Hand-held terahertz measurement for safe airbag deployment
The Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM in Kaiserslautern has developed a hand-held terahertz measurement system for individual, non-destructive quality control of slush skin
According to the Government Statistics Office, more than 358,000 people were injured in traffic accidents in Germany in 2022. Airbags often prevent more serious injuries. While driving, airbags are normally hidden behind a high-grade plastic panel called a slush skin that envelops large parts of the vehicle’s interior. For the skin to tear open along the right lines, it is perforated meticulously after manufacture. However, for the airbag to fully deploy in an emergency, the material and the intended tear lines must be matched as closely as possible. To make sure this is the case, user-friendly, cutting-edge technology is now used to inspect the slush skins: The Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM in Kaiserslautern has developed a hand-held terahertz measurement system for individual, non-destructive quality control of slush skins.
Slush skins, with their look of leather, are used to cover dashboards in many mid-range and luxury vehicles. They have a very flexible design and feel and are also important when it comes to safety. The name comes from the manufacturing process of slush molding with slush powder: A hollow metal mold is first heated, then filled with plastic powder and swirled around. The powder begins to melt and stick and a continuous skin forms as it cools down.
To save on weight and material, while at the same time making sure it attaches firmly to a vehicle’s interior, Antolin Straubing GmbH has developed a dual-layer system for slush skins. It was necessary to devise an in-process inspection procedure for the new product to ensure that the airbag will deploy through the slush skin in the event of a traffic accident and protect the vehicle’s occupants.
How can each slush skin be inspected individually?
The automotive supplier approached Fraunhofer ITWM with this problem. In keeping with new regulations, dual-layer slush skins can no longer be subject only to random inspection using microscopic analysis but must be examined individually in a non-destructive manner. With the Fraunhofer ITWM research team’s expertise in the field of measuring multi-layer paint thickness firmly in mind, the supplier got in touch with the Materials Characterization and Testing department. For the last few years, the Optical Terahertz Measurement Technology research team, under the direction of Dr. Daniel Molter, has been working on applications for terahertz technology in industry and has seen some promising results — for example, in the development of a reliable and non-destructive inspection process for painted surfaces in the automotive sector. This raises the question: Can terahertz measurement technology also be used on the uneven structure of slush skins to determine the thickness of both layers with some accuracy?
Find out here
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