What Are Hollow Glass Microspheres?
Hollow glass microspheres are tiny round particles that can be formulated in high-strength glass and are hollow inside. So you can add it in very low density and still provide volume. These spheres are widely dispersed within your polymer or composite systems and reduce your processing, but help achieve the lightweight material goal.
Some of the key characteristics of hollow glass microspheres include:
- Low density
- High compressive strength
- Excellent flow characteristics
- Low thermal conductivity
- Uniform particle morphology
- Chemical stability
These characteristics lend them to critical automotive components and performance-engineered polymers, coatings and engineering plastics, and composite applications where performance and weight savings are key.
How Hollow Glass Microspheres Improve NVH Performance
The use of hollow glass microspheres doesn’t offer merely benefits through reduced density of the materials. As the physical properties can be altered in several ways, they affect aspects directly contributing to NVH performance of automotive components.
1. Reduced Component Weight
Lighter-density materials are the building blocks of this process, as it cuts the mass of parts without sacrificing their efficiency. Using lower-weight components then modifies how vibration moves through an assembly, allowing manufacturers to design and fine-tune the total vibration of the vehicle without introducing unwanted mass. This delicate equilibrium is in turn essential for today’s electric vehicles (EVs), where every gram counts towards extending range.
2. Improved Material Uniformity
Due to the round hollow shape, hollow glass microspheres offer improved particle distribution throughout resin and polymer systems. Through proper distribution, stress concentrators are reduced, leading to enhanced mechanical performance consistency and a positive influence on vibration performance. Even material distribution supports increased consistency from batch to batch manufacturing.
3. Enhanced Dimensional Stability
Car components are subjected to repeated thermal cycling, mechanical stress, and environmental conditions. Inclusions of hollow glass microspheres lead to better dimensional stability, allowing the parts to hold their form and function over their lifetime. Stable parts will undergo less distortion, causing less unwanted movement, which can be an issue with vibration or noise.
4. Better Processing Efficiency
Not one of the widely publicized benefits of using hollow glass microspheres is the ability to make the manufacturing process more effective. Because of their uniform, spherical shape, hollow glass microspheres produce lower internal friction during the molding and extruding of polymers (or of the mixtures of polymers that will become those polymers), allowing resins to flow more readily and create a more homogeneous distribution of other additives in the polymers. This greater processing efficiency results in automotive parts with stronger, more evenly distributed mechanical strength properties while minimizing production variations.
5. Supporting Next-Generation Electric Vehicles
Acoustics engineers focus on lightweighting. As the uptake of electric vehicles (EVs) is on the increase, the NVH (Noise, Vibration and Harshness (NVH) challenge is amplified for automotive design engineers. Unlike their ICE counterparts, the much lower level of engine noise means that other acoustic phenomena, such as tyre noise, aerodynamic noise and vehicle structural acoustics, gain more prominence and impact passenger ride and comfort.
Automotive design is therefore shifting towards the greater use of advanced lightweight materials that don’t just reduce vehicle weight but also assist with acoustic and vibration requirements.
MICROLITE GM16 and GM20 by Petra Industries are developed to assist these requirements, allowing manufacturers to design and engineer lighter, higher-performance automotive components to equip the next era of mobility.
Applications of Hollow Glass Microspheres in Automotive Components
The flexibility of the use of hollow glass microspheres in various automotive components means they are an essential material. They allow a reduction in weight while still maintaining mechanical functionality, leading to product improvement and process efficiency.
Some of the key applications include:
Interior Components
In modern car interiors, polymer systems for dashboards, door panels, console parts, trims, and instrument panels are becoming lightweight. Including MICROLITE GM16 & GM20 contributes to component weight reduction and improves stability with good workability.
Exterior Components
Automotive exterior applications need materials that can tolerate fluctuating environmental conditions and are light in weight. Hollow glass microspheres lend the lightness needed for use in exterior trimmings, mirror housings, bumper applications, and other molded parts.
Electric Vehicle Components
The increasing rise of electric vehicles has also sped the pace up in seeking lightweight materials. Lower densities of EV battery housings, structural enclosures, and many other molded plastic parts reduce material weight, and manufacturers can achieve efficiency and effectiveness with superior NVH control.
Engineering Plastics & Polymer Systems
Modern cars use a lot of advanced engineered plastics. Hollow glass microspheres enable flow improvement of these materials and optimization of filler loading in molded parts, producing lighter, high-performance components.