JEC Group, the world largest composites industry organization, has launched the JEC Innovation Awards Program. Its jury has selected the best composite innovations, based on their technical interest, market potential, partnerships, financial and environmental impact and originality.

This year, three automotive-related composites innovations have been awarded to:

- PSA Peugeot Citroën (France) in the automotive Body-in-White category: Design and manufacturing of a 100 percent-composite self-supporting front floor module

- Hyundai Motor Europe Technical Centre (Germany) in the automotive safety category: Front bumper crash beam produced by curved reactive thermoplastic pultrusion

- Hyundai Motor Company (Republic of Korea) wins a jury prize for its carbon frame design for an automotive body

Automotive Body-In-White category: PSA Peugeot Citroën, in association with partner Plastic Omnium of France, made ground-breaking design studies to replace a traditional steel body-in-white by a multi-material car body design using lighter materials. This innovation is based on the design and manufacturing of a 100 percent-composite self-supporting front floor module using thermoset resin and glass fibre reinforcements. One of the biggest challenges was to create a concept for mainstream automotive applications with high production rate targets without any cost impact on the Peugeot and Citroën end-consumers.

One of the targets was to introduce the composite module in an existing plant without having to build a specific line. It is the first innovative concept with a 100 percent-composite structural design, which completely replaces traditional metal beams on the car-body floor for crash requirements. The composite module is designed to absorb crash impact and offer other body-in-white functionalities. It is composed of four composite parts, replacing a perimeter equivalent to more than thirty traditional steel parts assembled. This new design method reduces assembly costs. The composite front floor is based on an SMC manufacturing technology developed by Plastic Omnium for this application and is produced in a 2-minute cycle time. It is made from a specific thermoset material, an advanced SMC material also produced by Plastic Omnium.

This advanced SMC is based on a specific vinylester resin and reinforced with a high percentage of chopped glass fibers. A preforming step precedes the thermo-compression process in order to improve the robustness of the SMC technology. This SMC technology enables Plastic Omnium to produce huge parts (1.5.m x 1.5.m) in one shot with a standard, 2500-T industrial compression press. It helps control the module’s cost. To be able to deliver a 900-vehicle per day production rate, Plastic Omnium validated a fully automated process.

Complete vehicles were tested amidst a large validation plan and passed vehicle testing procedures: crash tests, NVH, fatigue, vehicle handling, EMC, car-body torsions, etc. This PSA Peugeot Citroën innovation is integrated into the Peugeot 208 Hybrid Air 2L and Citroën C4 Cactus Concept Airflow 2L models presented at the 2014 Paris Motor Show.

Automotive Safety Category: The winner is Hyundai Motor Europe Technical Centre, Germany, in association with Plastic Omnium (France), CQFD Composites (France) and Arkema (France).

This project consists in a front bumper crash beam produced by curved reactive thermoplastic pultrusion (CRTP), using hybrid fibres (carbon and glass) and thermoplastic overmoulding (a world’s first for a process of this type).

Thanks to the use of composite materials, the weight reduction is 3.7kg (i.e. a 43% decrease) when compared to steel counterparts, while integrating a cost control function.

The final phase of the innovation project – the full vehicle crash tests – is currently being implemented. This means all previous phases were successfully completed: innovation development and feasibility confirmation, design and simulation, tooling, prototype trials, component evaluations, etc.

A specific target vehicle has already been determined for this innovation but it can be applied to all vehicles.

Jury Prize Category: Hyundai Motor Co in association with Lotte Chemical (Republic of Korea), Hyosung Corporation (Republic of Korea) and Axon Automotive (UK) bagged this award for their carbon frame design for an automotive body.

At the core of the pioneering frame around which the Intrado concept car is based are carbon-fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) tubes which are as flexible as rope. By aligning and curing them with a mixture of CFRP, the resulting structure becomes rigid and strong.

The frame is formed from precisely-shaped continuous loops made from the newly-formed material. These serve as self-contained modular frames for the roof, hood and even the entire aperture for the door on either side of the car – which are then bonded to each other along their lengths at ambient temperature. The seals of the opening panels shut directly against these frames, further reducing weight and showcasing the carbon fiber whenever the doors, hood or trunk are opened.

By bonding the carbon loops along their lengths, rather than at cross-sections, the Intrado’s frame is stronger and suffers from less torsional stresses, meaning the agility and precision of the engineering remains constant. Additionally, the ‘open’ corners allow the designers greater flexibility. Running along the length of the Intrado is a ‘floating’ centre console beam. This beam provides the Intrado with its unique strength in addition to connecting the passenger compartment and powertrain with the carbon frame. It serves as a mounting point for essential controls and protective padding, and also supports the frame’s integration with the fuel cell powertrain and the passenger compartment.

The unique qualities of the Intrado make it more repairable than typical carbon fibre structures as damaged sections, or parts of sections, can be repaired without using expensive tooling or ovens. The strength and rigidity of this central structure also allows body panels to be constructed from any material – giving designers greater flexibility and further aiding reparability. The super-lightweight structure of the Intrado is formed from a mixture of advanced materials, and demonstrates Hyundai’s and its collaborators’ desire to produce lighter, stronger cars that are even better to drive and simpler to repair.

By building the Intrado with advanced carbon fibre-reinforced composites, a 50 percent saving in the overall weight is achieved compared to similar steel structures.