Fibre-reinforced composite engine

European Commission Directorate-General For The Information Society And Media Directorate-General For Research And Innovation

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Industrial research and development

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• Publié par: EUROPEAN-COMMISSION-DIRECTORATE-GENERAL-FOR-THE-INFORMATION-SOCIETY-AND-MEDIA-DI
• Nombre de lectures: 20
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 6 Mo

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ISSN 1018-5593 •
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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
BRITE
EURAM
Fibrv
comp
engine
EUR 13249 EN Published by the
COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
Directorate-General
Telecommunications, Information Industries and Innovation
L-2920 Luxembourg
LEGAL NOTICE
Neither the Commission of the European Communities nor any person
acting on behalf of the Commission is responsible for the use which might
be made of the following information
This document has been reproduced from the best original available
Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication
Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1992
ISBN 92-826-3141-9
© ECSC-EEC-EAEC, Brussels · Luxembourg, 1992
Printed in Luxembourg CONTENTS PAGE
1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1
2.0 OVERALL SUMMARY 3
3.0 PARTNER CONTRIBUTIONS
3.1 DSM RESEARCH 11
3.2 FORD WERKE AG AND FORD MOTOR CO LIMITED 17
3.3 GALVANOFORM GMBH 3
3.4 GKN TECHNOLOGY7
3.5 NATIONAL ENGINEERING LABORATORY 49
3.6 UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM 63
3.7 VETROTEX - ST GOBAIN 7
4.0 APPENDICES 87
4.1 GENERAL PHOTOGRAPHS9
4.2 KEY EVENTS 95
4.3 PUBLICITY EVENTS
4.4 PRESSRELEASE 103
4.5 VIDEO SCRIPT 11
4.6 REFERENCE REPORTS 127 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A fibre reinforced plastic (FRP) composite internal combustion engine has been designed,
manufactured and tested by a consortium of seven members. They are: Ford (the project
leader), DSM, Galvanoform, GKN, The National Engineering Laboratory, Nottingham
University and Vetrotex - St. Gobian.
The aims of the project were threefold: To investigate the advantages of introducing
plastics to engines, to develop FRP materials for stressed components and with the specific
application requirements of the automotive industry and to develop the high volume
manufacturing technology for tooling and finished part production of complex and realistic
FRP components. Recycling issues and the potential applications to internal moving parts
were not within the scope of this project. These important points are the subject of other
research programs.
Some of the potential benefits of introducing FRP to engines are a reduction in weight,
noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) and the time to warm-up from ambient. Knock-on
benefits would include reduced levels of exhaust emissions, improved fuel economy and
faster vehicle heater response from cold.
The engine design was based on an assembly of three FRP components bonded to a skeletal
aluminium casting. The FRP components were produced by injecting epoxy resin into
random glass-fibre preforms positioned in a low-cost electroform moulding tool. The
skeletal metal core retained the combustion chamber, cylinder, bearing, cooling and
lubrication features. Additionally, a composite oil-pan and valve rocker-cover were
manufactured to investigate new reinforcement materials and prototype tooling concepts.
The FRP engines produced underwent thermal analysis, durability and NVH evaluation.
The thermal analysis on the engine indicated areas where temperatures reached critical
levels and quantified the reduction in thermal inertia and the effect this had on warm-up
time. The engine warmed-up upto 15% faster and demonstrated the potential for a 50%
reduction in warm-up time by the greater use of FRP. The engine also completed a full 204
hour durability test during which no failures of FRP related components occurred. The last
80 hours of this test were 40 hours running at full-load and 5000 rpm followed by another
40s at full-load and maximum engine speed of 5500rpm. This latter condition
represents driving it in a vehicle at maximum speed continuously for over 3,500 miles -
three times the distance from London to Rome. The NVH tests revealed that the maximum
average noise levels were 98.9 dB A @ 4725 rpm compared with 102 dB A @ 5000 rpm for
an equivalent all-metal engine.
Volume production studies investigated the effect of injection moulding parameters on
process cycle time and moulding quality. They also developed the processes for preform
manufacture in terms of forming base sheet, cutting and robotic handling. In parallel, a
process parameter investigation of resin transfer moulding and a flow chart of production s flow were made. These enabled accurate cost studies of the complete engine block
