Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) composites are becoming one of the possible solutions for vehicles to achieve overall weight reduction in order to meet fuel economy and emission standards while maintaining safety requirements. Carbon fiber thermoplastic composites offer several additional advantages over their thermoset equivalents:​ higher levels of ductility and specific energy absorption, rapid processing and recyclability.

The Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) awarded the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) a contract to research potential materials and to evaluate their impact on vehicle crash safety and weight savings. In a joint research Project, the University of Delaware Center for Composite Materials (UD-CCM) and Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) investigated available computational tools for the design, optimization and manufacture of carbon fiber thermoplastic body-in-white structures for vehicle crash applications.

A vehicle B-pillar was developed to meet the FMVSS No. 214 standard, a US vehicle safety requirement for side impact. In addition, BMW internal structural integrity requirements as well as geometrical requirements were met. The design process demonstrated the capabilities of a computational tool chain, including geometrical design, carbon fiber layout, draping, material property management and dynamic impact simulation. Following this approach, a weight reduction of 60% compared to a metal baseline could be achieved.

A thermoplastic B-pillar was manufactured at UD-CCM using infusion as well as thermoforming processes for differing parts of the assembly, which could be scaled to meet industry requirements. In the final drop tower test series, the B-pillar was proven to meet all considered safety requirements. In addition the computational predictive engineering approach could be validated using the test results.