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The use of Low Pressure Moulding (LPM), in its many forms, is becoming more widespread in the Automotive Industry. Design and setup of this process generally relies on experience built up over years of working with the process and often several tool and process changes in the development phase in order to optimise the process. This paper outlines a method of designing for LPM using C-Mold® software from AC-Technology, and the experience of working with the process and materials, which will reduce the number of iterations required to design for LPM and further increase the benefits to be gained by use of the process. The paper shows some of the characteristics of the process and the extent to which this can be simulated using the software.

The drive to reduce costs and increase efficiency in the automotive industry is often the driving force for development of new technologies and methods of engineering. Polypropylene (PP) is widely used as a low cost alternative to “engineering” thermoplastics. This paper outlines the characterisation methods used to develop material models for talc-filled impact-modified PP, which are then used to increase the efficiency of the development process, by using engineering analyses to reduce the prototyping costs and potentially the development time for an application. Instrument panels (IPs), door panels and trim parts are usually subjected to heat requirements and must maintain dimensional tolerance levels for each application. This necessitates extensive prototype testing and often several design iterations in order to reach the requirements. This paper deals with the characterisation of PP creep behaviour and development of a model for use in Finite-Element (FE) - based codes.