Chevrolet has announced that the much anticipated Super Sport Roadster (SSR) will be in dealer show rooms Spring 2003. This stylized vehicle, which takes design queues from GM’s trucks of the 1940’s and 1950’s, first appeared as a concept car at the North American International Auto show just 2 ½ years earlier. To meet this aggressive schedule while delivering a quality vehicle, the SSR counted on Auburn Engineering to produce full size interior and exterior prototypes. In turn, Auburn Engineering relied on DSM Somos 9100 series resins for all of its stereolithography (SL) prototypes and patterns.
The SSR is part pickup and part roadster. The resulting design has created both tremendous interest and a new automotive market that Chevrolet can call its own. In September 2000, GM made the decision to put the concept vehicle into production, knowing that a great deal was at stake with the launch of the SSR. The company hopes that the SSR changes the consumers’ perceptions of GM and drives them to the dealers’ showrooms.
The SSR’s aim is recapturing GM's image as a bold manufacture of quality vehicles. As a niche product with a forecast of just 11,000 units a year, the SSR is not intended to produce huge sales gains. As reported in the January 12, 2003 issue of Lansing State Journal, GM manufacturing spokesman Dan Flores said, "We're not going to regain five points of market share with the SSR, but we can erase perceptions of low quality and boring vehicles. That's what it's all about - creating that buzz that will hopefully be contagious and drive people to buy other GM products.”
To maintain the high standards of quality and style, Auburn Engineering (Rochester Hills, MI) played a pivotal role in bringing the SSR to reality. In March 2002, Auburn Engineering was contracted to produce rapid prototypes of every plastic component in the SSR’s interior. Instrument panel, dashboard, consoles, door panels, cup holders and stereo bezels were just the start of all the molded plastic parts that were prototyped. And all of these parts were produced in Somos 9100 series resins because of their ability to get the job done quickly and accurately.
To meet the aggressive delivery schedule of the SSR, the interior components went directly from design to production tooling. With GM’s plans and hopes, there was no room for failure, problems or delays. So, after the release of the production tooling order, Auburn Engineering was asked to develop the prototypes for a full size buck of the interior. Concurrent with the tooling order, designers would review the prototypes to confirm that form, fit, function and flair where inherent in the SSR’s design.
Auburn Engineering selected Somos 9120 for its combination of speed, durability and flexibility. Assembly on the buck required both snap fits and screw mountings. To achieve the desired results, the Somos 9120 prototypes had to withstand both the rigors of assembly and the demands of the review process. Auburn Engineering believes that lesser resins would not have satisfied the application, and slower resins would have yielded a delay in the delivery of the prototypes.
“The Somos 9000 series resins rapidly created accurate, flexible parts for a complete replica of the vehicle’s interior. This gave us the ability to create new parts or sections quickly when designs were changed,” says Michael Vincek, national sales manager of Auburn Engineering. “The Somos material properties allowed us to secure the parts on the buck, without breaking, and provided an accurate representation of the finished product, saving a significant amount of time and money in tooling.”
Auburn Engineering had just two weeks to complete the prototypes. The last chance to modify any design for the production tooling would come from a design review meeting scheduled a few weeks after Auburn Engineering began receiving digital data. Using their five SL systems and Somos 9120 resin, Auburn Engineering’s team worked day and night to deliver the large quantity of prototypes on time. Evaluating form, fit, and visual appeal, each prototype was carefully crafted and finished for accuracy and aesthetics. Many of the prototypes were painted to simulate the color scheme and materials within the cockpit. Upon delivery, the prototypes were assembled onto the buck for the design review. Although tooling had already been released, and in some cases in progress, the design team was able to detect and incorporate several modifications into the final production release.
Pleased with the earlier results of the Somos 9100 series prototypes for the interior buck, Auburn Engineering’s work was extended to exterior components. Prototypes included the fascia and the grille, claimed by Chevrolet to be one of the signature features of the SSR. For these applications, Auburn Engineering elected to use its rubber molding capabilities to produce urethane castings. To fabricate the patterns for the large rubber molds, Auburn Engineering once again relied on the Somos 9100 series resins.
