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Panel 4: Innovative Materials
Industry-First, Mold-In-Color,
High-Gloss, High-Touch Black
Resin for Automotive Interiors
Robert D. Bedard
Product Development Engineer
Ford Motor Company
May 21, 2014
Today’s Agenda
1
• PROJECT
VISION
2
• TECHNOLOGY
COMPARISON
3
• INNOVATIONS
4
• BENEFITS
5
• QUESTIONS &
ANSWERS
Industry Trend
Fusion/Mondeo
A8/A4
Hyundai Sonata
Corvette
1 Series/F20
XJ/X351
High-Gloss Black interior finishes are popular in today’s vehicle themes
– PROJECT VISION –
UTILIZE MOLD-IN-COLOR (PAINTFREE)
TECHNOLOGY TO ACHIEVE
JEWELRY-LIKE, HIGH-GLOSS,
SOLID-COLOR AUTOMOTIVE
INTERIOR TRIM PANELS
This vision is aligned with Ford’s Primary
Brand Pillars
Smart: Pleasing to the eye, and accentuates
the interior theme & style. High-series
appearance at affordable cost.
Quality: Tough enough to withstand the rigors
of repetitive contact, use, and the external
elements
Green: Manufactured without high-gloss paint,
which is typically employed to make interior
parts shine and to provide surface protection
– TECHNOLOGY COMPARISON –
CONVENTIONAL
VS.
NEXT-GENERATION
Conventional Technology
• The conventional injection molding process leaves surface defects on the
visible surface of the component, such as weld-lines and flow-marks
• Paint must be used to:
1) cover these surface defects
2) Achieve jet-black color, high-gloss, and deep, depth-of-image
Weld-line
Flow-mark
Conventional Value Chain for High-Gloss
Paint
Resin Compounding
Injection Molding
Freight
Warehousing at
Paint Supplier
Sub-assembly
OEM
Freight
Clean-Room Paint Facility
Long supplier chain, inefficient logistics, and scrap rate at paint shop
all contribute to low, overall yield
– INNOVATIONS –
TOOLING DESIGN
MATERIAL SCIENCE
Technology Breakthrough: Theory
• A thermoplastic, in the liquid state, is injected into a mold. The thermoplastic then changes
from a liquid state to a solid state, due to heat transfer into the mold’s walls.
• When a liquid thermoplastic is divided within the mold, the temperature at the front of the flowfront is higher than at the back of the flow-front. When two “cold” flow-fronts meet, a weld-line
is produced.
• Solution: Control heat transfer by raising mold temperature as needed to reduce heat loss
a*
b*
*Advanced course on Applied Energy Engineering,
Tokyo Tech OCW
Knit Line visible to naked eye
Knit Line invisible to naked eye
Tooling Design Innovation
1• Electrically controlled heating
elements are placed within the
mold cavity to elevate the
mold’s surface temperature
above that which is used in
conventional injection molding
2• The cavity shell “floats” to
enable efficient “heat-up” and
“cool-down” phases of the
molding cycle.
3• The cavity shell is made of a
special grade of stainless steel
that provides both high thermal
conductivity and high flexibility
3
1
2
Tooling Design Innovation
• The heating elements within the cavity reduce flow-front heat loss, allowing
the thermoplastic to flow and knit homogeneously within the injection mold.
The elements are organized into zones, which govern heat delivery to
respective regions within the cavity. A controller unit is used to tailor the
amount of heat delivered to each zone, based on the amount of heat
required to achieve exceptional surface finish for complicated component
geometry.
Tooling Design Innovation
Conventional Cooling Method
New Cooling Method
A
B
A• Water flows through a “circuit” to
stabilize the temperature of the
mold’s core
B• Heat is rapidly extracted from the
mold’s core through contact with a
specially designed “cooling plate”
Material Science Innovation
• Ford Motor Company and BASF Corporation
partnered to develop an all-new polyamide resin
used to manufacture the Fusion’s four door trim
panel switch bezels; this was the automotive
industry’s first application of paint-free, jewelry-like,
jet-black trim panels located within interior hightouch zones
• This paint-free material science innovation was
achieved via the following enablers: the use of
exotic additives, optimization of the polymer
formulation, and the use of specialized colorant
packages
• Approximately 75 different iterations of additives,
polymers, and colorants were extensively tested to
hone in on the final formulation, in order to deliver
depth-of-color and to meet durability requirements
BEFORE
AFTER
BENEFITS
Technology enables a Paradigm Shift
across the entire Value Chain
Component
Design
Material
Science
Pre-2011:
Jewelry-like
Painted
Finishes
Long Supplier Chain
Creation of VOCs & CO2
High Scrap Rate
High Hidden Factory costs
Tooling
Technology
Molding
Technology
Post-2011:
Jewelry-like
Mold-In-Color
Finishes
Shortened Supplier Chain
Mitigation of VOCs & CO2
Low Scrap Rate
Reduced Hidden Factory costs
Smart
Ford Fusion Door Switch Bezels
High-Touch, High-Gloss Black Mold-In-Color
Mold-In-Color
Conventional Molding +
Pigmented Base Coat &
Clear Top Coat
Smart
“The Tip of the Iceberg”
More opportunities exist
across entire vehicles
Approximately 40% savings
per Fusion, Mondeo door bezel
Several million dollars of
incremental revenue generated per
Fusion, Mondeo
Future
Opportunity:
Future
Opportunity:
Forecasted Global Annual
Volume: approximately
6 million units
Millions of dollars of
revenue generated annually,
per additional Ford
components
Quality
• Mitigated paint-introduced quality defects like loss of adhesion,
orange peel, dirt-in-paint, dry spray, etc.
