JPH03153321A - Manufacturing formed panel and said formed panel - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To enable achieving a high productivity level with a small number of dice by spraying a colored coating film of fatty polyurethane over a part agent applied to one of the portions of a die set and spraying an elastomer polyurethane above the coating film to be set and further, placing a reinforcing fiber sheet on the set coating film to be set as a whole. CONSTITUTION: First, a parting agent is applied to stationary die portions 14, 16 and a finish facing 13 as a coating film of fatty polyurethane is sprayed to the lower part using a spray gun 22. Next, moldable polyurethane elastomer components to be mixed in two pots are sprayed on the finish facing 13 by a spray gun 23 so that the dense cellular laminated part 12 of the elastomerlike polyurethane sticks to the opposite side of the finish facing 13 as a finish coating film. Consequently, the front face side of the finish facing 13 is kept in contact with the surface of the stationary die portion 14. A glass fiber 24 works as a reinforcing material and the mixture of the moldable polyurethane from the two pots which is applied through the spray gun 25 permeates the glass fiber 24. A metallic piece 28 is inserted into the panel to be molded from its upper edge and the upper die portion 16 is closed downward on the lower die portion 14.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a molded panel in which a solid substrate supports a finished panel surface and is applicable to, for example, but not limited to, an inner panel of an automobile door. It is.

[Prior art]

Applicant's US Patent Application No. 0 filed September 27, 1989 corresponding to Australian Patent Application No. 41111/89
7/413,286 describes and illustrates a method for manufacturing molded panels with a "luxury" feel, in which a substrate is first molded with a cross-linked polymeric material, and the substrate is subsequently molded within a die. The foam pad material component was injected into the die, which was then coated with a flexible finish membrane.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Although the method of the invention is economical and easily accomplished, the resulting panels are essentially very high quality panels;
It embodied many features that made it expensive. for example,
It has been found that the manufacture of panels according to the invention requires the use of two rotary indexing tables of eight stations.

The primary objective of the present invention is also to provide a high quality panel (not necessarily requiring the same luxurious standards as in Applicant's earlier invention), the manufacture of which consists of two die sections. The object is to provide an apparatus which can be achieved within a single molding die, thus achieving high production levels with a small number of molds.

[Means to solve the problem]

In summary, in the present invention, the finished surface, the substrate and the
The production of panels with a layer of molded polyurethane between the two faces is formed in a single closeable die having two parts, the first stage of operation is to apply a color coating of fatty polyurethane to one die part. Spray on the mold release agent and release the elastomer.
Reinforcement of the liquid component of the rigid foamed polyurethane is achieved by spraying the polyurethane over the coating and at least partially solidifying, and placing a sheet of reinforcing fibers, which may be, for example, continuous filament glass fibers, over the at least partially solidified elastomer. It consists in distributing the fibers above, closing the mold and removing the product after solidification. Instead of or as well as the fatty polyurethane, other materials such as textiles, carpets or alternative facing membrane materials can be applied, with the polyurethane elastomer layer adjacent to the facing material being otherwise "hard". It can be made into a dense foam that gives a somewhat "soft" feel.

In further detail, in one aspect the invention provides a method of manufacturing a molded panel comprising a finished surface, a substrate and a molded polyurethane layer between the finished surface and the substrate, comprising: (a) two open partial dies; Applying a mold release agent to the finished forming surface and the substrate forming surface of the individual parts of the set, applying the finished material on the mold release agent on the finished forming side of one of said parts to establish the front and back sides of the finished material. (b) applying a component of the formable polyurethane to the opposite side of the finishing material; (c) a sheet of reinforcing fibers on the formable polyurethane after it has at least partially set, but before it has fully cured; (d) applying a liquid component of rigid polyurethane to the reinforcing fibers;
(e) closing the die section so that the substrate forming surface is continuous with the rigid polyurethane prior to solidification of the rigid polyurethane; (e) opening the die section after all of the polyurethane has solidified and removing the formed panel from the die set; It's a method.

[Effect]

In the case of the present invention, the entire operation can take place within a relatively short cycle time, allowing for the production of a high quality product, which is considered to be of a higher quality than that currently used in the construction of motor vehicles. dies can be used.

The moldable polyurethane is "blown" slightly before or during the application of the reinforcing fibers and tough foam-making components.
If possible, an improvement in the "soft" feel of the surface can also be achieved.

The invention and embodiments will now be described in some detail and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG.

〔Example〕

A first embodiment of the invention is shown in FIGS. 1a, 1b, 2 and 3. In this embodiment, the interior door panel 10 for a motor vehicle includes a substrate 11 with a continuous filament glass reinforcement immersed in a cross-linked rigid polyurethane, which is comprised of a partially cellular composite of polyurethane. Overlapping the dense layer 12, this layer is itself attached to a finished surface 13, which in this embodiment is coated with a mold release agent applied to the fixed die section 14 of the two-part die 15. sprayed on top, second
The section is a section 16 pivotally connected to a fixed die section 14 by a plurality of hinges 17.

As shown in FIG. 3, a rotary indexing table ("rotary plate") 20 is equipped with eight stations, each station consisting of a two-part die 15; in this embodiment, all dies are are the same.

FIG. 2 shows stage 1 in which a mold release agent is first applied to both fixed die sections 14 and 16 and a coat of fatty polyurethane 13 is applied to the finished surface 13 by a spray gun 22. Thickness 0.15-0.5mm
5 is applied to the lower part with a thickness of 1 to 0.3 mm in most cases.

