Crash Safety Assurance Strategies for Future Plastic and Composite Intensive Vehicles (PCIVs). Final Report

摘要

The Plastic and Composite Intensive Vehicle (PCIV) has the potential to revolutionize the automotive sector, due to the inherent benefits of these materials. Composite materials provide high strength-to-weight and stiffness-to-weight ratios as well as excellent energy absorbing capability per mass. However, the use of these materials in automotive structures requires an indepth knowledge of their unique performance characteristics in the crash and safety environment. This report attempts to identify outstanding safety issues and research needs for future PCIVs in order to facilitate deployment of safe PCIV vehicles by 2020. Specific objectives of this report are to: (1) Propose a definition of a PCIV; (2) Define a preliminary set of minimum PCIV safety performance specifications; (3) Develop approaches and metrics for the characterization and quantification of potential safety benefits of automotive plastics and composites; (4) Develop objective test and evaluation procedures for materials, designs and components of emerging PCIV concepts, to ensure compliance with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), and (4) Summarize progress and provide recommendations for future research in materials databases, test method development, and crash modeling.