Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Methods – Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
Patent
1988-03-28
1992-05-19
Silbaugh, Jan H.
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Methods
Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
15624414, 156285, 156287, 264515, 264516, 293122, 425503, B29C 4922, B29C 4904
Patent
active
051145227
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to a method for producing an automobile bumper.
BACKGROUND ART
An automobile bumper is usually made of an exterior surface skin, a cushioning body to absorb shocks, and a reinforcement adapted to reduce elastic deformation. The bumper is made of metal or plastics. The metal bumper is heavy and is permanently deformed when hit. The plastics bumper is free of such a disadvantage.
While an injection-molded plastics bumper has a smooth surface, it has a lower impact-resistance and thus needs a heavy, stiff reinforcement, making it difficult to reduce the weight of the entire bumper.
In contrast, a plastics bumper produced by blow molding is excellent in impact resistance (absorption of impact force); however, it has a rather rough surface, because it is made of a low-flow synthetic resin to provide drawdown resistance during the blow molding, and also because its blow pressure applied on the mold wall is so low that the contours of the mold are not fully transferred to the resin.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages, and to provide a method for economically producing an automobile bumper having a good appearance and high shock-absorbing properties.
By this invention an automobile bumper is produced by a method comprising the steps of loading a preformed surface skin member into a blow mold, and then blowing a parison in the mold, thereby obtaining a hollow cushioning body firmly bonded to the surface skin member.
By the method of the invention a surface skin member is preformed by, for example, injection molding, and then loaded into a blow mold where a parison is blow-molded until it is bonded to the surface skin member, thereby providing a hollow cushioning body unitarily formed with the surface skin member. Thus, the blow molding and bonding operations are accomplished simultaneously. The injection-molded surface skin member overlays the bumper to produce a neat appearance.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional side view showing an example of the automobile bumper of the invention.
FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the bumper shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a blow mold with the surface skin member attached.
FIG. 4 is a sectional plan view of the blow mold shown in FIG. 3.
FIG. 5 is a front view, in partly vertical section, showing another example of a blow mold with the surface skin member placed in position.
PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS TO CARRY OUT THE INVENTION
The invention is now described in more detail by reference to the following examples:
FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional side view showing an example of the automobile bumper of the invention. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the bumper shown in FIG. 1.
The automobile bumper 1 of the invention is basically made up of a hollow cushioning body 11 disposed between a surface skin member 10 and a metal reinforcement 12 to which the surface skin is fastened by bolts 6, and stays 3 adapted to fix the bumper to the car body. The surface skin member 10 is produced from a synthetic resin by sheet molding compound (SMC), injection molding, reaction injection molding (RIM), stamping, or sheet forming.
The suitable synthetic resins are thermoplastic resins, which include polypropylene (PP), high density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polycarbonate (PC), nylon, polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polystyrene (PS), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), polyoxymethylene (POM), acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene resin (ABS), acrylonitrile-styrene copolymer (AS), ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA), poly-4-methylpentene-1 (TPX), polyphenylene oxide (PPO), polyether sulfone (PES), polyphenylene sulfide (PPS), ethylene-propylene rubber (EPR), and ethylene-propylene-diene terpolymer (EPDM). The resins may be used singly or by blending dissimilar materials. Typical composi
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Mikami Takashi
Takado Yutaka
Tomiyama Tetsuo
Yamazaki Masayuki
Silbaugh Jan H.
Timm Catherine
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