Modular Table Concept for the Car of the Future

Many things will change in the vehicles of the future, with new forms of mobility transforming tomorrow's car into a multifunctional mobile living and working space. New functions will emerge in the interior, a shift toward personalization, and a desire to use space in the best and most comfortable way possible. The preferred material for making this new "living space" functional, flexible and appealing is lightweight plastic that is easy to mold. Covestro is taking things a step further by using continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites (CFRTP). The Maezio® material is extremely durable and lightweight, while offering exceptional opportunities for high-quality and aesthetic design. A current example of what is possible is a modular table concept that saves space in autonomous vehicles. Covestro developed this directly for the automotive industry as a supplier, working together with mechanical and process technology provider Engel Austria and Dr. Schneider Unternehmensgruppe. [caption id="attachment_104080" align="aligncenter"] Together with Engel Austria and Dr. Schneider, Covestro developed a modular table concept for automobile interiors that saves space. The thermoplastic composite material Maezio® is used here as an extremely durable and lightweight material that also provides a new aesthetic.[/caption]   The goal was to build a full-sized table as thin as an Ultrabook that can be easily placed between rear seats, for example, yet is mechanically extremely robust. This table is 41 cm long and 32 cm wide, with a thickness that increases from 5 mm at the outer edge to 10 mm toward the interior—less than half the thickness of conventional car tables. The attachment of hinges, which were factored in during the molding process, and pre-molded trays for pens and tablets reduce the number of components and save weight.

Lightweight and sturdy sandwich structure

A sandwich-structured first version is shown in the interior concept. Each of the top and bottom surfaces consists of layers of 1 mm thick polycarbonate composite material. The sandwich core is a rigid, low-density polyurethane (PU) foam with a seamless surface based on Baydur® 20. The table, weighing just 690 grams, is twice the size of a conventional one and can be loaded with 50 kg instead of 5 kg. The manufacturing process was developed in partnership with colleagues at the LIT Factory at the Linz Technology Institute (LIT) at Johannes Kepler University (JKU) in Linz, Austria. Here, with the aid of digitalization, the potential ranging from product development to reuse can be best identified and utilized. The second phase of the project aims to enable seamless and economical large-scale production of the table using proven serial processes and to transfer the acquired know-how to other CFRTP composite applications. [caption id="attachment_104081" align="aligncenter"] The reinforcing carbon fibers on the surface give the table a distinctive design.[/caption]

Not just for the automotive industry

Polycarbonate composite Maezio® is not only a particularly attractive material due to its low weight and moldability. With its noble carbon appearance, it is also an optical surface material for casings of laptops, smartphones or tablets, as well as ideal for sports equipment and other items. In addition, thanks to the carbon appearance, transparent as well as opaque coatings enable the production of durable products with unique surface properties that meet customers' high design demands.