• Strengthened product appeal in marketplace.
Power & Associates APEAL Study stated:
For example, J.D.
Green
• Mitigated Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
created by paint process
• Reduced CO2 emissions due to stream-lined Value Chain. An estimated
60,000 pounds of CO2 are mitigated annually from Ford Fusion
production.
• Eliminated paint waste from entering landfills
• Improved health & safety via mitigation of exposure to harmful paint
chemicals
www.123rf.com
High-Gloss Mold-In-Color
Applications in Development
Ford Mondeo
Ford Figo
Ford Edge
Recognitions
•
2014 Automotive News PACE™ Innovation Partnership Award
•
2014 Automotive News PACE™ Innovation Award for Material
Development
Recognitions
Materials Category Finalist with
BASF Corporation, 2012
On-line Publication, 2013
US Patent Office, 2013 & 2014
On-line Publication, 2013
Our Team
Ford Motor Company: Engineering, Design, Development, & Testing
H. M. Sun, M. Masserant, C. Boese, R. Bedard, D. Woods, C. Nielsen
BASF Corporation & Americhem, Incorporated : Resin & Colorant Development
J. Leptich, H. Cowell, S. Tupper, S. Windahl, S. Hanley, T. Patel, B. Myers
Michael Tool & Mold, Synventive Molding Solutions, CUMSA: Tooling
M. Graf, J. Sulaiman, A. Hui, R. Cilia, R. Long, S. Navarra, J. de Fortuny
NADA Innovation: E-Mold Technology
M. Kang, D. Lee, K. Shin
Summit Polymers, Incorporated: Manufacturing
P. Bassett, K. Klimach, S. Crandall, K. Bulifant, M. Lazor, T. Loc
QUESTIONS
&
ANSWERS
THANK YOU!
BACK-UP SLIDES
Large Screen TVs
Technology
Evolution
Automotive Interiors
2012 Ford Escape –
High Gloss
Home Appliances
2013 Ford
Escape –
Low Gloss
Technology migrated from consumer electronics to
automotive. Ford leads in the automotive industry.
Technology Benchmarking: High-Gloss Black Finish
Panels
SUPPLIER NAME
OEM
VEHICLE
TECHNOLOGY
PROCESS
MITCHELL PLASTICS
Chrysler, Ford, Toyota
ROCTOOL
Volkswagen, Renault
Jeep Liberty
Dodge Dart
Dodge Ram
Ford F150
Toyota Corolla
BMW F20, BMW F30, Audi
A8, Peugeot 208
KEY PLASTICS - EUROPE Ford, Volkswagen, General Ford - Mondeo
Motors, Tata
VW - Golf / Prototype
Renault - Megane
Jaguar - XJ
Schaltabdeckung, XJ, XK
Citroen - B7 Miko
Audi A8
FLEX N GATE
Escalade, Cobalt, Impala,
General Motors, Ford,
Suburban, Tahoe, Volt,
Chrysler, Toyota,
Enclave, Town & Country,
Volkswagen, Nissan, Honda
Caravan, Arcadia, Yukon,
H3, Sentra, Cruze, Dakota,
Ram, Colorado, Express,
Savana
In-Mold Film
Base coat / Clear coat
paint
UltraTherm
UltraCycle
Mold-in-Color
In-Mold Film - Injection
molding
Paint - Injection molding
UltraTherm / UltraCycle
(proprietary)
3ITech rapid induction
heating, rapid water
cooling
Base Coat w/UV - VW,
Ford, Audi, Skoda,
Jaguar, PSA
Film - Jaguar, Citroen
2 shot over molded Jaguar, Highclass
Mold-in-Color - BMW,
Audi, Jaguar
In-Mold Film / In-Mold
Decoration
Hot Steam heating,
Infrared Heater, Laser
heating, Induction /
Emold, Rapid Heating
Ceramics (RHC)
Base Coat Base Coat + Top Coat Film -
NADA
Ford - Started Mass
Production 2010
General Motors - Started
Mass Production 2012
Ford - C520, CD391, CD4.2 Mold-in-Color
GM - Corvette
Emold rapid heating /
cooling
ASAHI KASEI
SABIC
Mazda, Toyota
Chrysler
Mazda Axela (Mazda3)
Dodge Dart
Stylac resin
CYCOLOY™ and GELOY™
resins
BASF
Chrysler, Ford, General
Motors, Hyundai
CD391
Mold-in-Color
Mold-In-Color
®
Ultramid resin