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

Panel 4: Innovative Materials

1

2

3

4

5

• PROJECT VISION

• TECHNOLOGY COMPARISON

• INNOVATIONS

• BENEFITS

• QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Today’s Agenda

Hyundai Sonata

Fusion/Mondeo A8/A4 1 Series/F20

Corvette XJ/X351

High-Gloss Black interior finishes are popular in today’s vehicle themes

Industry Trend

– PROJECT VISION –

UTILIZE MOLD-IN-COLOR (PAINT-FREE)

TECHNOLOGY TO ACHIEVE JEWELRY-LIKE, HIGH-GLOSS, SOLID-COLOR AUTOMOTIVE

INTERIOR TRIM PANELS

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

This vision is aligned with Ford’s Primary Brand Pillars

– TECHNOLOGY COMPARISON –

CONVENTIONAL

VS.

NEXT-GENERATION

• 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-lineFlow-mark

Conventional Technology

Resin Compounding Injection Molding Freight

Warehousing at Paint Supplier

Clean-Room Paint FacilityFreight

Sub-assembly

OEM

Conventional Value Chain for High-Gloss Paint

Long supplier chain, inefficient logistics, and scrap rate at paint shop all contribute to low, overall yield

– INNOVATIONS –

TOOLING DESIGN

MATERIAL SCIENCE

• 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 flow-front 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

Technology Breakthrough: Theory

a*

b*

*Advanced course on Applied Energy Engineering,Tokyo Tech OCW

Knit Line visible to naked eye Knit Line invisible to naked eye

• 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

• The cavity shell “floats” to enable efficient “heat-up” and “cool-down” phases of the molding cycle.

• The cavity shell is made of a special grade of stainless steel that provides both high thermal conductivity and high flexibility

Tooling Design Innovation1

2

3

1

2

3

• 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

Tooling Design Innovation

• Water flows through a “circuit” to stabilize the temperature of the mold’s core

• Heat is rapidly extracted from the mold’s core through contact with a specially designed “cooling plate”

B

B

A

A

• 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 high-touch 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

Material Science Innovation

BENEFITS

Pre-2011:

Jewelry-like

Painted

Finishes

Post-2011:

Jewelry-like

Mold-In-Color

Finishes

Component Design

Material Science

Tooling

TechnologyMolding

Technology

Long Supplier ChainCreation of VOCs & CO2

High Scrap RateHigh Hidden Factory costs

Shortened Supplier ChainMitigation of VOCs & CO2

Low Scrap RateReduced Hidden Factory costs

Technology enables a Paradigm Shift across the entire Value Chain

Ford Fusion Door Switch BezelsHigh-Touch, High-Gloss Black Mold-In-Color

36% COST

AVOIDANCE!

Mold-In-Color

Smart

Conventional Molding +Pigmented Base Coat &

Clear Top Coat

FutureOpportunity:

Forecasted Global Annual Volume: approximately

6 million units

FutureOpportunity:

Millions of dollars of revenue generated annually, per

additional Ford components

Approximately 40% savingsper Fusion, Mondeo door bezel

Several million dollars of incremental revenue generated per Fusion,

Mondeo

“The Tip of the Iceberg”More opportunities exist

across entire vehicles

Smart

• Mitigated paint-introduced quality defects like loss of adhesion, orange peel, dirt-in-paint, dry spray, etc.

• Strengthened product appeal in marketplace. For example, J.D. Power & Associates APEAL Study stated:

Quality

www.123rf.com

• 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

Green

Ford Mondeo

Ford Edge

Ford Figo

High-Gloss Mold-In-ColorApplications in Development

• 2014 Automotive News PACE™ Innovation Partnership Award

• 2014 Automotive News PACE™ Innovation Award for Material Development

Recognitions

Materials Category Finalist with

BASF Corporation,

2012

Recognitions

On-line Publication,

2013

US Patent Office, 2013 & 2014

On-line Publication,

2013

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

Our Team

QUESTIONS

&

ANSWERS

THANK YOU!

BACK-UP SLIDES

Home Appliances

Large Screen TVs

Technology migrated from consumer electronics to automotive. Ford leads in the automotive industry.

Automotive Interiors

Technology Evolution

2012 Ford Escape – High Gloss

2013 Ford Escape – Low Gloss

Technology Benchmarking: High-Gloss Black Finish Panels

SUPPLIER NAME OEM VEHICLE TECHNOLOGY PROCESSMITCHELL PLASTICS Chrysler, Ford, Toyota Jeep Liberty

Dodge DartDodge RamFord F150Toyota Corolla

In-Mold FilmBase coat / Clear coat paintUltraThermUltraCycle

In-Mold Film - Injection moldingPaint - Injection moldingUltraTherm / UltraCycle (proprietary)

ROCTOOL Volkswagen, Renault BMW F20, BMW F30, Audi A8, Peugeot 208

Mold-in-Color 3ITech rapid induction heating, rapid water cooling

KEY PLASTICS - EUROPE Ford, Volkswagen, General Motors, Tata

Ford - MondeoVW - Golf / PrototypeRenault - MeganeJaguar - XJ Schaltabdeckung, XJ, XKCitroen - B7 MikoAudi A8

Base Coat w/UV - VW, Ford, Audi, Skoda, Jaguar, PSAFilm - Jaguar, Citroen2 shot over molded - Jaguar, HighclassMold-in-Color - BMW, Audi, Jaguar

In-Mold Film / In-Mold DecorationHot Steam heating, Infrared Heater, Laser heating, Induction / Emold, Rapid Heating Ceramics (RHC)

FLEX N GATE General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, Volkswagen, Nissan, Honda

Escalade, Cobalt, Impala, Suburban, Tahoe, Volt, Enclave, Town & Country, Caravan, Arcadia, Yukon, H3, Sentra, Cruze, Dakota, Ram, Colorado, Express, Savana

Base Coat - Base Coat + Top Coat -Film -

NADA Ford - Started Mass Production 2010General Motors - Started Mass Production 2012

Ford - C520, CD391, CD4.2GM - Corvette

Mold-in-Color Emold rapid heating / cooling

ASAHI KASEI Mazda, Toyota Mazda Axela (Mazda3) Mold-in-Color Stylac resinSABIC Chrysler Dodge Dart Mold-In-Color CYCOLOY™ and GELOY™

resins

BASF Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Hyundai

CD391 Ultramid resin®