A side window in a crash test performed by Tecosim.
Lightweight construction is becoming increasingly important in the automotive industry since reducing the vehicle weight can lower fuel consumption and emissions. Researchers see a great potential for saving weight with the development of acrylic windows. Acrylic windows could be up to 50 percent lighter than the mineral glass windows in today’s production vehicles. A window made of acrylic glass also provides better protection against stone chipping and improves acoustics.
Up until now, however, there has been no proof of crash safety for protecting vehicle occupants and pedestrians, because the use of acrylic glass in vehicles has not yet been scientifically investigated. This is now to be done in a project examining the crash behaviour of acrylic automotive glazing under the direction of Professor Stefan Kolling of the Competence Centre for Automotive – Mobility – Materials Research at the Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen University of Applied Sciences.
Acrylic windows ready for production in five years at the latest?
Experiments on the material properties of acrylic glass, which is supplied under the trade name Plexiglas by Evonik, form the basis for computer simulations. The researchers’ next step will be to develop a material model for crash simulation based on the material behaviour data generated by the experiments. The researchers are aiming to develop a simulation tool for the design of future vehicles with acrylic glass windows that can then be marketed to car makers and suppliers. The researchers estimate that acrylic windows could be ready to go into production in four to five years.
The research project will run over two-and-a half years. The cooperation partners are the Institute for Structural Mechanics at TU Darmstadt and Tecosim, an internationally active company specialising in computer-aided engineering and based in Rüsselheim, Germany.