JPH09220933A - Weather strip for automobile and manufacture thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide good decorative effect, good workability and flexibility by sticking a decorative tape with a heat fused layer by heat fusion. SOLUTION: A center pillar part 12 is nearly shaped like an arc curving outside such that it covers the outer surface of a center pillar 1d and comprises front and rear sealing parts 14, 16 with which the front and rear windows 2a, 3a are in contact and a connecting part 18 for connecting these sealing parts and is formed long in the up and down directions in the center of the outer surface of the center pillar part 12. A decorative tape 24 which is soft and has decorative effect like painting on the outer plate of a vehicle is stuck on the outer surface of the connecting part 18 along the direction of the length and is arranged from the top end to the bottom end of the center pillar part 12 such that it fills a groove made on the outer surface and its thickness is as large as the depth of the groove. Since the decorative tape 24 has a heat fusion layer and is stuck by heat fusion, it has good workability and its cost is low.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a weather strip for an automobile, which is attached to an automobile body or a door at a door opening of the automobile and seals between the automobile body and the door or between two doors. And a manufacturing method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, passenger cars, especially hard-top type cars, have been required to have a highly designed weatherstrip, and various weatherstrips have been put into practical use and proposed in order to meet such needs. There is.

For example, in the hard top type vehicle 1 shown in FIG. 7, the weather strips 4, 5, 100 are arranged between the front and rear doors 2, 3 and the vehicle body so as to seal between them. Has been done. The weather strips 4 and 5 are door weather strips arranged on the front and rear doors 2 and 3, and the door body 2b extends along the lower side and front and rear sides of the door bodies 2b and 3b excluding the door glasses 2a and 3a. It is arranged so as to seal the edges of 3b. Weather strip 100
Is a roof side rail / weather strip arranged on the vehicle body, and is a roof portion 1 arranged from the front pillar 1a to the roof side 1b to the rear pillar 1c.
00a and a center pillar portion 100b extending along the center pillar 1d, the roof portion 100a seals between the door glasses 2a and 3a and the vehicle body, and the center pillar portion 100b is located between the front and rear door glasses 2a and 3a. Is sealed.

In order to improve the design of the weather strip 100 in such a hard top type vehicle 1, an elongated resin molded part 101 having a colored layer is attached to the center of the outer side surface of the center pillar 100b. Is common.

The resin molded part 101 is shown in FIG.
The center pillar portion 100 as shown in (a) and (b).
A molding having a substantially C-shaped cross section that fits into the protruding portion 102 formed at the center of the outer side surface of b is used. This molding is attached to the center pillar portion 100b of the weather strip 100 after the weather strip 100 is formed.

As the resin molded part 101, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, there may be a case in which a plurality of claws 103, 103 are provided on the inner surface side.
By inserting 3 into a hole (not shown) provided in the vehicle body, the weather strip 100 is attached to the center of the outer surface.

Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 10, in the roof portion 100a of the weather strip 100, a color portion 104 other than black is integrally formed by extrusion molding on a part of the black weather strip 100. A method for improving the design of the weather strip 100 by integrally extruding color rubber has also been proposed.

[0008]

However, as described above, the weather strip 10 is formed by the resin molded part 101.
In order to achieve a high design of 0, there is a problem that the number of work steps is increased and the cost is high. Further, such a resin molded part 101 is usually made of vinyl chloride resin, ABS resin, or the like, and is hard, which is disadvantageous in terms of safety, and conforms to the weather strip 100 which is made of rubber and is highly flexible. However, there is a problem that the degree of freedom in design is low.

On the other hand, in the case of the integral extrusion molding of the color rubber described above, there is a problem that the design of the color portion 104 is lower than that of the exterior coating of the vehicle and it cannot be put to practical use in terms of appearance. is there.

In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a weather strip for automobiles, which is excellent in design effect and is excellent in workability and flexibility, and a manufacturing method thereof.

[0011]

The automotive weather strip according to claim 1 of the present invention comprises a decorative tape having a heat-sealing layer attached by heat-sealing.

The method for producing a weather strip for automobiles according to a second aspect is characterized in that a decorative tape having a heat-sealing layer is attached to the surface of the weather strip by heat-sealing.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the method of manufacturing a weather strip for automobiles according to the second aspect, the weather strip is formed by extrusion molding, and the decorative tape is formed by the residual heat after the extrusion molding of the weather strip. It is characterized by heat-sealing to a weather strip.

The heat fusion due to the residual heat after extrusion molding in claim 3 includes the thermal fusion due to the residual heat of the weather strip after the vulcanization in the case of vulcanization after extrusion.

[0015]

In the automobile weather slip of the first aspect, since the decorative tape is used in order to improve the design of the weather strip, it is more flexible and lighter than the conventional resin molded parts. Moreover, since this decorative tape has a heat-sealing layer and is attached to the weather strip by heat-sealing using the heat-sealing layer, it is excellent in workability and low in cost. Further, since the decorative tape, which is a member different from the rubber of the weather strip body, is used, it is possible to realize a high design equivalent to that of coating the outer panel of a vehicle.

