VEHICLE HEADLINER MATERIAL

Abstract

A vehicle headliner material includes a stiffening layer to prevent moisture penetration by reinforcing each side of a synthetic fiber layer. In this way, the synthetic fibers can be prevented from holding moisture, and thus safety accidents that may be caused by increased weight of the headliner material or permanent deforming of the headliner due to the headliner material that repeats holding and releasing moisture can be prevented. The vehicle headliner material is provided with improved formability, improved flexural strength, enhanced structural stiffness, and direct adhesion without an additional adhesive by including a synthetic resin in the synthetic fiber layer along with synthetic fibers and using a glass mat and thermoplastic resin sheets as constituent materials of each stiffening layer.

Claims

1. A material for a vehicle headliner, the material comprising: a synthetic fiber layer prepared with synthetic fibers; and a stiffening layer disposed on each side of the synthetic fiber layer, wherein each stiffening layer includes: a glass mat as a middle layer; and a thermoplastic resin sheet on each side of the glass mat.

2. The material according to claim 1, wherein the synthetic fiber layer has a thickness of 1 to 3 mm and an areal density of 500 to 600 g/m.sup.2.

3. The material according to claim 1, wherein the synthetic fiber layer is prepared using at least one selected from the group consisting of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), glass fibers, carbon fibers, nylon, polyesters, and acrylics.

4. The material according to claim 1, wherein the stiffening layer has a thickness of 1 to 2 mm and an areal density of 100 to 500 g/m.sup.2.

5. The material according to claim 1, wherein the glass mat has an areal density of 50 to 200 g/m.sup.2.

6. The material according to claim 1, wherein the thermoplastic resin sheet has a thickness of 20 to 250 m.

7. The material according to claim 1, wherein the thermoplastic resin sheet consists of at least one selected from the group consisting of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), PS, polypropylene (PP), PE, and PET.

8. The material according to claim 1, wherein the material has an overall thickness of 2 to 5 mm and an areal density of 1,300 to 1,400 g/m.sup.2.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0033] The above and other objects, features and advantages of the described embodiments will become more apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0034] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vehicle for showing a position of a headliner installed in the vehicle;

[0035] FIG. 2 is a top plan view for illustrating the entire shape of a conventional headliner;

[0036] FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view for illustrating a layer structure of a material for a conventional headliner; and

[0037] FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view for illustrating a layer structure of a headliner material according to the described embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

[0038] Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to accompanying drawings. Moreover, terms and words used in this specification and claims should not be interpreted as being limited to commonly used meanings or meanings in dictionaries and should be interpreted with meanings and concepts which are consistent with the technological scope of the described embodiments based on the principle that the inventors may appropriately define concepts of terms in order to describe the invention in the best way.

[0039] Therefore, since the embodiments described in this specification and configurations illustrated in drawings are only exemplary embodiments and do not represent the entire technological scope of the invention, it is understood that the described embodiments cover various equivalents, modifications, and substitutions at the time of filing of this application.

[0040] (Configuration)

[0041] As shown in FIG. 4, the vehicle headliner material according to an exemplary embodiment includes a synthetic fiber layer 10, and a stiffening layer 20 attached to each side of the synthetic fiber layer 10.

[0042] In particular, the stiffening layer 20 is configured to hinder moisture penetration into the synthetic fiber layer 10 so that synthetic fibers constituting the synthetic fiber layer 10 cannot hold moisture such as water. In this way, deforming of the headliner material that may be caused by repeated moisture absorption and release and safety accidents that may be caused by increased weight of a headliner material due to holding moisture can be prevented.

[0043] In addition, the stiffening layer 20 is configured to include the glass mat 21 to improve formability and structural stiffness of the headliner material to eventually enhance bending stiffness while enabling the formation of a headliner into a complex shape. Also, the thermoplastic resin sheet 22 included in the headliner material provides adhesion for gluing the synthetic fiber layer 10 and stiffening layer 20 together without using an additional adhesive.

[0044] Hereinafter, the configuration of the headliner material will be described in more detail. Here, the headliner material according to the exemplary embodiment may be one among many layers constituting a layer structure of a headliner, or the headliner material itself may represent the entire layer structure of a headliner.

[0045] The synthetic fiber layer 10 as shown in FIG. 4 refers to a layer of synthetic fibers prepared into a sheet form to enhance noise dampening performance of a headliner and for making a lighter headliner material.

