VEHICULAR INTERIOR MATERIAL AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a vehicular interior material. The vehicular interior material includes a skin layer having a thickness of 1.25-1.8 mm and a garnish layer having a thickness of 2.4-2.75 mm and positioned on the lower surface of the skin layer. The skin layer and the garnish layer are integrally formed through injection molding such that the skin layer surrounds a side wall of the garnish layer.

Claims

1. A vehicular interior material comprising: a skin layer; and a garnish layer positioned on a lower surface of the skin layer; wherein the skin layer and the garnish layer are integrally formed through injection molding such that the skin layer surrounds a side wall of the garnish layer and the garnish layer has a larger thickness than a thickness of the skin layer.

2. The vehicular interior material of claim 1, further comprising a square recess formed in the garnish layer so as to correspond to a weld line occurring at the skin layer.

3. The vehicular interior material of claim 1, wherein the garnish layer has a slit portion formed in at least a portion of a rear surface thereof.

4. The vehicular interior material of claim 3, wherein the slit portion has a depth of 0.1-0.2 mm.

5. The vehicular interior material of claim 1, wherein the skin layer is made of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), polyamide (PA), or a combination thereof.

6. The vehicular interior material of claim 1, wherein the skin layer has a thickness of 1.25-1.8 mm and the garnish layer has a thickness of 2.4-2.75 mm.

7. The vehicular interior material of claim 1, wherein the skin layer is injected through a gate positioned at a rear surface of the skin layer, such that the skin layer surrounds a side wall of the garnish layer.

8. A method of manufacturing a vehicular interior material comprising: injecting a constituent material of a skin layer into a mold; and injecting a constituent material of a garnish layer on a lower surface of the skin layer; wherein the skin layer is configured to surround a side wall of the garnish layer.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the injecting the constituent material of the garnish layer comprises forming a square recess in the garnish layer at a location corresponding to a weld line occurring at the skin layer.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the injecting the constituent material of the garnish layer comprises forming a slit portion in at least a portion of a rear surface of the garnish layer.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the slit portion has a depth of 0.1-0.2 mm.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the skin layer has a thickness of 1.25-1.8 mm, and the garnish layer has a thickness of 2.4-2.75 mm.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the injecting the constituent material of the skin layer comprises injecting the constituent material of the skin layer through a gate positioned at a region of the skin layer adjacent to the side wall of the garnish layer.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0026] The above and other features of the present disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to certain exemplary embodiments thereof, illustrated in the accompanying drawings which are given hereinbelow by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present disclosure, and wherein:

[0027] FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a vehicular interior material according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0028] FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a console to which the vehicular interior material according to the embodiment of the present disclosure is applied;

[0029] FIG. 3 illustrates graphs showing the results of a falling ball impact test on the vehicular interior material according to the embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0030] FIG. 4 is a rear view of a console to which the vehicular interior material according to the embodiment of the present disclosure is applied;

[0031] FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a square recess of the console to which the vehicular interior material according to the embodiment of the present disclosure is applied; and

[0032] FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a mold with which the vehicular interior material according to the embodiment of the present disclosure is manufactured.

[0033] It should be understood that the appended drawings are not necessarily to scale, presenting a somewhat simplified representation of various preferred features illustrative of the basic principles of the disclosure. The specific design features of the present disclosure as disclosed herein, including, for example, specific dimensions, orientations, locations, and shapes will be determined in part by the particular intended application and use environment.

[0034] In the figures, the reference numbers refer to the same or equivalent parts of the present disclosure throughout the several figures of the drawing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0035] Hereinafter reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments of the present disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described below. While the disclosure will be described in conjunction with exemplary embodiments, it will be understood that the present description is not intended to limit the disclosure to those exemplary embodiments. On the contrary, the disclosure is intended to cover not only the exemplary embodiments, but also various alternatives, modifications, equivalents and other embodiments that may be included within the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims.

[0036] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The embodiments of the present disclosure may be modified into various forms, and the scope of the present disclosure should not be construed as being limited to the following embodiments. These embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art.

[0037] The term “part”, “unit” or “module” means a unit for performing at least one function or action, and may be realized by hardware or a combination of hardware.

[0038] The present disclosure is directed to a vehicular interior material 10, which includes a skin layer 100 composed of a high-gloss material having impact resistance. Furthermore, the present disclosure is directed to a vehicular interior material 10, which includes the skin layer 100 and a garnish layer 200, which are integrally formed through double injection molding so as to reduce manufacturing costs and to have prominently low defectiveness.

[0039] FIG. 1 is a side cross-sectional view of the vehicular interior material 10 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, which includes the skin layer 100 and the garnish layer 200, which are sequentially formed through injection molding.

