Many competitive headliner substrate materials were tested to determine the strengths and weaknesses of each material including new headliner materials such as those on the 97 Ford Expedition, 96 Chevrolet Cavalier, 97 GM G Van, 96 Ford Contour, and 96 Chrysler Cirrus, all of which are urethane/foam/glass layered substrates and the 96 Nissan Altima, a corrugated cardboard base substrate.
In general, today's headliners are based upon three substrate types glass, foam, or cellulose (paper or cotton). Glass headliners are requested less frequently due to the lack of recycleability and the skin irritation caused to assembly plant workers.
Of those substrate candidate materials screened, the best performing headliner substrate materials were 1997 Ford Expedition and 1997 GM G Van. Both materials meet all requirements of the screening specification, however, the Expedition substrate is lighter weight and has better acoustical absorption properties than the G Van, while the G Van carries a slightly higher transverse load. Both the G Van and Expedition substrates have demonstrated the ability to mold in ducting.
The following report depicts graphical comparisons of physical properties, as well as an explanation of the results.