Lightweight, sound-insulating lining for a body part of a motor vehicle, and method for the production thereof

• US 7,980,358 B2
• Filed: 04/16/2008
• Issued: 07/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Covestro Deutschland AG
• Original Assignee: Bayer Materialscience AG (Covestro AG)
• Inventors: Hansen, Michael, Ulbrich, Dagmar, Soltau, Dirk, Gross, Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): San Martin; Edgardo
• Application Number:
  US12/450,190
• Publication Number:
  US 20100065366A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,189 Days
• Field of Search: 181/286, 181/204, 181/205, 181/290, 181/294, 296/39.3, 296/39.1, 296/97.23, 296/1.03, 180/69.22, 180/69.23
• US Class Current: 181/286
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 13/083 for fire walls or floors
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/168 Plural layers of different materials, e.g. sandwiches

Abstract

The invention relates to a lightweight sound insulating lining (1) for a body component of a motor vehicle, in particular in the form of a lightweight front wall lining, comprising a sound absorbing layer, a sound insulating layer which is directly connected to the sound absorbing layer and substantially air tight, as well as an adjoining foam layer (1.3), wherein the sound absorbing layer (1.1) is made of a porous absorber, preferably a fiber fleece or a foam, which has an air permeability in the range of 150 to 2000 liters/m²s at a test pressure of 100 Pa. The sound insulating layer (1.2) is formed by an integral skin layer of the foam layer (1.3) with a thickness of at least 0.5 mm, and is integrally joined to the porous absorber by back-foaming the porous absorber substantially without foam penetration therethrough. Furthermore, a method for manufacturing such a lining is disclosed.

Claims

1. A lightweight sound insulating front wall lining for a body component of a motor vehicle, comprising a sound absorbing layer, a sound insulating layer which is directly connected to the sound absorbing layer and substantially air tight, as well as an adjoining foam layer, wherein the sound absorbing layer is made of a porous absorber, wherein the porous absorber has an air permeability in the range of 150 to 2000 liters/m²s at a test pressure of 100 Pa, wherein the sound insulating layer is formed by an integral skin layer of the foam layer with a thickness of at least 0.5 mm and integrally joined to the porous absorber by back-foaming the porous absorber substantially without penetration of foam, wherein the lining has on its edge a flexible sealing lip.

2. The lining according to claim 1, wherein the porous absorber has a length-specific flow resistance in the range of 5 kNs/m⁴ to 40 kNs/m⁴.

3. The lining according to claim 1, wherein the porous absorber has a substantially uniform density as well as a substantially uniform flow resistance across its cross section.

4. The lining according to claim 1, wherein the porous absorber has at least one of a weight per area of 100 g/m² to 1600 g/m² and a thickness in the range of 2 mm to 30 mm.

5. The lining according to claim 1, wherein the porous absorber is made of a fiber fleece made of polyethylene fibers, polypropylene fibers, a mixture of polyethylene and polypropylene fibers, cotton fibers or a mixture of polyethylene and natural fibers.

6. The lining according to claim 1, wherein the sound insulating layer has a thickness in the range of 1 mm to 5 mm.

7. The lining according to claim 1, wherein the sound insulating layer has a raw density in the range of 0.08 to 2.0 g/cm³.

8. The lining according to claim 1, wherein the sound insulating layer locally has areas of different thickness, the difference in thickness being at least 1 mm.

9. The lining according to claim 1, wherein the foam layer has a raw density in the range of 0.02 to 0.1 g/cm³.

10. The lining according to claim 1, wherein the total weight per area is less than 2500 g/m².

11. The lining according to claim 1, wherein the sound insulating layer covers substantially the entire surface of the porous absorber.

12. The lining according to claim 1, wherein the sound insulating layer is covered only partially by the porous absorber.

13. The lining according to claim 1, wherein solely its sound absorbing layer forms a flexible sealing lip.

14. The lining according to claim 1, wherein has a temperature resistance of at least 150°

C.

15. The lining according to claim 1, wherein the porous absorber is made of a flame retardant fiber fleece.

16. A method for manufacturing a lightweight sound insulating front wall lining for a body component of a motor vehicle, wherein a porous sound absorbing layer is directly back-foamed with a reactive mix containing polyol and isocyanate in a foaming mold wherein as a porous sound absorbing layer an absorber is used which has an air permeability in the range of 150 to 2000 liters/m²s at a test pressure of 100 Pa, wherein the reactive mix is fed into the foaming mold substantially parallel to at least one of the backside of the sound absorbing layer and the bottom surface of a cavity of the foaming mold, and wherein a foam layer results from the reactive mix due to at least one of the following two steps:

(1) a predetermined portion of the surface of the foaming mold is temperature-controlled, and

(2) the mixture ratio of polyol to isocyanate is altered during feeding

wherein said foam layer has a substantially air-tight, integral skin layer with a thickness of at least 0.5 mm which is firmly bonded to the sound absorbing layer substantially without foam penetration therethrough,

wherein the reactive mix is injected into the closed foaming mold using a deviating device, wherein the deviating device forces the reactive mix into an injection flow direction directed substantially parallel to the backside of the porous sound absorbing layer.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein a limited volume of the reactive mix is fed into the foaming mold in such a way that the reactive mix does not contact the porous sound absorbing layer at first, wherein the integral joint between the reactive mix and the porous sound absorbing layer occurs subsequently upon fully curing of the reactive mix.

18. The method according to claim 16, wherein back-foaming of the porous sound absorbing layer is performed in an open foaming mold.

19. The method according to claim 16, wherein back-foaming of the porous sound absorbing layer is performed in a closed foaming mold.

20. The method according to claim 16, wherein the porous sound absorbing layer used has a substantially uniform density as well as a substantially uniform flow resistance across its cross section.

21. The method according to claim 16, wherein the porous sound absorbing layer has a length-specific flow resistance in the range of 5 kNs/m⁴ to 40 kNs/m⁴.

22. The method according to claim 16, wherein the porous sound absorbing layer has at least one of a weight per area of 100 g/m² to 1600 g/m² and a thickness in the range of 2 mm to 30 mm.

23. The method according to claim 16, wherein the porous sound absorbing layer used is made of polyethylene fibers, polypropylene fibers, a mixture of polyethylene and polypropylene fibers, cotton fibers or a mixture of polyethylene and natural fibers.