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Article: Up front: advanced FEM technology.(Products & Applications)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Plastics Engineering
- Article date:
- September 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Society of Plastics Engineers, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Developed by GE Advanced Materials in conjunction with Carlisle Engineered Products and Vari-Form, Inc., a new automotive front-end module (FEM) technology combines the strength of steel with the low mass of plastic in a single cost-effective molding process. The patented HydroPlast Structures technology uses Vari-Form's pressure sequence hydroforming (PSH) in conjunction with GE Advanced Materials' engineering resins. An integral tie (SmartLok Connection) is formed between the metal and plastic during the injection molding process, enabling significant load transfer between the materials.
In this application, says GE Advanced Materials, the HydroPlast Structure ...