Are Lightweight, Economic SMC Bumpers Just a Dream?

While European passenger cars are already being equipped with sheet molding compound (SMC) bumpers, a new high strength SMC material system named “Oriented Roving SMC” is introduced to expand further the use of SMC in this area. Bumpers made with conventional chopped roving SMC, continuous roving SMC and oriented roving SMC as well as with steel and aluminum were sled tested under various conditions and the results are compared, which indicate that SMC absorbs and stores a high amount of energy. Cost considerations and bumper design proposals are given together with an attempt to evaluate the future of SMC in bumper applications.