Classic car restoration is a hobby that requires know-how, creativity and patience to turn an old beater into a gorgeous show-stopper. Cars that were made a lifetime ago require special care and upkeep. Rather than letting them sit in the ba...

The automotive industry has grown to appreciate the potential of plastics as replacements for metal components within their products. The realization that plastics are,in their own right,engineering materials of high merit has led to rapid...

Plastic products can be decorated by vacuum metallizing and electroplating. They have replaced metals in a lot of automotive applications,such as mirror housings,control knobs and winder handles as well as decorative metallic trim. It is a...

An alternative classification of plastics is by their shape. They may be crystalline (with shape) or amorphous (shapeless). Amorphous plastics Amorphous plastics basically are of three major types: ABS:acrylonitrile butadiene styrene ABS/PC...

The simplest way of classifying plastics is by their reaction to heat. This gives a ready subdivision into two basic groups:thermoplastics and thermosetting plastics. Thermoplastic materials soften to become plastic when heated,no chemical...

The raw materials for plastics production are natural products such as cellulose,coal,oil,natural gas and salt. In every case they are compounds of carbon (C) and hydrogen (H). Oxygen (O),nitrogen (N), chlorine (Cl) and sulphur (S) may also...

Celluloid might well qualify for the honour of being the first plastic,though its inventor,Alexander Parkes,was certainly not aware of that fact. He made it around 1860 and patented his method for making it in 1865. An American,John Hyatt,fo...

The interior furnishing of a car is gaining in importance within the automotive trade. In response stylists are endeavouring to upgrade and soften the interior,using fabrics with the appearance and feel of textiles to appeal visually and fu...

Vinyl coated fabrics are now well established as trim material. Their vast superiority over the linseed oil coatings,and later the nitrocellulose coatings,of yesteryear are almost forgotten in the march of progress. Vinyl coatings are nowsuf...

Large numbers of motor vehicle users all over the world continue to specify hide upholstery when the option is available,and will gladly pay the extra cost involved for a material which defies complete simulation. Great advances have been ma...

The body engineer has a choice of materials,ranging from carpeting of the Wilton type for prestige vehicles,through polyamide and polypropylene moulded needle felts,to rubber flooring for economy versions. The main requirements of flooring a...

The type of material used for sound damping or deadening depends on whether or not it is also required to provide undersealing. A material required for sound deadening only will normally be applied to the interior of a vehicle,whereas one r...

The history of sealers is longer than that of the motor car. Mastic,bitumen compounds and putties of various kinds have been used since the invention of the horseless carriage. It is likely that early coach builders used putties of some kin...

The value of rubber lies in the fact that it can be readily moulded or extruded to any desired shape, and its elastic quality makes it capable of filling unavoidable and irregular gaps and clearances. It is an ideal material in door shuts a...

The choice of material and the condition in which it is required must depend largely upon design requirements and the manufacturing processes within the factory. The alloys most commonly used in vehicle body work are as shown in Table 4.9....

BSspecifications 147075 Material designations Unalloyed aluminium plate,sheet and strip: 1080Acommercial pure aluminium 99.8 per cent 1050Acommercial pure aluminium 99.5 per cent 1200commercial pure aluminium 99.0 per cent Non-heat-treatabl...

From the reduction centre the pigs of aluminium are remelted and cast into ingots of commercial purity. Aluminium alloys are made by adding specified amounts of alloying elements to molten aluminium. Some alloys,such as magnesium and zinc,ca...

Sheet products are first cast by the semicontinuous casting process,then scalped to remove surface roughness and preheated in readiness for hot rolling. They are first reduced to the thickness of plate,and then to sheet if this is required....

Sheet,strip and circle blanks are sold in hard and soft tempers possessing different degrees of ductility and tensile strength. Sheet is supplied in gauges down to 0.3mm,but it is generally more economical to order strip for gauges less than...

The metal itself has only been known about 130years,and the industrial history of aluminium did not begin until 1886 when Paul Heroult in France discovered the basis of the present-day method of producing aluminium. Aluminium is now produced...

In the present-day search for greater economy in the running of motor vehicles,whether private,public or commercial,the tendency is for manufacturers to produce bodies which,whilst still maintaining their size and strength,are lighter in wei...

The discovery of stainless steel was made in 1913 by Harry Brearley of Sheffield,while he was experimenting with alloy steels. Among the samples which he threw aside as unsuitable was one containing about 14 per cent chromium. Some months l...