According to the method of manufacturing a weather strip for an automobile of claim 2, since the decorative tape is attached to the surface of the weather strip by using the heat-sealing property of the decorative tape, it is possible to improve the design. It is easy to process weather strips and is cost effective. Further, the obtained weather strip for automobiles is excellent in design effect, and is flexible and lightweight.

According to the method of manufacturing a weather strip for an automobile of claim 3, since the decorative tape is heat-sealed by the residual heat of the weather strip after extrusion molding, the number of man-hours required is small, and the processing cost is further reduced. can do.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An automobile weather strip 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

The weather strip 10 is a roof side rail / weather strip for a hard top type vehicle and is made of an ethylene-propylene-diene terpolymer (hereinafter referred to as EPDM rubber). This weather strip 10 differs from the conventional roof side rail / weather strip 100 described above with reference to FIG. 7 in the configuration of the center pillar portion 100b arranged so as to extend vertically along the center pillar 1d. Therefore, the configuration of the center pillar portion will be described below.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a center pillar portion 12 of a weather strip 10 for an automobile of this embodiment. The center pillar portion 12 includes front and rear door glasses 2a and 3a.
It is attached to the outer surface of the center pillar 1d that extends vertically between them.

The center pillar portion 12 has a generally arcuate shape that curves outward so as to cover the outer surface of the center pillar 1d, and the front and rear seal portions 14 against which the front and rear door glasses 2a, 3a abut, respectively. , 16 and a connecting portion 18 connecting the front and rear seal portions 14, 16. The connecting portion 18 is formed so as to extend in the vertical direction at the center of the outer side surface of the center pillar portion 12.

The seal portions 14 and 16 are made of foamed EPDM.
Door glass 2a, 3a, which is a soft portion made of rubber
Has a plurality of hollow portions 20, 20 ... so as to elastically and smoothly abut the edge portion thereof, and is formed in a substantially arcuate shape.

The connecting portion 18 is a hard portion made of unfoamed EPDM rubber, and is formed as a ridge protruding outward and extending in the vertical direction. Connection part 1 formed on this ridge
As shown in FIG. 2, a shallow groove 22 is formed on the outer side surface of the groove 8 over almost the entire width thereof.

A decorative tape 24, which is a soft tape having a decorative effect similar to that of coating a vehicle outer panel, is attached to the outer surface of the connecting portion 18 along the longitudinal direction thereof. As shown in FIG. 2, the decorative tape 24 has substantially the same width as the groove 22 so as to fill the groove 22 provided on the outer surface of the connecting portion 18, and has a width from the upper end to the lower end of the center pillar portion 12. The groove 22 is formed so as to extend over the portion, and the thickness thereof is set to be approximately the same as the depth of the groove 22. In this way, the decorative tape 24 is attached to the groove 22.
By arranging the decoration tape 24 inside so that both ends of the decoration tape 24 do not project outward, it is possible to prevent the decoration tape 24 from peeling off when an object is hit or mischievous.

As shown in FIG. 3, the decorative tape 24 comprises a heat-sealing layer 24a and a decoration layer 24b formed on the heat-sealing layer 24a and having excellent flexibility and design effect.

The heat-sealing layer 24a is a layer made of a heat-sealing adhesive for EPDM rubber, and is softened by heating at a predetermined temperature or higher to soften the EPDM rubber forming the weather strip 10 and heat. Fuse together. This heat fusion layer 24a
The softening point of is preferably 100 to 200 ° C, and more preferably 110 to 180 ° C. If it is less than 100 ° C, it is difficult to secure sufficient heat resistance as an exterior part of an automobile, and if it is higher than 200 ° C, it becomes difficult to soften due to residual heat after extrusion molding or heat due to hot air, which will be described later. This is because it is disadvantageous in terms of adhesion. This heat fusion layer 2
Examples of the adhesive forming 4a include polyolefin resins.

The decoration layer 24b includes a urethane or silicon base material layer 24c formed on the heat fusion layer 24a, and a color paint layer 24d which is a colored layer formed on the urethane or silicon base material layer 24c. It comprises a clear urethane layer 24e which is the outermost skin layer formed on the color paint layer 24d.

The layers 24 constituting the decorative tape 24
The a, 24c, 24d, and 24e satisfy the physical properties required for automobile exterior parts such as water resistance and heat resistance.

The thickness of the decorative tape 24 is preferably 0.05 to 0.8 mm from the viewpoint of flexibility and the like. The elongation of the decorative tape 24 is 2 to 50% (200 mm / min, from the viewpoint of flexibility and workability).
The thickness is preferably 0.8 mm and 10 mm width).

A concrete example of the decorative tape 26 is C
-300 paint film (trade name, Sumitomo 3M Ltd.)
Manufactured).

Next, a method of manufacturing the weather strip 10 will be described.

As shown in FIG. 4, the weather strip 10 is extruded from the extruder 26 in a predetermined shape and is guided to the vulcanizer 28 for vulcanization. Decorative tape 24 immediately after vulcanization
Is pressure-bonded to the connecting portion 18 of the weather strip 10 by using the roller 30, and is heat-sealed. The heat-bonding layer 24 a of the decorative tape 24 is softened by the residual heat of the weather strip 10 after extrusion and vulcanization, and is attached to the surface of the weather strip 10. Then, it is cooled by the cooler 32 and cut into a predetermined size by the cutting machine 34.

