Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

United States Council for Automotive Research

United States Materials Automotive Partnership, LLC

Peter H Foss

Yen-Lung Chen

Mark William Verbrugge

Elisabeth Jane Berger

Xiaohong Gayden

Leonid Charles Lev

Jon T Carter

John D Fickes

Alan L Browne

Nilesh D Mankame

Hamid Ghavami Kia

David R Sigler

Michael D Hanna

Yongqiang Li

John Neal Owens

Peter M Parlow

Jorge F Arinez

Terrence Wathen

John P Miller

John P Fuchs

Erik Arthur Banks

Douglas L Faulkner

Dean Robert Oswald

Methods and systems are provided for generating a mold. In one embodiment, a method includes: determining, by a processor, a fiber orientation for a plurality of points in a part; determining, by the processor, a distortion value based on the fiber orientations; and generating, by the processor, mold dimensions based on the distortion values.

Methods and systems for modeling of distortion in molded composites

A method and associated device for joining a first workpiece to a second workpiece employing a vibration welder includes placing the first and second workpieces in a lapped arrangement and interposing an adhesive material between contiguous surfaces of the first and second workpieces. A first compressive load is applied to a spot welding locus associated with the lapped arrangement of the first and second workpieces, and then relaxed. A second compressive load is applied to the lapped arrangement of the first and second workpieces simultaneous with applying, via a vibration welder, a vibrational excitation to the spot welding locus associated with the lapped arrangement of the first and second workpieces. The applied vibrational excitation is discontinued, and the second compressive load continues to be applied to the spot welding locus associated with the lapped arrangement of the first and second workpieces for a period of time subsequent thereto.

Method and apparatus for vibration welding

A pillar for a vehicle includes a translucent polymer composite having chopped reinforcing fibers incorporated therein. The pillar also includes a truss embedded in the translucent polymer composite and disposed substantially along a length of the pillar. The truss and the translucent polymer composite share a loading condition applied to the pillar. The pillar is to be disposed between a lower body portion of the vehicle and a roof of the vehicle to support the roof.

Vehicle pillar

Methods of joining a magnesium substrate to a second substrate are provided. A region of the magnesium substrate and a region of the second substrate are aligned to provide an overlap. A region of the overlap is deformed to provide a joint. A polymeric material is disposed in the joint to secure together the magnesium substrate and the second substrate. The joining of the magnesium substrate and the second substrate is facilitated by using a die in various aspects.

Method of joining magnesium

A method of manufacturing a non-ferrous, light metal alloy vibration-damped part for a vehicle chassis includes introducing a polymer insert into a cavity formed in the part. The polymer insert may be introduced into the cavity by separately fabricating the polymer insert and then sliding or maneuvering the insert into the cavity or by injecting a liquid polymer material into the cavity and then solidifying and shrinking the liquid polymer material into the polymer insert. The vibration-damped light metal alloy part can damp vibrations that originate within or are imparted to the part when such vibrations effectuate relative contacting frictional movement between an exterior surface of the polymer insert and an interior surface of the cavity.

Manufacturing a vibration damped light metal alloy part

A method is disclosed for forming corrosion-resistant joints in a plurality of overlapping thin metal sheet workpieces, at least one of which comprises at least 85% by weight of magnesium sheets. The fastener is a fiber-reinforced polymer rod shaped and sized for insertion into a coaxial opening formed in each sheet and subsequently upset on each end to form a head. The workpiece sheets are deformed to form mechanically-interfering features which cooperatively complement the strength of the fastener, under at least some joint loading patterns. The method may be used for other workpiece and fastener compositions.

Joining magnesium with reinforced polymer composite fasteners

A shape memory polymer workpiece is attached to a second workpiece. A face of the SMP workpiece is placed against an attachment surface of the second workpiece. The second workpiece has an attachment hole(s). The SMP workpiece is activated (e.g., heated) to a softening temperature and a portion extruded into the attachment hole of the facing surface of the second workpiece. The SMP piece is held while still heated against the second workpiece, the material flowing as result of the shape memory effect to form an attachment. As the SMP material cools while still under load its modulus increases fixing the attachment geometry. Reheating the attached parts without pushing them together reverses the process.

Joining polymer workpieces to other components

One side of a metal sheet is joined to a polymer layer by applying heat to a joining area on the opposite side of the metal. The heat flows through the thin metal to activate a thermoplastic material or heat setting polymer into a bond with the metal. The method can be used to bond the metal sheet to a plastic body or another metal member. It is preferred to use a friction or friction stir tool to heat the metal surface.

Friction heating for joining dissimilar materials

A composite floor pan may be joined with other structural members of an automotive vehicle. External loads imparted to the structural members may be transferred to the floor pan. The floor pan may be configured to absorb and/or transfer these external loads without separating.

Dynamic load bearing composite floor pan for an automotive vehicle

In an assembly of facing metal sheets separated by a polymer layer, welded metallurgical bonds are formed between the metal sheets by use of a friction stir weld tool. A rotating tool penetrates the first sheet, locally displaces the encountered portion of polymer film and penetrates into the second sheet. The affected metal of the two sheets is momentarily plasticized and stirred, and the plasticized metal of the two sheets combines to form a weld between the metal sheets. The interposed polymer film may be intended to serve as an adhesive or a vibration damping medium or the like. The facing metal sheets can be layers of facing laminated metal sheet structures that each comprise two metal sheets bonded by an adhesive interlayer.

Friction stir weld bonding of metal-polymer-metal laminates

A molding process for a composite article uses a textured film layer to shape the surface of the composite article. The film layer is placed in the mold with the textured film surface exposed and a composite material is placed over the textured film surface. Preferably, the film layer is vacuum-formed onto the mold to take the shape of the mold. As it cures, the composite article takes the shape of the textured film layer to form a textured article surface. After demolding, the film layer adheres to the article as a protective coating, but can be readily removed from the article to expose an underlying textured surface of the article.

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Oxford, MI, United States of America

Peter H Foss