[0040] The vehicular interior material 10 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, which includes the skin layer 100 and the garnish layer 200, may include at least some of a cluster bezel, an upper cover of a console and a crash pad, which are positioned at the front surface of a vehicle.

[0041] The skin layer 100 may be composed of a material having a high-gloss black color and scratch resistance. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the skin layer 100 may be composed of at least one of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and polyamide (PA).

[0042] In other words, the skin layer 100 is configured to have a high-gloss black color and a high-gloss texture.

[0043] Since the skin layer 100 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure is configured to have a desired brittleness without an additional procedure of forming a coating layer and performing post-treatment (film treatment), the vehicular interior material 10 is capable of being directly applied to a vehicle after injection molding.

[0044] The garnish layer 200 may be composed of a material having a high efficiency of extension and low brittleness. The garnish layer 200 is configured to absorb impacts applied from the skin layer 100. In this regard, as the thickness of the garnish layer 200 is increased, the impact resistance thereof becomes excellent.

[0045] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the material of the garnish layer 200, which has impact resistance, may be composed of at least one of polycarbonate (PC) and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS).

[0046] The skin layer 100 and the garnish layer 200 may be formed through a double injection-molding process. Specifically, the vehicular interior material 10 may be manufactured by first molding the skin layer 100 from the material constituting the skin layer 100 and then injecting the material constituting the garnish layer 200 into a mold 300 through side gates 400.

[0047] The side gates 400 are configured such that the side gate 400 for forming the skin layer 100 is formed in the rear surface of the skin layer 100 adjacent to the side wall of the garnish layer 200 and the side gate 400 for forming the garnish layer 200 is positioned inside the side gate 400 for forming the skin layer 100.

[0048] Since the skin layer 100 is configured so as to surround at least a portion of the periphery of the garnish layer 200, the garnish layer 200 is not exposed to the interior of the vehicle. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in a console upper cover having a hole through which a gear knob extends, the skin layer 100 may be configured so as to surround all of the inner peripheral surface of the hole and the periphery of the garnish layer 200.

[0049] In this way, the skin layer 100 is configured so as to surround the entire side wall of the garnish layer 200, which extends upwards, thereby preventing the garnish layer 200 from being exposed to the interior of the vehicle.

[0050] FIG. 2 illustrates the individual layers of the vehicular interior material 10 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, which is applied to a console in which a gear knob is positioned.

[0051] As illustrated in the drawing, the vehicular interior material 10 includes the skin layer 100 and the garnish layer 200, though which a gear knob extends. Preferably, the skin layer 100 may be configured to have a thickness of 1.25-1.8 mm, and the garnish layer 200 may be configured to have a thickness of 2.4-2.75 mm.

[0052] Table 1 shows the relationships between the thickness of the skin layer 100 and the thickness of the garnish layer 200, which, in a falling ball impact test, enable the garnish layer 200 to absorb the impact of the falling ball while preventing breakage of the skin layer 100.

[0053] The falling ball impact test was conducted with a ball having a diameter of 20 cm and a weight of 5 Kg in a manner such that the ball is dropped freely from a height of 1 m above the top surface of the vehicular interior material.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Items 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Thick- 2 2   1.5 1.8  1.8  1.25 1   0.8  ness of skin layer Thick- 2 2.5 2.5 2.5  2.4  2.75 2.5 2.5  ness of garnish layer Rate 1 0.8 0.6 0.72 0.75 0.45 0.4 0.32 Results X X ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ X X Remarks Impact Impact Assem- not break- break- bly inject- age age Break- able age

[0054] From Table 1, it is found that neither breakage due to impact nor breakage of assembly were caused by the falling ball in the case in which the skin layer 100 had a thickness of 1.25-1.8 mm and the garnish layer 200 had a thickness of 2.4-2.75 mm. In other words, the ratio of the thickness of the skin layer 100 to the garnish layer 200 is set to be 0.45-0.75 in double injection molding in order to realize optimized impact resistance performance.

[0055] As appreciated from the above, the thickness of the garnish layer 200 is set to be larger than the thickness of the skin layer.

[0056] FIG. 3 illustrates data about impact absorption of the vehicle interior material 10 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the garnish layer 200 of which is composed of the combination of polycarbonate (PC) and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), compared to data about impact absorption of a conventional vehicular interior material, the garnish layer of which is composed only of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS).

[0057] Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the garnish layer 200 composed of the combination of polycarbonate (PC) and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) is superior to the garnish layer composed of only acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) in terms of absorption of impact energy and maximum support load measured when the skin layer 100 breaks.

[0058] The garnish layer 200 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, which is composed of the combination of polycarbonate (PC) and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), offers higher impact resistance performance than the conventional garnish layer, which is composed only of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS).

