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Developed specifically for the automotive industry, a new glass-mat thermoplastic (GMT) composite technology provides significant improvements in strength and energy management behavior for automotive bumper applications. This increased performance is achieved through the use of new fiberglass mat design, sizing chemistry, and binder resin technology vs. standard GMT composite products with the same type and percentage of glass loading. No substantial tooling and processing changes are required to make use of the new products, which are interchangeable in current GMT molds. In order to fully evaluate the new materials, actual direct-mountable automotive bumper beams were molded and tested in both static and dynamic modes. The results of this testing demonstrate the new composites' ability to achieve Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 581 8 km/h impact performance without the need for costly hydraulic or foam energy absorption (EA) units.

The I-Section bumper design has evolved over the past 10 years into a lightweight, low cost, high performance alternative to traditional bumper beams. Initial I-Section Bumpers were developed with 40% Chopped fiberglass GMT. Through the development of lower cost Mineral-Filled/Chopped fiberglass GMT, improved static load and dynamic impact performance results have been achieved in I-Section Bumper Designs.