[0046] In particular, it is preferable that the synthetic fiber layer 10 be prepared by gluing synthetic fibers together by using a synthetic resin. This is because when a layer prepared only with synthetic fibers is used as a part of a headliner material, while the headliner material may be light and have improved noise dampening performance, the headliner material may have insufficient bending stiffness and structural stiffness as a finishing material to be installed to face a roof panel in an interior of a vehicle. When a headliner material does not have sufficient bending stiffness and structural stiffness, there is a risk that a headliner that consists of the headliner material and is installed in an interior of a vehicle may sag or be contorted and eventually fall to the floor of the vehicle.

[0047] In consideration of noise dampening performance and weight increase, the synthetic fiber layer 10 is preferably configured to have a thickness of 1 to 3 mm and an areal density of 500 to 600 g/m.sup.2. Also, any synthetic fiber may be used to prepare the synthetic fiber layer 10. For example, the synthetic fiber layer 10 may be prepared using at least one selected from the group consisting of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), glass fibers, carbon fibers, nylon, polyesters, and acrylics.

[0048] The stiffening layer 20 as shown in FIG. 4 is disposed on each side of the above synthetic fiber layer 10 to prevent moisture or the like from entering the synthetic fiber layer 10 and is configured for gluing layers together as a single entity. For this purpose, each stiffening layer 20 is prepared by attaching a thermoplastic resin sheet 22 to each side of a glass mat 21.

[0049] In this case, the glass mat 21 has good formability and can be easily shaped into a complex shape. In particular, the glass mat 21 provides stiffness to the headliner material of the exemplary embodiment to enhance flexural strength of the headliner material so that the headliner does not easily sag or deform. For sufficient bending stiffness and to minimize weight increase, it is preferable that the glass mat 21 is configured to have an areal density of 50 to 200 g/m.sup.2.

[0050] The thermoplastic resin sheet 22 as shown in FIG. 4 is attached to each side of each glass mat 21 to provide adhesion and prevent moisture penetration when a stiffening layer 20 is bonded to a synthetic fiber layer 10.

[0051] Any thermoplastic resin that serves as an adhesive may be used to prepare the thermoplastic resin sheet 22. For example, at least one selected from the group consisting of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), PS, polypropylene (PP), PE, and PET may be used as the thermoplastic resin.

[0052] In particular, for using the thermoplastic resin sheet 22 as an adhesive component, it is preferable that the thermoplastic resin sheet 22 be prepared with minimum possible thickness that can promote adhesion between the synthetic fiber layer 10 and stiffening layer 20. For this purpose, the thermoplastic resin sheet 22 is preferably configured to have a thickness of 20 to 250 m.

[0053] Meanwhile, the stiffening layer 20 of the exemplary embodiment prepared as thus is preferably disposed on each side of the synthetic fiber layer 10 as shown in FIG. 4. Also, the stiffening layer 20 is preferably prepared with minimum possible thickness and weight to prevent moisture from entering the synthetic fiber layer 10, and to promote adhesion with the synthetic fiber layer 10 while not adding too much weight to the headliner material. Therefore, the stiffening layer 20 is preferably configured to have a thickness of 1 to 2 mm and an areal density of 100 to 500 g/m.sup.2.

[0054] In addition, the headliner material according to the exemplary embodiment is preferably configured to have a thickness of 2 to 5 mm and an areal density of 1,300 to 1,400 g/m.sup.2 to minimize moisture penetration while minimizing weight of the headliner material itself at the same time. In this case, the headliner material is preferably configured to have a flexural strength of 1.95 to 2.35 kg/cm.sup.2.

[0055] As described above, the headliner material of the described embodiments includes a stiffening layer for reinforcement on each side of a synthetic fiber layer, which includes synthetic fibers, to prevent moisture penetration into the synthetic fibers. In this way, problems that may be caused by deforming of the headliner material due to repeated moisture absorption and release and weight increase due to moisture absorption can be avoided.

[0056] Also, by including a glass mat and thermoplastic resin sheets in each stiffening layer, the headliner material of the described embodiments can attain improved bending stiffness and be adhered without requiring an additional adhesive.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOL

[0057] 10: SYNTHETIC FIBER LAYER [0058] 20: STIFFENING LAYER [0059] 21: GLASS MAT [0060] 22: THERMOPLASTIC RESIN SHEET