Since the vulcanization is usually performed at about 150 to 220 ° C., if the softening point of the heat-sealing layer 24a of the decorative tape 24 is 110 to 180 ° C., as described above, the wafer immediately after vulcanization is treated. The decorative tape 24 is easily heat-sealed by the residual heat of the strip 10.

In the weather strip 10 for an automobile of the present embodiment constructed as described above, since the decorative tape 24 having a design similar to that of the coating on the vehicle outer panel is used to achieve a high design of the weather strip 10, It has an excellent design effect, and is more flexible and lighter than conventional resin molded parts. Therefore, the safety can be ensured, the EPDM rubber constituting the main body of the weatherstrip 10 can be easily followed, and the weatherstrip 10 has a high degree of freedom in designing.
Particularly, as described above, since the decoration layer 24b is mainly formed of urethane or silicon resin, it is excellent in flexibility and durability.

Further, since the decorative tape 24 has the heat-sealing layer 24a, and the decoration tape 24 is attached to the weather strip 10 by heat-sealing using the heat-sealing layer 24a, the workability is improved. Excellent and low cost. In particular, as described above, after the extrusion molding and before the cooling, the weather strip 1
When the so-called continuous method of applying the decorative tape 24 by the residual heat of 0 is used, the number of working steps is small and the processing cost can be further reduced.

Automotive weather strip 10 of this embodiment
In the above, as a method for attaching the decorative tape 24, a post-adhesion method may be used instead of the continuous method described above.

The post-adhesion method refers to a weather strip 10 obtained by extruding, vulcanizing and cooling, and connecting the connecting portion 1 to the weather strip 10.
8 and the decorative tape 24 are heat-sealed while heating with hot air. In this method, as shown in FIG. 5, on the surface of the connecting portion 18 of the weather strip 10 to which the decorative tape 24 is attached and on the heat-sealing layer 24a on the rear surface of the decorative tape 24,
Hot air is blown using the hot air blowing nozzle 36, and both are heated and pressed by a roller (not shown). The temperature of the hot air is preferably higher than the softening point of the heat-sealing layer 24a, specifically 30 to 80 ° C. higher.

FIG. 6 shows an embodiment in which the decorative tape 24 is attached to the roof portion 13 of the weather strip 10.

In this embodiment, the decorative tape 24 is
It is affixed to a region other than the seal portion 15 with which the door glasses 2a, 3a abut, and at a position visible from the inside and outside of the vehicle.

The decorative tape 24 may be constructed in the same color as the molding attached to the roof side 1b on the indoor side, whereby the design effect on the indoor side can be further enhanced.

The decorative tape 24 may be attached so that it can be seen only from the inside of the vehicle.

As described above, the present invention is not limited to the center pillar portion, but can be applied to various parts of the weather strip. Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the hard top type vehicle has been described, but it is also applicable to other vehicles. Further, in the above embodiment, the weather strip attached to the vehicle main body has been described, but it may be applied to the weather strip attached to the door frame.

[0043]

According to the present invention, since the weather strip for automobiles is designed to have a high design by the decorative tape having the heat-sealing property, the weather strip has excellent design effect and is flexible and lightweight. Further, it is excellent in workability and low in cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a center pillar portion 12 of a weather strip 10 for an automobile according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part of a center pillar part 12.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a decorative seal 24 attached to the connecting portion 18 of the center pillar portion 12.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a manufacturing process of the weather strip 10 for an automobile.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a main part showing a place where a decorative tape 24 is attached in another manufacturing example of the weather strip 10 for an automobile.

6A is a partial perspective view of a roof portion 13 of a weather strip 10 for an automobile according to another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6B is a state in which the roof portion 13 is mounted on a vehicle. FIG.

FIG. 7 is a schematic side view showing an arrangement of a weather strip 100 of a conventional hardtop vehicle 1.

8A is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 7, and FIG.
Is the center pillar portion 100 of the weather strip 100.
It is a partial perspective view of the resin molded component 101 arrange | positioned at b.

9 is a partial perspective view showing another example of the resin molded part 101. FIG.

FIG. 10 is a roof portion 1 of a conventional weather strip 100.
It is a partial perspective view of 00a.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Hard top type car 2,3 ... Door 2a, 3a ... Door glass 10 ... Weather strip 12 ... Center pillar part 14,16 ... Seal part 18 ... Coupling part 24 ... Decorative seal 24a ...... Heat fusion layer 24b ...... Decorative layer

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A weather strip for an automobile, wherein a decorative tape having a heat-sealing layer is attached by heat-sealing. 2. A method for producing a weatherstrip for an automobile, which comprises applying a decorative tape having a heat-sealing layer to the surface of the weatherstrip by heat-sealing. 3. The weather strip is formed by extrusion molding, and the decorative tape is heat-sealed to the weather strip by the residual heat after the extrusion molding of the weather strip. Manufacturing method of automobile weather strip.