BONDED SHEET MOLDING COMPOSITE AUTOMOTIVE COMPONENTS WITHOUT SURFACE PRE-TREATMENT

摘要

An automotive assembly comprises a sheet molding composite (SMC) element comprising an SMC sheet body shaped into a generally smooth functional section and at least one generally planar bonding section. The bonding section comprises a textured surface impressed as a result of molding the SMC sheet body in a compression molding tool having a corresponding textured pattern. The textured surface has a predetermined surface roughness for increasing the effective surface area of the bonding section relative to a non-textured surface. The predetermined surface roughness is in a range from 0.25 Ra (mum) to 8.5 Ra (mum). A second element has a secondary bonding surface adjoining the bonding section of the SMC element. An adhesive joins the secondary bonding surface to the bonding section without requiring any pre-treatment of the bonding section.