Why Manufacturing is Cool

The manufacturers in the automotive industry use a wide range of materials to manufacture their vehicles. Read on to learn more about some of these materials.

Steel

Steel is an alloy, comprised primarily of carbon and iron. It is frequently used by vehicle manufacturers to create exhaust pipes, body panels (such as the doors and roof of a car), wheels and frames and is sometimes used for the creation of suspension and steering components.

There are many reasons why this material is favoured by automotive manufacturers. However, one of its most appealing qualities is that it is a very flexible material and will bend, rather than shatter when it is exposed to a forceful impact. This means that if a car with steel body panels collides with another vehicle, the panels will not break into irreparable shards but will instead simply form indentations which, in most cases, are easy to fix.

TPV Santoprene

TPV Santoprene is routinely used by many automotive manufacturers. This highly-versatile material can be used to make a wide variety of vehicle components, including, for example, the seals around a car's doors and windows, which prevent rain and snow from seeping into the interior.

It can also be used to produce much of the soft tubing that can be found under the hood of a vehicle and to make the protective 'jackets' that cover a car's delicate electrical wires.

TPV Santoprene is similar to rubber in many ways, but is far more durable and can withstand regular exposure to the elements without deteriorating.

Glass

Automotive manufacturers use special types of safety glass to produce the windscreens, rear and side windows of their vehicles.

The two main kinds of glass used for this purpose are laminated and tempered. The former is normally used to make a vehicle's windscreen. During a collision, laminated glass will crack but will not shatter into dangerously-sharp shards. This means that, if a driver is involved in an accident, there is very little chance that they will be wounded by their vehicle's broken windscreen.

Tempered glass is used to make a vehicle's rear and side windows. This type of glass is not quite as durable as laminated glass and will shatter upon impact. However, it is designed to shatter safely; rather than breaking into jagged fragments, it will instead turn into minuscule pieces that have rounded edges. The roundness of these tiny bits of glass means that they will not cut anyone inside the vehicle if its rear or side windows are broken during a road accident.