An overview of Polymeric Materials for Automotive Applications

Mechanical components and structures are designed and developed for carrying out certain tasks and are subjected to high stresses, high temperature and corrosive environment. This can ultimately lead to its failure. Over the past few decades, high performance plastic materials in automobiles have experienced a real boom and their applications are increasing with a tendency of further growth. The polymers are finding their way deep inside most of the applications primarily because of light weight and relatively better properties. The average global plastic penetration is 120 kg/vehicle and average Indian plastic penetration is 60 kg/vehicle. A wide variety of plastic are used in vehicles. The basic functions of such wide use of high performance plastic materials in vehicles dictate the appearance of the automobiles, their functionality, economy and low fuel consumption. The application of polymeric materials allows more freedom in design and approximately 82 percent of an average vehicle's Weight gets recycled. The focus of present study is to give comprehensive review of high performance plastic materials and their applications in the area of automotive comfort and safety. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.