Italian automaker, Lancia's Ypsilon subcompact
Passenger car, meets all European side-impact and hip-protection requirements with no foam pad, injectionmolded inlay, or other carrier reinforcement. |
Additionally, Lancia was able to use a minimized steel bar in the door's outer skin. The module provides intrusion protection through clever design and high-tech, glass-mat thermoplastic composites from Quadrant Plastic Composites. Integrated Door Hardware Modules – Benefits & Challenges
Many types of integrated door-hardware modules (carriers) have been commercialized in the past 15 years, including allsteel, gas-assist injection-molded thermoplastic, long-fiberreinforced thermoplastic, and hybrid units combining
several material types. While these modules reduced a significant number of components and fasteners, lowered weight, and facilitated on-line assembly into the vehicle, they offered no additional occupant protection in a side-impact crash. All automakers must meet intrusion-protection standards for the passenger or driver. But in Europe, there is also an additional hip-protection requirement to meet. Since there was no easy way to integrate this function into existing door module designs, a separate component, either a foam pad or injection-molded inlay, had to be installed. Ironically, this step added both weight and components, two of the features that door hardware modules were designed to reduce. A Different Way to Build a Hardware Module Tier 2, Ranger Group set out to find a
better way to design and build an integrated door hardware module that would incorporate integral hip protection and other key features such as: •• Multiple fixation holes & locators,
•• Screw domes,
•• Speaker & door-handle pockets,
•• Door-opening system guidance & fixations,
•• Wiring fixation and guidance, and
•• Window-opening system & guidance. Ranger Group narrowed its materials search to 2 categories of composite materials, long-fiber reinforced thermoplastics and glass-mat thermoplastics, and designed aggressive test requirements for the materials to pass.
http://http://www.quadrantplastics.com
About: Quadrant EPP
Quadrant, a Swiss-based public company, is a global leader in high-performance polymer materials and thermoplastic
composites which are superior in performance over metals and other materials. With 1300 employees at 27 specialised
locations worldwide, the Quadrant Group generates annual net sales of over CHF 400 million.
Quadrant develops, manufactures and distributes engineering plastics shapes – rods, bars, plates, sheets, tubes – and machined parts made of PBI, PAI, PEEK, PPS, PTFE, PEI, PPSU, PSU, PC, PET, POM, PA.
Quadrant also produces Symalit fluoroplastics (PVDF, ECTFE, ETFE, FEB, MFA, PFA), injection moulded components and cable protection conduits. Our plastic composites are produced from polypropylene matrices and glass or natural fibres and include glass mat thermoplastics (GMT, GMTex) and light weight reinforced thermoplastics (SymaLITE). |
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