Glass Fibre-Reinforced Plastics in European Passenger Cars Requirements and Applications

Over the last decade an unstable situation in the energy and raw material sectors has had a no-ticable influence on the use of plastics in European automotive engineering. New approaches to the raw material and energy situation indicated that plastics would be the materials of the future. It became clear that plastomers, duromers and elastomers can be used not only for the body and external components but also for parts subjected to heavy mechanical stresses.

This paper discusses the extent to which light-weight constructions using composite materials are realistic and whether high polymers can help to save energy to the extent dictated by economic requirements or whether the step from proven technical feasibility to high-volume production constitutes a stumbling block.

There are many examples showing that glass fibre and carbon fibre reinforced high polymers, in both solid and foamed form, can be very successfully put to use.