This paper describes vinyl ester based SMC (Sheet molding composite) material for oil sump part in automotive application. This sheet moulding composite is a ready to mould glass-fibre reinforced vinyl ester material primarily used in compression moulding process. This vinyl ester resin is compounded with glass fibre to meet the product functional requirements. Oil sump is a structural component under bonnet that forms the bottommost part of the crankcase and also contain the engine oil before and after it has been circulated through the engine. Generally, metals are preferred material for this application.
In this paper, fibre filled vinyl ester based thermoset resin (SMC) material has been explored for oil sump application. They possess excellent properties in terms of tensile strength, modulus, impact strength, dimensional stability, high/low temperature resistance and oil resistance. These oil sump parts were made by compression molding process and validated for the predefined key test metrics such as thermal ageing, oil compatibility, NVH and torque retention criteria's and the parts met the required specification.
The developed vinyl ester based SMC sump part has combined benefits of weight reduction leading to low emission, NVH improvement, corrosion resistance and cost reduction when compared with existing painted metal sump.