to be made.
The cumulation of this work was the installation of the engine in a Ford Fiesta vehicle for
drive appraisals and press demonstrations. A short video has been produced outlining the
project aims, consortium interactions and technical achievements.
-1 -2. OVERALL SUMMARY
INTRODUCTION
This report marks the end of a three year project. The aim of this project was to use a
multi-disciplinary team, drawn from different countries within the European Community, to design
and build a four cylinder, four stroke engine incorporating plastic composite materials into as
much of the engine structure as feasible. Recycling issues and the potential applications to internal
moving parts were not within the scope of this project. These important points are the subject of
other research programs.
Automotive engines operate in a range of harsh physical environments. Temperatures reach 2000
deg C in the combustion chamber, 850 deg C in the exhaust gases, 150 deg C in the lubrication oil
and 130 deg C in the coolant. Under conditions of hot soak, under bonnet temperatures could
reach as high as 150 deg C, whilst at the other extreme in cold climate as low as -40 deg C.
Mechanical stresses are high, the engine materials must resist oil, water/ethylene glycol, petrol (or
diesel fuel), brake fluid and salt solutions. On top of all this, engines are expected to run without
fault for at least 160,000km (100,000 miles).
From an engine designer's viewpoint, the introduction of plastics to engines has several
advantages. A FRP engine would reduce vehicle fuel consumption direcdy through its weight
reduction and indirectly through the weight reduction of associated components. Manufacturing
costs could be reduced by minimising the size and weight of metal, by the potential
for casting more units in each mould box, by the reduction of their subsequent external machining
and by the reduction of tooling costs. The noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) of the power unit
would be decreased by the inherent sound absorption properties of FRP materials. Additionally,
the time taken for the engine to warm up from a cold condition would be reduced because of the
smaller metallic content of the engine and the reduction of heat loss. Resulting improvements
would include reduced levels of exhaust emissions, improved fuel economy and faster vehicle
heater response.
OBJECTIVES
The project was thus established with three key objectives ί­
ο To assess the benefits of using composite materials in the structure of an engine as
discussed already.
o To determine the capability and performance of candidate materials in the automotive
environment, with the ultimate intention for applications beyond the engine itself. The
engine was chosen as a challenging structure to focus on, but with the aim that the
knowledge gained could be used elsewhere in the car.
o To research and develop manufacturing methods to support the needs of high volume
production such as reducing cycle times, eliminating waste and designing methods that
would facilitate automatic handling and manufacture. Again, the use of an engine as the
work piece did not imply a limitation to the processes. The parts being developed were
complex three dimensional shapes and techniques developed would apply equally well in
other automotive structures of similar nature. CONSORTIUM MEMBERS
The project was tackled by a consortium of seven members of which Ford Motor Company was
the leader.
The partners were as follows ί­
ο Ford Motoi Company and Ford Werke:
The project leaders who provided the original initiative, established the design criteria and
performed part of the development and testing.
o DSM:
Responsible for the technology, formulation, handling and fabrication expertise of the resin
matrix.
o Galvanoform AG:
Suppliers of electroform shell tool moulding technology.
o GKN Technology:
Development of resin transfer moulding techniques suitable for large volume production of
plastic parts.
o The National Engineering Laboratory, (NEL):
Responsible for optimising the design of the engine and the FRP mouldings and who also
made a significant contribution to the design and manufacture of the shell moulding tools
and the block assembly.
o Nottingham University:
Assessment of the thermal effects of the composite structure, and its impact on the engine
and cooling system and also the provision of further materials and process expertise.
o Vetrotex ­ St Gobain:
Development of the fibre reinforcement and its associated technology, and the production
of the side panels.
The legal structure of the consortium was such that Ford Werke were contracted to the EEC with
the other consortium members sub­contracted to Ford.
Two other companies joined the project bringing additional technical knowledge and exper