Metallocene-catalyzed polyolefin thermoplastics became available to product designers when production was scaled up from pilot-plant levels to industrial-quantity production in the middle 1990s. The first large volume use of this material, referred to in industry as TPO, was exterior body parts for 2002 model year vehicles. As designers made decisions about where and how to use the material, it logically followed that an answer was needed to the question of how best to assemble these parts. This paper gives an overview of several new or improved applications of thermoplastic joining technologies to these parts, including ultrasonic spot welding, vibration welding, thermal staking, and ultrasonic inserting.
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