JPS63147612A - Core material of steering wheel and manufacture thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To contrive to easily control the strength of a core material, and at the same time mold a lightweight and high-strength core material by a method wherein sheets made of resin-impregnated continuous fiber bundles are laminated in a mold in such a manner that the number of sheets in lamination is properly increased or decreased and compression-molded. CONSTITUTION:Each continuous long fiber sheet 7 is produced by arranging continuous glass fiber bundles 6 to one direction. A reinforced sheet is produced by impregnating with epoxy resin P. Next, the sheet 7 is cut out into shapes of a steering wheel core material. A plurality of respective cut-out sheets 8, 9 and 10 are laminated and filled in the mold cavity 12 of a molding tool 11. The strength of the core material is controlled by increasing or decreasing the number of sheets in lamination. Next, the molding tool is closed so as to cure the resin P under pressure and heat in order to mold a steering wheel core material.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a steering wheel core material for a vehicle and a method for manufacturing the same. Specifically, the present invention relates to a steering wheel core material for a vehicle and a method for manufacturing the same. This makes it easy to do.

Conventional technology Conventionally, the core material of a steering wheel consisting of a boss, a boss plate, spokes, and a ring is formed by forming the ring with an iron rod or iron pipe, etc., and forming the boss etc. with iron material.
These are connected by welding. However, with the core material of this structure, welding is time-consuming and the strength of the welded joint may be weakened, and furthermore, since it is made of iron, it is heavy.

Recently, in order to reduce weight, a method has been proposed in which a resin-impregnated continuous fiber bundle (FRP) is wound around a suitable frame or mold to form a core material. However, the FR
The method according to P has problems such as being limited in terms of design and not being able to easily reinforce areas that require reinforcement, such as connecting parts.

Purpose of the Invention The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems.In order to reduce the weight, a continuous filament bundle impregnated with resin is used instead of iron material, and the material is used to form bosses and boss plates. To enable a steering wheel core material in which spokes and rings are integrally connected to each other to be easily manufactured without being subject to design restrictions, and to easily provide reinforcement at necessary locations.

Composition of the Invention In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention comprises forming a continuous long fiber sheet made of continuous long fiber bundles into a sheet shape by impregnating a resin and compression molding with a mold, and The present invention provides a steering wheel core material in which a plurality of fiber sheets are laminated, and the number of laminated sheets is increased in areas where reinforcement is particularly required than in other areas.

Further, the present invention provides a continuous long fiber sheet made of continuous long fiber bundles, impregnates the continuous long fiber sheet with resin to make a reinforced sheet, and then cuts out the sheet in the shape of a steering wheel core material. Laminate the required number of sheets in a mold, close the mold, apply pressure and heat to harden the resin,
Therefore, the method for producing a steering wheel core material is characterized in that the resin is impregnated into the continuous filament sheet after the sheet is cut out, or after the sheet is laminated in a mold. This is what we provide.

Below, the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a steering wheel core material 1 according to the present invention, in which a ring portion 2), a spoke portion 3, and a boss plate portion 4 are made by impregnating a sorted long glass fiber bundle (FRP) with resin and compression molding them as one body. The boss portion 5 is formed of iron or the like and fixed to the boss plate portion 4 by bolting or the like (not shown). The steering wheel shown in FIG. 2 is formed by covering this steering wheel core material 1 with a skin 5 made of PP, urethane, or the like.

A method of manufacturing the steering wheel core material 1 will be explained in detail with reference to FIG. 3.

First, as shown in (+), a continuous glass fiber bundle 6
The continuous long fiber sheet material 7 is provided by arranging the fibers in one direction or by crossing them to form a sorted shape.

The sheet material 7 is impregnated with boxy resin P to form a reinforced sheet.

Next, as shown in (■), the sheet material 7 is cut out or die-cut into the shape of each part of the steering wheel core material, and a ring part sheet 8 and a spoke part sheet 9 are cut out.
, a boss plate section sheet IO is provided. The reason why the sheet It7 is divided and cut out in this way is because the steering wheel core material 1 has a three-dimensional structure.

Next, as shown in (IV), the mold hole 12 of the molding die 11 is
A plurality of the cut out sheets 8, 9 and IO are laminated and filled into the corresponding portions. As shown in the figure, the mold hole 12 of the mold 11 is a ring part! The molded parts of 2a1 spoke part 12b1 boss plate part + 2c are made continuous to form a shape that allows each part to be integrally molded. When filling the mold cavity 11a, the ring portion 12a and the spoke portions 12b1
At each connecting portion between the spoke portion +2b and the boss plate portion 12c, as shown in Fig. 4, the ends of the sheets 8, 9, 9, and 10 to be laminated are alternately overlapped and laminated. I'm trying to strengthen the bond. In addition, extra sheets are laminated in areas that require reinforcement of the pond, and reinforcement is achieved by increasing the number of laminated sheets.

