Driven by increasing demands to enhance performance while reducing NVH, weight and cost, automotive designers continue to find innovative ways to use thermoplastic materials in under the hood powertrain applications.
Even though these applications have proven reliability meeting long term strength and temperature requirements, North American Automotive Manufacturers (OEMs) are reluctant to use thermoplastics in cam cover applications. The current domestic materials of choice are aluminum, magnesium and vinyl ester, even though thermoplastic materials are widely used in Europe and Asia. New technology and supporting theoretical data has not convinced OEMs to develop a composite cover. Pursuing this effort analytically, a cover/sealing system analysis demonstrating the feasibility and competitive advantage is presented.
This paper reviews the thermoplastic cam cover development process, from computer simulation through prototyping and durability testing, ultimately proving the cover sealing system's effectiveness.
Proving this initial concept opens the door for substantial cost savings by integrating other components into the cover.