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The vibration welding process for assembly of thermoplastic engineering materials has been in continuous use for 20 years, yet this technology is still not familiar to many automotive engineers. The purpose of this paper is to increase the understanding of the engineering community regarding the usefulness and applicability of this technology, and its increasing use in intake manifolds.

The use of high temperature engineering plastics in automotive fuel systems offer significant cost savings for vehicle manufacturers. These engineering plastics, which are available in many different resin compositions, offer such important underhood properties as heat and chemical resistance, low warpage, dimensional stability, toughness and strength. They also provide processing benefits that can substantially reduce capital costs. The expensive finishing steps inherent with die-cast alloys are reduced or even eliminated with plastics. Additional economies are derived from the greater design flexibility and ease of assembly that plastics offer.