JP6130368B2 - Vehicle lighting - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicular lamp, and relates to a vehicular lamp that is light and high in strength and has no appearance defects such as fogging on the inside of a lamp chamber of a front cover.

In recent years, weight reduction of vehicles has been desired, and therefore, weight reduction of each part constituting the vehicle has been promoted. Lamps (lamps) are also included as one of the vehicle parts that are required to be lighter.
A vehicular lamp generally includes a lamp body that is open at the front, a front cover that is attached by closing the front opening, an extension, a reflector, a light source, an electrical component, and the like. In order to reduce the total weight of the vehicular lamp, it is considered effective to reduce the weight of the lamp body that is generally formed of a resin material and occupies a relatively high ratio with respect to the total weight of the vehicular lamp. It is done.

On the other hand, since a resin molded body formed from a resin material has insufficient strength when formed only from a resin, a filler (filler) is generally added to the base resin. And as a filler suitable for the resin molding which requires mechanical strength etc., the mineral thing with comparatively high specific gravity, such as talc, was used.
From this, in the resin molded body formed from the resin material, it is considered effective to use a filler having a smaller specific gravity when aiming at weight reduction while maintaining its strength.
Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for obtaining a molded body from a resin composition containing polypropylene and plant fibers.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2011-88997

However, when a lamp body is formed using a lamp body formed of a resin composition containing a base resin and a vegetable fiber, a problem such as occurrence of poor appearance such as fogging occurs in the lamp chamber side of the front cover during use. was there.
In view of these circumstances, the present invention relates to a vehicular lamp using a lamp body formed from a resin composition containing a base resin and a plant fiber, and fogging occurs on the inside of the lamp chamber of the front cover during use. It is intended to provide a product having no appearance defects such as.

As a result of intensive studies, the inventors of the present invention have been able to solve the above problems by adopting the following configuration.
That is, the present invention is as follows.

(1) A vehicular lamp having a lamp body having a front opening, and a front cover attached by closing the front opening,
A vehicle lamp, wherein the lamp body is formed of a resin composition containing a base resin and a surface-treated plant fiber.
(2) The plant fiber is pulp, jute hemp, manila hemp, sisal hemp, ganpi, mitsumata, kouzo, cedar, bamboo, cacao, kenaf, banana, pineapple, sugar cane, coconut palm, corn, bagasse, palm, reed, esparto, The vehicle lamp according to the above (1), which is at least one selected from a survivor glass, a palm, a bamboo shoot, a pine, a mulberry, an agave, a wheat, a rice and a cypress.
(3) The vehicular lamp according to (1) or (2), wherein the surface-treated plant fiber is sized.
(4) The base resin is polypropylene, polyethylene, polylactic acid, polycarbonate, polyethylene terephthalate, polybutylene terephthalate, polystyrene, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer, acrylonitrile-styrene-acrylate copolymer, acrylonitrile-ethylene-styrene copolymer. Any of the above (1) to (3), which is at least one selected from a polymer, a chlorinated polyethylene-acrylonitrile-styrene copolymer, polyamide, polyphenylene sulfide, liquid crystal polymer, polysulfone, epoxy resin, urethane resin, and silicone resin A vehicular lamp.

Although it is not clear that the vehicular lamp using a lamp body formed from a resin composition containing a plant fiber is fogged on the inside of the lamp compartment of the front cover during use, the following reasons are not clear. Conceivable.
Plant fibers are easy to contain moisture. When a lamp having a lamp body including a plant fiber containing moisture is used, moisture contained in the plant fiber of the lamp body is released into the lamp chamber due to heat of the light source or the like, and this becomes cloudy in the lamp chamber.

  On the other hand, the present invention presumes that the plant fiber contained in the lamp body is surface-treated, so that the release of moisture from the plant fiber is suppressed and the above-mentioned fog in the lamp chamber is eliminated. Is done.

  According to the present invention, the plant fiber contained in the lamp body is subjected to surface treatment, so that no fogging occurs in the lamp chamber.