The moldable polyurethane elastomer component is then sprayed onto the finished surface so that a dense cellular layer 12 of elastomeric polyurethane is deposited on the opposite side of the finished surface 13 as the finished coating, which is mixed in two pots. The surface side of the finished surface is in contact with the surface of the fixed die portion 14.

The layered portion 12 does not necessarily have to be elastomeric or cellular, but it is preferable that the layered portion 12 is in the form of an elastomer, and is preferably at least allowed to begin solidifying, and if it is cellular (having continuous filaments) ) A layered portion 1 of elastomer, of which a small amount of blowout produced in front of the sheet of glass fibers 24 has at least partially solidified.
Sprayed on 2. The glass fibers 24 serve as reinforcement and are infiltrated in stage 4 by a two-pot mixture of moldable polyurethane applied through a spray gun 25. However, this polyurethane is made of a material that is not elastomeric in stage 2, but is solidified to be rigid after the sheet of glass fibers 24 is formed.

In the final stage of molding, stage 5, the metal strip 28 is inserted from the upper edge of the panel to be molded and the upper die section 16 is closed downwardly onto the lower die section 14.

These stages are illustrated in Figure 3, with stage 5
It will be appreciated that the polyurethane is maintained through three separate stations to give the polyurethane sufficient solidification and curing time for the panel to be pulled out, and this is effectively done in stage 6. Quite obviously, however, the operations in practice can occur at other stages, but the two steps required for the method described and claimed in the aforementioned applicant's US patent application Ser. No. 07/413,286. Compared to the rotary plates of 1 and 2, the production of panels in this embodiment requires only a single rotary plate of 8 stations.

As can be seen from FIG. 1a, the substrate 11 can be molded with an upright boss 35 with an initial small diameter opening 36 formed by a protruding pin on the die portion 16 when the die is closed. be. The base of the opening 36 is expanded at 370 points by means known in the art, in this embodiment a rotary router tool. The boss can then include a gripping short axis that can be made according to known techniques.

One of the features of the aforementioned US patent application Ser.

However, many difficulties are encountered when such a process is attempted in the embodiment described above, and in FIG. Molded. The fabric sheet 41 is attached to a portion of the surface of the door inner panel 10 at a location 42 with its edges overlapping the groove 40. A simple low pressure die includes an upper portion 42 and a lower portion 43, with blades 44 forcing the overlapping edges 45 of the fabric into grooves 40, thereby providing a very tidy edge.

The aforementioned U.S. patent application Ser. Applicable to The above-mentioned US patent application specifications are the corresponding specifications in other countries. It is therefore incorporated herein by way of example only.

The function of the metal strip 28 is to provide a precisely positioned support for the belt line inside the body of the motor vehicle.

〔Effect of the invention〕

The advantages achieved in Applicant's previous specification are also achieved herein, in particular that the door panel is dimensionally stable under all service conditions. Its surface is non-cloudy, non-fading, highly impact resistant, there are no styling limitations with this method, and the panels are strong and solid.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1a is a partially cross-sectional perspective view of a typical automobile door inner panel; Figure 1b is a partial cross-sectional view drawn on a larger scale than Figure 1a, showing the cross-sectional shape of the fixture gripping boss; 2 is a partial sectional view schematically illustrating the five steps in the manufacture of an inner door panel; FIG. Rotary indexing table ("
Fig. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view showing one method of attaching a textile panel only to the front side of the door inner panel after the inner panel has been molded by the method illustrated in the above drawings. It is. [Explanation of symbols]

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. A method of manufacturing a molded panel comprising a finished surface, a substrate and a molded polyurethane layer between the finished surface and the substrate, comprising: (a) individual sections of an open two-part die set; ( b) applying a component of moldable polyurethane to the opposite side of the finishing material; (c) applying a sheet of reinforcing fibers onto the moldable polyurethane after it has at least partially set, but before it has fully cured; d) Applying a liquid component of rigid polyurethane to the reinforcing fibers,
(e) closing the die section so that the substrate forming surface is continuous with the rigid polyurethane prior to solidification of the rigid polyurethane; (e) opening the die section after all of the polyurethane has solidified and removing the formed panel from the die set; Method. 2. The finishing material includes an aliphatic polyurethane color coating, and the method also includes spraying a mold release agent onto the finish forming surface and depositing the fatty polyurethane color coating onto the mold release agent on the finishing surface. 2. The method of claim 1, comprising spraying the liquid component. 3. The method of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the polyurethane component applied in step (b) of claim 1 is at least partially solidified into a cellular dense foam elastomer. 4. Molding the panel to have a surface defining a groove extending along a portion of the panel extending inwardly from the front side, and placing the fabric sheet on the front side with an edge portion overlapping the groove. 2. A method as claimed in claim 1, comprising depositing over only a portion of said overlapping edge and forcing said overlapping edge into a groove. 5. further positioning the panel with the fabric sheet within a portion of a two-part die, the other portion having a plate aligned with the groove, by the blades of the overlapping edges of the die; 5. The method of claim 4, comprising closing a die to effect said forcing into the groove. 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising molding the panel with a boss protruding from the substrate, providing a small diameter opening in the boss, and expanding the base of the opening after the removal of the panel. Method. 7. A molded panel made by the method of claim 1 comprising a finished surface, a substrate of continuous filament glass immersed with dense polyurethane foam and rigid polyurethane continuous with at least a portion of said finished surface. 8. The molded panel of claim 7, wherein said finished surface is a color coating of fatty polyurethane.