Development of a method of enhancing body frame strength using structural foam

摘要

A technique of strengthening body frame with a polymeric structural foam has been developed with the aim of reducing vehicle weight and improving derivability and fuel economy. The idea of this new technology was gained from the concept that the body frame strength will be increased drastically if the body frames are prevented from folding caused by a collision. The energy of a collision impact would be effectively absorbed if weak portions of body frames are reinforced with a high-strength structural foam. This paper presents the new technology related to the high-strength structural foam and a light-weight frame structure with partial foam filling.