Adhesive bonding of attachments in automotive final assembly

Abstract

In modern societies there is an increasing concern regarding the environmental impact of automotives is driving automotive manufacturers to develop lighter and, thus, less fuel consuming vehicles. Customers' protection during crash is a major demand which motivates automotive manufacturers to improve production processes which can satisfy the highly demanding market. Simultaneously, the introduction of new manufacturing techniques is strongly correlated with additional costs, which should be analyzed and quantified, in order to prove the sustainability of such processes for automotive production. This chapter considers adhesive bonding for joining attachments (i.e. roof components) on painted automotive shell surfaces as a potential technique in volume production. In order to introduce such type of adhesive joining process in current production lines, different process chain scenarios are proposed depending on the paint type in order to achieve the required strength of connection, especially during crash loads. Production costs are gathered and a proposed cost analysis is presented for evaluating the suggested scenarios aiming to identify cost intensive procedures. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.