Design and Development of 25% Post-Industrial Recycled SMC Hood Assembly for the 1998 Lincoln Continental Program

This paper describes the process of incorporation of 25% post-industrial recycled sheet molded composite (SMC) material in the 1998 Continental Hood inner. 1998 Continental Hood assembly consists of traditional SMC outer and this recycled hood inner along with three small steel reinforcements. BUDD Plastics collects SMC scraps from their manufacturing plants. The scrap is then processed and made into fillers for production of SMC. Strength of SMC comes from glass fibers and fillers are added to produce the final mix of raw materials. This recycled material is approximately 10% lighter and less stiff than the conventional virgin SMC. This presented unique challenges to the product development team to incorporate this material into a production vehicle in order to obtain the desired goal of reducing land fill and improving the environment.

This paper will mainly describe the design issues and the challenges in the prove-out process for incorporation of this recycled material into production. It will compare the structural strength and performance characteristics of hoods made from all conventional SMC, 25% post-consumer SMC and 25% post-industrial SMC according to the design prove-out and verification (DV) test regime and the system design specifications (SDS) of Ford Motor Company.