Arachne at FreeLists---The Arachne Fan Club!
Hi Sam E.,
That's what I meant by durable....It
can't be repaired and it damages easily,even the
plastic gears. Really tough plastic is very expensive
and may not lend itself to current molding
techniques, etc. The bumpers are not really plastic...
the plastic is just a veneer over a steel bumper.
Also, most plastic deteriorates much faster than
steel that is not allowed to rust. Most plastic in
use in cars today gets more brittle with age so
that the plastic parts are deteriorating even
though they aren't rusting. We cannot get by
without plastic but it isn't a cure-all. And is often
misused to replace parts that need to be made
of a stronger material, but that can be made more
cheaply and lighter with plastic. The engineers
design the parts for the stresses that the parts
are supposed to receive....but.....that's like building
the goalposts on a football field out of plastic pvc
piping like you can get from Home Depot. It would
work fine for kicking a football at....but....wouldn't
last thru the abuse that goal posts are subject to.
Eric
On Fri, 03 Feb 2006 22:57:59 -0500 "Sam Ewalt" <ewalt@xxxxxxxx> writes:
> Arachne at FreeLists---The Arachne Fan Club!
>
> On Sat, 4 Feb 2006 04:20:02 -0500, Eric S. Emerson wrote:
>
> > As you say, there have been cars built with plastic
> > panels that are/were very resistant to minor dents but
> > most plastic used on cars so far is not real durable.
>
> A surprising amount of today's automobile is plastic--at least
> a third. The front and rear bumpers, rocker panels, lower fender
> quadrants, mirror housings, various tanks and hoses, some gears,
> seat covers, carpets and on and on.
>
> This has been done to reduce weight and lower the cost. This is
> true of all cars. Much of the plastic is painted. It cannot be
> repaired or patched very easily, if at all. You have to replace
> it.
>
> The factory that I work in is the second largest manufacturer of
> exterior mirrors for autos and trucks in the world. We make mirrors
> for almost all the manufacturers except Toyota. There's a plastic
> case and bracket over a plastic frame holding a glass mirror. The
> only thing different from one manufacturer to another is the styling
> and minor details.
>
> This is true of most components in today's cars and trucks.
>
>
> Sam Ewalt
> Croswell, Michigan
> USA
> Arachne at FreeLists
> -- Arachne, The Premier GPL Web Browser/Suite for DOS --
>
>
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