OEM “There’s a great future in plastics. Think about it.”

[Nex]

I was definitely going more than 35 on a few of my spills.

 

[KAH 24]

Arai. Two thumbs up from me. I took a spill at about 35-40mph and got flailed off the bike. I was wearing a full suit, gloves and 800 dollar Arai. That aria took very hard hit to the chin and left side of the face shield to the upper helmet. It was well scuffed up and definitely did the job.

@smurfslayer. @Nex

I wear Arai(tm) helmets exclusively—as they fit my melon. They are expensive, but the technology has trickled downstream to budget helmets.

The same thing is occurring with manufacturing costs—composite use for oil pans and other applications.

Imagine wearing an alloy helmet, unless you are doing medieval dress up (or want to wear a steel pot vs. modern composite military helmet). I digress, lol.

 

[Nex]

I wore a composite helmet in the service as well. And a Kevlar vest at work. So yes, it is an exciting time for composites. So much has changed from the first SLR I worked on which seems just a few years ago, but was 2004 ish I think.

 

[Jakenbake]

“Plastic” was meant in humor as a movie reference.

My apologies.

Engineered composites are tailored for specific OEM applications—ie oil pan heat/chemical degradation/sealing/impact resistance/compatibility with mating to alloy surfaces.

For an OEM, an impact that would cause a well designed composite pan to fail/leak—would breach an alloy of the same weight (we aren’t talking titanium, high strength aluminum alloys, or high end steel).

No contest. Pound for pound as unit costs drop and processes improve,...

I think we are talking around each other here a bit.

Lol, I quoted plastic because I literally googled "plastic unit weight" and wasn't googling a specific composite as I really have no idea what composite the oil pan would be made from. No apologies needed. Also I like to debate, care about details, and take very little offense.

I get that they are tailored to the job and not the same material as say a rubbermaid tote and that they (plastics) can have some good properties, including the ones you named above and probably more.


I brought up strength to weight solely because the weight saving is probably not as drastic as that article may lead people to think. Example (using made up numbers here) if the pan is say 25% lighter (big change percentage-wise) but 25% is only 5 lbs, is that really something to list as a pro on a vehicle that may weigh 5,000 lbs or more? Something like that.

Example plastic fork vs metal fork, since basically everyone gets this comparison. Plastic fork is certainly lighter than a metal one if they are the same size but not nearly as strong. To make a plastic fork as "strong" as a metal fork you would most likely need to increase the size/cross section. Think section modulus and moment of inertia for bending. Now there is a good chance that the now bigger plastic fork may still be lighter than a metal fork, but the overall weight is probably pretty close. You can exchange fork for oil pan here.

 

[Blu Bug]

People have been skeptical of plastics since George Bailey in “It’s A Wonderful Life.” Now there’s an old movie reference.

 

[Oldfart]

@smurfslayer. @Nex

I wear Arai(tm) helmets exclusively—as they fit my melon. They are expensive, but the technology has trickled downstream to budget helmets.

The same thing is occurring with manufacturing costs—composite use for oil pans and other applications.

Imagine wearing an alloy helmet, unless you are doing medieval dress up (or want to wear a steel pot vs. modern composite military helmet). I digress, lol.

Same here, the Arai likes the shape of my head, the Shoei's hate the shape of my head.

 

[smurfslayer]

the Shoei's hate the shape of my head.

I’ll bet your sheep do too.

 

[GordoJay]

I’ll bet your sheep do too.

And here I thought those were different breeds. Silly me.