Automotive Plastics and Composites: Materials and Processing

Automotive Plastics and Composites: Materials and Processing is an essential guide to the use of plastic and polymer composites in automotive applications, whether in the exterior, interior, under-the-hood, or powertrain, with a focus on materials, properties, and processing.

The book begins by introducing plastics and polymers for the automotive industry, discussing polymer materials and structures, mechanical, chemical, and physical properties, rheology, and flow analysis. In the second part of the book, each chapter is dedicated to a category of material, and considers the manufacture, processing, properties, shrinkage, and possible applications, in each case. Two chapters on polymer processing provide detailed information on both closed-mold and open-mold processing. The final chapters explain other key aspects, such as recycling and sustainability, design principles, tooling, and future trends.

This book is an ideal reference for plastics engineers, product designers, technicians, scientists, and R&D professionals, looking to develop materials, components, or products, for automotive applications. This also supports researchers, scientists and advanced students in plastics engineering, polymer processing, and materials science and engineering.