A Lightweight, Multifunctional Plastic Reinforcement for Body Panels

A light weight,multifunctional plastic reinforcement has been developed for the outer body panels of vehicles. This new plastic reinforcement,composed mainly of polyvinylchloride resin, epoxy resin and an organic foaming agent, provides a 63% weight reduction over conventional plastic reinforcements, while adding the damping function to outer body panels.

This paper introduces the process followed in developing the new plastic reinforcement and describes its characteristics.

This new plastic reinforcement is already employed in the Nissan S-Cargo model, and it will be adopted in other passenger car models to be released in the near future.