The car dashboard is an important functional and decorative component of a vehicle. It is a thin-walled, large-volume part with many holes and openings for mounting instruments and a complex shape. If made of steel sheet, it is not only expensive but also requires more than ten processes such as shearing, stamping, drilling, and painting. If made of ABS plastic, it can be molded in a single injection or vacuum forming process, which has obvious advantages and economic benefits.
Automotive dashboards can be broadly categorized into two types based on their structure and materials: hard dashboards and soft dashboards. Hard dashboards have a simple structure, with all three-dimensional parts made of the same material, requiring only one injection molding process. Soft dashboards consist of three parts: a skin, a cushioning layer, and a frame. ABS plastic possesses excellent heat resistance, impact resistance, and rigidity, making it suitable for manufacturing dashboards. Automotive dashboards are large and high-quality components in automobiles, and the requirements for their use are as follows:
(1) The main raw materials and auxiliary materials used in manufacturing dashboards must not contain substances harmful to the human body.
(2) They must have sufficient rigidity and strength to withstand the loads from instruments, audio equipment, pipes, and debris, and resist certain impacts.
(3) They must have good dimensional stability and be able to withstand the high temperatures in the engine compartment and the intense sunlight of summer. The surface temperature of dashboards often reaches 110-115℃, sometimes as high as 130℃. Therefore, ABS dashboards must exhibit minimal creep and no deformation at 115℃, and be able to withstand an impact of 6.8KG, a 165mm diameter object (approximately the size of a human head) at 24KM/H at -20℃.
(4) They must not produce volatile substances that blur the windows, should have appropriate decorative properties, and low reactivity.
(5) When the soft skin breaks at room temperature and low temperature, it should be a tough fracture rather than a brittle fracture, that is, the product should not have sharp angles when it breaks.
(6) It is resistant to corrosion by gasoline, diesel and sweat, and is resistant to cold and heat and impact, with a service life of more than 10 years.
In specific applications, ABS plastic is mainly used in automotive dashboards in two aspects. Firstly, in the manufacture of the dashboard body itself. Most passenger cars and SUVs use ABS plastic or ABS alloy materials (such as ABS+PVC alloy) for their dashboard bodies. Dashboard bodies made of this material are lightweight, effectively reducing the overall vehicle weight compared to traditional metal materials, thus contributing to energy conservation and emission reduction. At the same time, its good rigidity ensures that the dashboard is not easily deformed during long-term use, maintaining a stable structural state. Secondly, in the manufacture of dashboard functional components, such as storage boxes, air conditioning control panel housings, and audio head unit housings, ABS plastic is also widely used. These components require high strength, toughness, and molding precision. ABS plastic meets these functional requirements and can reduce manufacturing costs through mass production, meeting the requirements of large-scale production in the automotive industry.
As the automotive industry moves towards lightweighting, intelligence, and environmental protection, the application of ABS plastic in automotive dashboards is also constantly being upgraded. For example, modification techniques can be used to improve the heat resistance and aging resistance of ABS plastics, making them suitable for the high-temperature environment generated by the increasing number of electronic components inside dashboards. Furthermore, environmentally friendly ABS plastics can be developed using renewable raw materials or recyclable designs to reduce environmental pollution. In the future, ABS plastics will continue to play a vital role in automotive dashboard manufacturing, providing strong support for improving the quality and performance of automotive interiors.