It is a schematic cross section which shows an example of the vehicle lamp of this invention.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the vehicle lamp of the present invention will be described in detail.
An example of the vehicular lamp of the present invention will be described with reference to the schematic cross-sectional view of FIG.
A vehicular lamp 1 according to the present invention has a transparent transparent front cover 2 and a lamp body 3, and a lamp unit 5 has a lamp in a lamp chamber 4 defined by the front cover 2 and the lamp body 3. The body 3 is supported via an aiming mechanism 6. The lamp unit 5 shown in FIG. 1 includes a projection lens 8, a light source 10, and a reflector 13. An extension 50 that covers the inner surface of the lamp body 3 is disposed behind the front cover 2 so that the projection lens 8 is exposed.

A lamp body 3 (hereinafter also referred to as “the lamp body of the present invention”) 3 used in the vehicular lamp of the present invention will be described.
As described above, the lamp body 3 of the present invention has a shape with the front opening, and the front cover 2 is attached to the front opening.
The lamp body 3 of the present invention is formed from a resin composition containing a base resin and surface-treated plant fibers.

  The plant fiber used in the resin composition used for molding the lamp body 3 of the present invention is not particularly limited, but is pulp, jute hemp, manila hemp, sisal hemp, ganpi, mitsumata, kouzo, cedar, bamboo, cacao. , Kenaf, banana, pineapple, sugar cane, coconut palm, corn, bagasse, palm, reed, esparto, sabaigrass, palm, pepper, pine, mulberry, agave, wheat, rice and cypress. Among these, pulp is preferable in that the content of impurities that cause corrosion of a mold used for molding the lamp body 3 is small.

  Although it does not specifically limit as said surface treatment of a vegetable fiber, The method (sputtering method, vapor deposition method, plasma CVD, sol-gel method, sizing process) etc. which form a low moisture-permeable substance on the fiber surface etc. are mentioned. In particular, a sizing treatment that can be easily made water-repellent by an operation such as kneading is preferable.

Examples of substances having low moisture permeability include silane coupling agents, hydrophobic resins, fluorine water repellents, rosin soaps, alkyl ketene dimers, alkenyl succinic anhydrides, polyvinyl alcohol, and various metal films. Hydrophobic resins are particularly preferred from the viewpoint of workability and process simplicity.
Examples of the hydrophobic resin include terpenes, thermoplastic fluororesins, vinylidene chloride, and high density polyethylene.

As the surface-treated plant fiber used in the present invention, preferred is a sized pulp. As described above, the sized pulp is preferable because the content of impurities that cause corrosion of the mold used for molding the lamp body 3 is reduced.
The content of the surface-treated plant fiber is not particularly limited, and is preferably selected as appropriate depending on the type of plant fiber to be used, the type of a base resin to be described later used together, and the like. It is preferable to contain 5-80 mass% in the body 3 (resin composition used in order to shape | mold the lamp body 3), More preferably, it is 15-60 mass%.

  Although it does not specifically limit as base resin used for the resin composition used in order to shape | mold the lamp body 3 of this invention, Polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polylactic acid (PLA), polycarbonate (PC), Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), polystyrene (PS), acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer (ABS), acrylonitrile-styrene-acrylate copolymer (AAS), acrylonitrile-ethylene-styrene copolymer (AES), chlorinated polyethylene-acrylonitrile-styrene copolymer (ACS), polyamide (PA), polyphenylene sulfide (PPS), liquid crystal polymer (LCP), polysulfone (PSU), epoxy resin, urethane Butter and silicone resins and the like, among, PP is preferable.

When preparing the resin composition used for molding the lamp body 3 of the present invention, at least the base resin and the surface-treated plant fiber are kneaded so as to be uniform.
The kneading method in this case is not particularly limited, and various kneading methods such as publicly known screw kneading can be employed.

  As long as the front cover 2 used in the present invention is a transparent transparent material that can close the front opening of the lamp body 3 to form a lamp chamber, the shape, material, etc. are not particularly limited. A well-known thing etc. can be used. Examples of the material include transparent thermoplastic resins such as polycarbonate, acrylic resin and polystyrene, and inorganic transparent materials such as glass.

