Engineering Design Requirements for Thin Section Reinforced Nylon Exterior Body Parts

Rapidly expanding use of reinforced nylon for rigid exterior painted automotive panels and components has created a need for more complete understanding of the engineering and design principles that must be applied. Dimensional changes that occur with nylon are determinate and therefore must be considered to avoid warpage due to differential expansion when designing the part. Methods for determining stresses, critical buckling loads and their application to components are reviewed together with experimental results.