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A new transparent resin material developed by uniformly dispersing a nano-filler (boehmite particles, 5 nm in diameter and 197 nm long) in polycarbonate resin combines a flexural modulus of 5.9 GPa, a linear expansion coefficient of 35 ppm/K, and excellent mechanical toughness with excellent optical characteristics (transparency with 1.1% haze at 1 mm thick). These characteristics make this material highly suitable as a replacement for automotive glass that allows innovative design, a liberating sense of openness for automobiles.

Plastic materials are often used for automotive fuel tanks today because of their light weight, freedom for forming complicated shapes and corrosion resistance. Fatigue behavior of the high-density polyethylene applied to fuel tanks was analyzed under low-level cyclic loading that simulated fuel tank pressure changes. The correlation between fatigue life and stress, temperature and frequency (the major influencing factors) was expressed quantitatively using fatigue test data for test pieces. This expression was then verified in fatigue tests conducted on plastic fuel tanks. The validity of this equation for predicting the fatigue life of plastic fuel tanks was thus confirmed.