Handling of glass mat thermoplastic from manufacturing station to heating station to molding machine
Document Type
Thesis
Date of Award
12-31-1991
Degree Name
Master of Science in Manufacturing Engineering - (M.S.)
Department
Manufacturing Engineering Division
First Advisor
Keith T. O'Brien
Second Advisor
Nouri Levy
Third Advisor
MengChu Zhou
Abstract
GMT composite sheets are a family of continuous glass fiber roving impregnated with thermoplastic resin with parts formed by compression molding. Significance of GMT sheets comes by its cost-effective performance sufficient to penetrate automotive, industrial, construction, and other markets not willing to pay for higher cost, fiber-reinforced composite systems. GMTs in comparison to traditional sheet metals and sheet molding compounds (SMCs) are lighter, corrosion resistant, require no special storage, exhibit faster cycle times, require no chemical reaction, produce less scrap, possess recycling benefits, are ready for painting, and exhibit maximum opportunities for parts consolidation due to exceptional strength, formability, lower specific gravity, improved impact resistance and infinite shelf life. The demand for GMT is enormous and 20.1 thousand metric tons was the consumption during the year 1990 in North America out of which the automotive industry is the largest end-use market, accounting for about 90% of the total consumption. Although the GMT process tends to be highly automated in European and Japanese installations, a fairly high degree of manual handling remains in North America.
The objective of this project is in two parts. The first part of this project studies the importance, manufacturing techniques, properties, fabricating methods and finally applications of GMT. The second part involves an investigation of ways to automate the GMT handling process which is performed manually at present. Bumper beams and battery trays are considered as examples for analysis purposes. Finally, manufacturing process design and simulation of an automated process is performed using a Silicon Graphics Work Station.
Recommended Citation
Neela, Ramulu Srinivas, "Handling of glass mat thermoplastic from manufacturing station to heating station to molding machine" (1991). Theses. 2571.
https://digitalcommons.njit.edu/theses/2571