[0059] In summary, the vehicular interior material 10 shows that the efficiency of extension thereof increases as the thickness of the skin layer 100 decreases and that the impact resistance performance thereof increases as the thickness of the garnish layer 200 increases. The drawing shows that the vehicular interior material 10 has excellent impact resistance performance in the case in which the thickness of the skin layer 100 is 1.25 mm and the garnish layer 200 is composed of the combination of polycarbonate (PC) and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS).

[0060] FIG. 4 illustrates the rear surface of the garnish layer 200 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, which is completely injection-molded. FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a square recess 220.

[0061] As illustrated in the drawings, the garnish layer 200 includes a slit portion 210 and the square recess 220.

[0062] As illustrated in the drawings, the garnish layer 200 is provided on the rear surface thereof with the slit portion 210 and the square recess 220. This is a construction for preventing the occurrence of a weld line on the skin layer 100 due to the difference in contraction rate between the skin layer 100 and the garnish layer 200.

[0063] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, because the skin layer 100 is composed of PMMA and the garnish layer 200 is composed of the complex material of PC and ABC, residual stress and contraction stress occur between the different materials. As a result, a weld line may occur on the skin layer 100 of the vehicular interior material 10 when the internal temperature in the vehicle increases to a predetermined temperature or higher.

[0064] Hence, the garnish layer 200 is configured to include the slit portion 210, which is a volume-reducing structure, on the rear surface thereof. The depth and area of the slit portion 210 may be set such that the overall contraction rate of the garnish layer 200 decreases so as to be similar to the contraction rate of the skin layer 100. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the slit portion 210 may have a depth of 0.1-0.2 mm. The position of the slit portion 210 may be changed depending on the shape of the vehicular interior material 10.

[0065] Furthermore, the garnish layer 200 is provided at a region adjacent to a weld line occurring on the skin layer 100 with the square recess 220. The square recess 220 is capable of preventing a weld line on the skin layer 100, which occurs due to the difference in contraction rate between the skin layer 100 and the garnish layer 200 in the vertical direction in the drawing.

[0066] Preferably, the slit portion 210 and the square recess 220 may be integrally formed with each other, and may be formed in the rear surface of the garnish layer 200 depending on the shape of a lower mold 320 of the mold 300.

[0067] FIG. 6 illustrates a double injection-molding process of the vehicular interior material 10 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0068] The mold, which is intended to mold the vehicular interior material 10 through double injection molding, includes an upper mold 310 and the lower mold 320. First, the constituent material of the skin layer 100 is injected into the upper mold 310. The skin layer 100 is formed in such a way as to inject the constituent material of the skin layer 100 through the center gate 400 or the side gate 400. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the skin layer 100 may be made of PMMA. The skin layer 100 may have a thickness of 1.25-1.8 mm, and may be positioned so as to surround the entire inner side surface of the upper mold 310.

[0069] After the constituent material of the skin layer 100 is injected, the constituent material of the garnish layer 200 is injected into the space between the skin layer 100 and the lower mold 320 through the center gate 400 or the side gate 400. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the garnish layer 200 is made of the combination of polycarbonate (PC) and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS). Preferably, the garnish layer 200 has a thickness of 2.4-2.75 mm. The skin layer 100 is configured so as to surround the side wall of the garnish layer 100 to thus prevent the garnish layer 200 from being exposed through the outermost surface of the skin layer 100.

[0070] The lower mold 320 is provided with a protrusion pattern along at least a portion of the peripheral region of the garnish layer 200 or the inner surface of the hole formed in the garnish layer 200. Accordingly, the slit portion 210 may be formed in the garnish layer 200 by virtue of the lower mold 320. Preferably, the slit portion 210 may have a depth of 0.1-02 mm.

[0071] The garnish layer 200 may be provided with at least one square recess 220 at a location corresponding to a weld line occurring at the skin layer 100. Accordingly, the square recess 220 may be formed in the garnish layer 200 by providing the lower mold 320 with a projection. Preferably, the slit portion 210 and the square recess 220 are configured so as to have the same depth.

[0072] The depths and positions of the slit portion 210 and the square recess 220 may be set in consideration of the position of a weld line occurring at the skin layer 100 and the difference in contraction rate between the skin layer 100 and the garnish layer 200.

[0073] The present disclosure offers the following effects by virtue of the above-described constructions of the embodiments.

[0074] The present disclosure provides a vehicular interior material having improved heat resistance.

[0075] Furthermore, the present disclosure provides a vehicular interior material, which is manufactured at low cost.

[0076] In addition, the present disclosure provides a vehicular interior material that satisfies impact resistance.

[0077] The disclosure has been described in detail with reference to preferred embodiments thereof. However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the disclosure, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.