After filling the mold cavity with the sheet, the mold is closed, and the sheet is heated while being compressed and held under the necessary pressure to harden the resin P impregnated into the sheet, and a mold corresponding to the mold cavity 12 is formed. At that time, if the number of laminated sheets is increased in some areas for reinforcement, there is a risk that pressure will not be applied to the pond area, but the pressure during molding should be adjusted so that pressure is applied to the entire area. Then there is no problem.

After compression molding is performed in the mold 11 as described above, the mold is opened and removed, and then the boss portion 5 is fixed to the boss plate portion by bolting or the like (not shown). In this way, a steering wheel core material l having a predetermined shape in which the ring part 2, the spoke part 3, the boss plate part 4, and the boss part 5 shown in FIG. 1 are integrated is manufactured.

In the above embodiment, glass fiber is used as the long fiber, but carbon fiber, aramid fiber, etc. may also be used. Also, as the resin P to be impregnated, instead of the epoxy resin, a thermosetting resin,
For example, unsaturated polyester, phenol, etc. may be used, or thermoplastic resin may be used.

Further, the boss portion 5 can also be integrally molded with the boss plate portion using long glass fibers.

Furthermore, in the above process, the resin P is impregnated before the sheet 7 is cut out, but it may be impregnated after the sheet 7 is cut out. Alternatively, the resin P may be impregnated into the mold 11 after the sheet is filled into the mold 11. Good too. The boss portion 5 may be insert-molded into the boss plate portion 4, and if necessary, fixing means such as bolting may be provided. Further, each part of the sheet 7 may be cut out using the molding die 11 in the same manner as the pressurization.

In the steering wheel core material 1 manufactured by the above method, the ring portion 2), the spoke portion 3, and the boss plate portion 4 are integrally molded in the mold It, so there is no need for post-processing such as welding, and manufacturing is simple. becomes.

Further, the strength can be easily adjusted by adjusting the number of laminated sheets, the pressure during molding, and the wall thickness. In particular, if you want to increase the strength of a part, you can do this very easily by simply increasing the thickness of that part or increasing the number of stacked notebooks.

Effects of the Invention As is clear from the above explanation, according to the present invention, the steering wheel core is manufactured by laminating continuous filament bundles impregnated with resin in a mold and compression molding. Each part of the material is integrally molded, so there is no need for conventional welding to connect each part. Furthermore, since the connecting portion is made by overlapping the sheets and joining together, the joining force is greater than that of conventional welding. Furthermore, since compression molding is used, the shape can be changed freely by simply changing the mold hole, giving a great degree of freedom in design. Furthermore, since it is a method of laminating sheets, it is only necessary to increase the number of laminated sheets in areas where it is desired to partially increase the strength, and the strength can be easily improved. Moreover, it goes without saying that the weight can be reduced compared to conventional steel.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a front view of a steering wheel core material according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a front view of a steering wheel using the above steering wheel core material, and Fig. 3 (IX [I) (
1) is a drawing showing each manufacturing process, and FIG. 4 is a drawing showing a state in which the sheets of the connecting portion are laminated. l...Steering wheel core material 2...Ring part 3...Spoke part 4...Boss plate part 6...Bundle of fibers 7...Sheet material 8.
- Ring section seat 9... Spoke section seat 10... Boss plate section seat 11... Molding die 12... Mold hole patent applicant Tokai Rika Denki Seisakusho Co., Ltd. Representative patent attorney Haga Aoyama 2nd person 1st Figure 3 (1) Figure 2 Figure 3 (II) - 4rI! J

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) A steering wheel core material, characterized in that it is formed by impregnating a continuous long fiber sheet made of continuous long fiber bundles with a resin and compression molding it in a mold. (2) The steering wheel core material according to claim (1) is characterized in that a plurality of the continuous filament sheets are laminated, and the number of laminated sheets is increased in areas requiring reinforcement than in other areas. Steering wheel core material. (3) providing a continuous long fiber sheet made of continuous long fiber bundles, impregnating the continuous long fiber sheet with resin to make a reinforced sheet, and cutting it out in the shape of a steering wheel core material;
A method for producing a steering wheel core material, which comprises stacking a required number of the cut out sheets in a mold, closing the mold, applying pressure and heating to harden the resin, and shaping the resin. (4) In the manufacturing method described in claim (3),
A method for manufacturing a steering wheel core material, characterized in that the continuous long fiber reinforced sheet is impregnated with resin after the sheet is cut out or after the sheets are laminated in a mold.