Frunk ‘Front Trunk’ Storage
As the automotive market continues to rapidly evolve, conventional design elements, like having an engine in the front of the car, are quickly going away. Without the need to accommodate the traditional front-mounted engine and auxiliary components, this compartment is being made available for cargo, and is commonly known as a Frunk (front trunk). While this storage element is not new, more cars (especially electric vehicles) are being designed with this feature.
Given its function, the Frunk needs to be designed with materials that deliver structural integrity for heavy loads and impact resistance over a wide range of end uses and temperature extremes. This application also often requires scratch and mar characteristics to help keep the space free from scuffs and damage to maintain superior aesthetics.
Similar to a traditional trunk, this under hood storage space features surrounding trim covers, sometimes using soft components or sealing functionality from environmental elements.
Material Solutions for Frunk Design
Frunk ‘Bin’
When designing a frunk bin, characteristics like durability, dimensional stability and molded-in-color capability should be considered. However, a key feature to its design is structural integrity. Our Hifax and Hostacom thermoplastic polyolefins (TPO) offer excellent stiffness and impact performances over a wide temperature range, along with premium aesthetics and durability. For applications requiring additional haptic benefits and scratch resistance at low gloss levels consider our Softell grades. For frunk bins without body, chassis or other reinforcements, needing to meet higher structural demands, our Premi-SMC portfolio of thermoset solutions can help.
Trim & Covers
Trim and cover components must harmonize in appearance to the bin and other exterior components, and are subject to frequent user contact. As a result, these parts also require high scratch and mar performance to deliver durability and excellent aesthetics. Our Hostacom portfolio of TPOs and PP Compounds offers cost-effective solutions to meet these demands and can be custom color matched.
Seals & Hiders
Gaps arising from mating parts, the need for water management functionality, or kinematic allowance such as hood support mechanisms can drive the need for seals and hiders. Soft materials, such as our Invision thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) provide good abrasion resistance, tear strength, and chemical resistance. Whether used for standalone components, overmolding or two-shot molding processes over the hard trim, these color matched materials offer a wide range of flexibility and hardness. An alternative could be our Eco-Flex RTPV, which is a thermoplastic recycled rubber-based TPV.
Global IT Senior Product Analyst - Record to Report | IT Product Team RtR – Treasury, Risk & Tax @ LyondellBasell Industries Holdings b.v.
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