The first mass produced composite rear seatback panel for the automotive industry
Designed to replace stamped steel panels found in rear seat frames, the Stratas™ composite seatback panel offers significant weight savings, reduces effort to lift or fold the seat and a completely flat seat back surface.
How it works
Flat panels
Formed panels
Trimmed panels
Benchmarked against one of the industry’s lightest stamped steel panel designs, the Stratas™ seatback panel still recognized almost 50% weight saved, made possible by the unique application of a composite structure with a polyurethane foam core.
10mm, 1950gsm thermoformable flat panels with cutouts for component attachments.
Where space constraints are present, the flat panels can be formed and compressed down to 3mm where the seat frames are present.
Carpet and other A-surface finish materials can be integrated during production to potentially save one step during seating assembly.
How it works
Benchmarked against one of the industry’s lightest stamped steel panel designs, the Stratas™ seatback panel still recognized almost 50% weight saved, made possible by the unique application of a composite structure with a polyurethane foam core.
Flat panels
10mm, 1950gsm thermoformable flat panels with cutouts for component attachments.
Formed panels
Where space constraints are present, the flat panels can be formed and compressed down to 3mm where the seat frames are present.
Trimmed panels
Carpet and other A-surface finish materials can be integrated during production to potentially save one step during seating assembly.
How it works
1. Benchmarked against the lightest
Our target benchmark was to save over 1kg (2.2lb) against an already weight optimized 0.5mm thick stamped steel panel from a bestselling hatchback, the lightest rigid design we identified. Against this target, the Stratas seatback panel saved 1.37kg (3 lbs), or 47%.
2. Sandwich structure design
A plastic ruler is very flexible when bent lengthwise. Once turned 90 degrees, the same ruler now becomes very stiff and difficult to bend. The Stratas™ seatback panel follows a similar design, wherein the polyurethane foam core functions as an I-beam with the reinforcement skins as top and bottom layers.
3. Lightweight core
The polyurethane foam core was formulated to provide very high shear strength. This is the most critical component and is what allows the Stratas™ seatback panel to be both lightweight and strong.
4. Reinforcement skins
Chopped fiberglass reinforcement layers sandwich the foam core to further strengthen the composite structure.
5. FMVSS and ECE validated
Every safety regulation stamped steel seatback panels would be subjected to have been conducted on the Stratas seatback panel. The more stringent of FMVSS or ECE testing were chosen where overlaps existed.
The tests conducted were FMVSS 207 / 210 (ECE 14), FMVSS 225, ECE 17 and 100kg knee load test with 102mm circular ball.
Flat panels
One size fits all
Flat panels are designed to be a universal part for all makes and models. While boards are cut to specifications for length, width and component attachments, the starting standard thickness is 10mm.
Reduced seat operating effort
Weight saved as result of the lighter Stratas™ seatback panel means it is easier to fold the rear seats up and down.
Retrofits to current designs
Through the use of push pins, Stratas™ seatback panels can be retrofitted into existing seat frame designs with little to no modification to its design.
Formed panels
Formable to 3mm
The Stratas™ seatback panel can be formed and compressed down to 3mm where the seat frame rails are present without weakening its structure to provide greater design freedom.
Lower tooling costs
Compared to traditional tools required to form and weld stamped steel panels, the Stratas™ seatback panel offers substantial savings. Traditional stamp and die tools can cost upwards of $400,000 USD, whereas the Stratas panel only requires an oven and low pressure forming tool with an average cost of $60,000 USD.
Flat finish
The extra thickness versus stamped steel panels means the seatback always provides aflat finish with no grooves and surface indentations.
Trimmed panels
Trunk trim integration
Our dry adhesive technologies allow us to thermoform the finishing surface material during the lamination stage of production. The adhesives are always evenly distributed to create a very strong bond and prevents issues with edges peeling.