  Hereinafter, the results of evaluation tests using examples and comparative examples according to the present invention will be shown, and the present invention will be described in more detail. The present invention is not limited to these examples.

[Example 1]
(Preparation of pellets)
8 wt% of hydrogenated terpene and 12 wt% of PP (base resin) were added to 80 wt% of pulp fibers (fiber length: 200 μm), and kneading was performed to obtain pulp fibers after water repellent treatment.
The pulp fiber content was adjusted to 20 wt% by adding 75 wt% of the base resin PP to 25 wt% of the pulp fiber after the water repellent treatment. This was kneaded again to obtain PP pellets containing 20 wt% of pulp fibers after the water repellent treatment.

  The pellets were put into an injection molding machine (EC40N, manufactured by Toshiba Machine Co., Ltd.) and injection molded at a cylinder temperature of 190 ° C. and a mold temperature of 40 ° C. to form a rectangular plate-shaped test piece of 110 mm × 60 mm × 3 mm. .

[Comparative Example 1]
The pellets were produced in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the pellets were kneaded as 20 wt% pulp fiber and 80 wt% base resin PP.

  About the plate-shaped test piece obtained in Example 1 and Comparative Example 1, the water absorption rate was measured. The measuring method of water absorption is as shown below, and the results are shown in Table 1 below.

(Measurement of water absorption)
-As pretreatment, the test piece was left still in an oven at 90 ° C and dried for 48 hours. The weight at this time was defined as the initial weight, and the water absorption rate was defined as 0%.
-The test piece after drying was placed in a constant temperature and humidity chamber adjusted to 60 ° C and 95% RH, and the weight change after the elapsed time was defined as the water absorption amount of the test piece.
-The value obtained by subtracting the initial weight from the amount of water absorbed after the elapsed time was taken as the water absorption rate.

  Compared with the test piece of Comparative Example 1, the test piece of Example 1 was able to reduce the water absorption by about 25%.

Although the invention has been described in detail with reference to specific embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
In addition, this application is based on the Japanese patent application (Japanese Patent Application No. 2012-135790) for which it applied on June 15, 2012, The whole is used by reference. Also, all references cited herein are incorporated as a whole.

  The vehicular lamp of the present invention is extremely useful as a vehicular lamp because the plant fiber contained in the lamp body is surface-treated so that no fogging occurs in the lamp chamber.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vehicle lamp 2 Front cover 3 Lamp body 4 Lamp chamber 5 Lamp unit 6 Aiming mechanism 8 Projection lens 10 Light source 13 Reflector 50 Extension

Claims (4)

A vehicular lamp having a lamp body whose front is open, and a front cover attached by closing the front opening,
A lamp for a vehicle, wherein the lamp body is formed from a resin composition containing a base resin and plant fibers whose moisture permeability has been reduced by surface treatment .   The plant fiber is pulp, jute hemp, manila hemp, sisal hemp, ganpi, mitsumata, kouzo, cedar, bamboo, cacao, kenaf, banana, pineapple, sugar cane, coconut, corn, bagasse, palm, reed, esparto, survivgrass, palm The vehicular lamp according to claim 1, which is at least any one selected from the group consisting of corn, pine, pine, mulberry, agave, wheat, rice and cypress.   The vehicular lamp according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the surface-treated plant fiber is sizing-treated.   The base resin is polypropylene, polyethylene, polylactic acid, polycarbonate, polyethylene terephthalate, polybutylene terephthalate, polystyrene, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer, acrylonitrile-styrene-acrylate copolymer, acrylonitrile-ethylene-styrene copolymer, The vehicle lamp according to any one of claims 1 to 3, which is at least one selected from chlorinated polyethylene-acrylonitrile-styrene copolymer, polyamide, polyphenylene sulfide, liquid crystal polymer, polysulfone, epoxy resin, urethane resin, and silicone resin. .

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