Case Studies—Sustainable and Lightweight Automotive Parts via Injection Molding

This chapter presents an overview of lightweight and sustainable materials. Materials that come from renewable or recycled sources and have the potential to reduce the weight of current automobile parts can be defined as lightweight and sustainable materials. In automotive plastic part manufacturing, injection molding is increasingly becoming the technology of choice for low-cost and high-volume part manufacturing. Prior to selecting sustainable materials, a good understanding of product requirements is key in successfully developing a formulation that meets the design intent. Various factors play a role in the decision-making process of selecting the right material for the right application. In a new material-based design approach that was highlighted in the multimaterial lightweight vehicle (MMLV) project from Ford Motor Company, it is changing the way materials are selected in automobiles. The chapter presents three case studies with hybrid MiCel compounds and one case study with recycled carbon fiber with the emphasis on material selection and process validation of automotive parts.