Patterns for rubber molding require a blend of properties, including excellent surface finish, tight dimensional accuracy and durability. According to Vincek, “Patterns for rubber molds, especially those as large as the grille and fascia, must be rigid enough to withstand the weight and force of the rubber as it is being poured, yet durable enough to be extracted from the cured rubber.” The Somos 9100 series resin’s combination of strength, durability and flexibility gave Auburn Engineering exactly what it needed.
Auburn Engineering believes that its prototypes, both the stereolithography models and cast urethanes, are on SSR vehicles that have made the auto show circuit over the past year. Although not confirmed, the company suspects that the cover photo for the February 10th, 2003 issue of Business Week offers a close-up of Auburns Engineering’s work. Auburn Engineering takes pride in the fact that a vehicle that is selling styling, flair and finish would rely on its prototypes to win over the automotive industry analysts, writers, dealers and consumers.
The quality of the prototypes and of Auburn Engineering’s work enabled the company to win the order for production tooling and molding on several under-the-hood components. According to William Carver, executive vice-president of Auburn Engineering, “It was a natural progression in the development cycle. Using our high speed tooling and molding concept, we were able to move right into the production phase, which continued our role in saving a significant amount of time and money for the SSR program.”
The creation of the SSR marks GM’s new process to get fresh, exciting concepts from the computer to the auto shows and dealer showroom, and rapid prototyping plays an integral role. Like many companies in many industries, GM has experienced the advantages that SL and Somos resins offer when it comes to achieving rapid cycle times while delivering exceptional product quality.
The start of SSR’s regular production begins in Spring 2003. The limited edition “signature series” will be available early 2003. Chevrolet hopes that the SSR changes consumer perceptions and gets them into the dealers’ showrooms. When GM’s hopes are realized, take a look at what rapid prototyping with Auburn Engineering and Somos 9100 series resins can do for plastic part design and production.
What is stereolithography?
Stereolithography (SL) permits the rapid creation of 3D pieces utilizing a computer controlled laser that polymerizes light-sensitive resins. The process is highly precise and constructs the design in a series of "additive layers", providing the advantage of obtaining highly complex forms unrealizable using subtractive or traditional moulding techniques. The evolution of advanced SL materials aspires at offering a viable production technique, beyond the materialization of a prototype.
DSM Somos ProtoFunctional resins for stereolithography
ProtoFunctional resins provide advanced technology to respond to the changing needs of new product development and industrial design. In 2003, DSM Somos announced ProtoTool™ ceramic-filled resins, the first member belonging to the new ACT-SL™ technology and the result of a significant research and development program. Traditional non-composite ProtoFunctional materials by DSM Somos satisfy a varying range of characteristics: transparency, superior humidity / heat resistance, and demanding mechanical properties replicating many production grade plastics such as polypropylene, polyethylene, ABS and PBT.
DSM Somos is also the first manufacturer of powder elastomeric polymer (Somos 201) that can be sintered (SLS) to produce highly flexible, "rubber like" parts.
Technical data on all Somos materials may be found in the "Downloads" area at www.dsmsomos.com.
DSM Somos, focused on innovative rapid prototyping materials, is a division of DSM Desotech, a world leader in the development of UV curable materials, and a member of the global DSM family.
DSM is active worldwide in life science products, performance materials and industrial chemicals. The group has annual sales (pro forma including the recently acquired DNP business) of around EUR 8 billion and employs about 25,500 people across the world. DSM ranks among the global leaders in many of its fields. More information about DSM can be found at www.dsm.com.
DSM Somos corporate offices:
Americas@dsmsomos.info
2 Penn’s Way, New Castle, Delaware 19720 - USA
Tel. +1.302.326.8100
For further information on DSM Somos:
Europe@dsmsomos.info>
Fax. +39 06 9871694
www.dsmsomos.info
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