Structural Inserts

Henkel’s structural inserts are specifically designed for a wide range of vehicle uses and have been designed with automotive manufacturers in mind. Our structural epoxy foam helps strengthen the automotive frame, enhance vehicle safety, enable vehicle lightweighting and improve  vehicle noise, vibration, and harshness resistance. Structural foam is also important for automotive insulation and contributes to the overall structural integrity of a vehicle.

Structural foam inserts from Henkel are created in three-dimensional parts that provide application flexibility for manufactures. Our structural epoxy foam inserts are based on a combination of fiber reinforced plastics and specially developed high-performance structural foam.

Contact a member of our team today to discover how Henkel structural foam materials can help your automotive manufacturing process.

Structural Foam Materials

Structural foam materials are part of a hybrid structure referred to as structural inserts – which consists of both the structural foam as well as a plastic or metal carrier. The Henkel structural foam is  applied through injection molding and is based on an epoxy chemistry. The structural epoxy foam expands in the e-coat oven to create a stiff connection between the new structure and the body-in-white.

Structural foam materials constitute an important part of furthering lightweighting opportunities while meeting or exceeding vehicle safety standards – particularly important in electric vehicles where the battery must be protected from intrusion on all sides during a crash.

Through advanced design component analysis, Henkel identifies opportunities for metal downgauging or replacement of heavier parts with material solutions, such as structural inserts. Verification models are used to ensure crash and performance standards are met or exceeded.

From a big picture perspective, these additional lightweighting opportunities enabling the continued market advancement of these next generation, sustainable vehicles.

In addition to delivering crash performance equivalent or better than steel alone, structural foam materials help address vehicle noise, vibration, and harshness challenges. By forming structural foam panels within the automotive body-in-white, environmental pressures that create noise and vibrations are minimized which increases the comfort and performance of the vehicle. Coupled with better safety and efficiency, Henkel structural foam materials for automotive applications help improve the entire driving experience.

Contact a member of our team today to discover how Henkel structural foam materials can help your automotive manufacturing process

Henkel’s Automotive Solutions

Numerous automotive manufacturers count on Henkel’s wide range of products solutions. This includes automotive manufacturing, electronics, aftermarket, ADAS and more. Whether you are a major automotive manufacturer or a smaller company making automotive components, Henkel has your material needs in the automotive industry covered.

The Mobility Alliance

To continue our innovations that address the vehicle lightweighting imperative, Henkel has partnered with global engineering firm, RLE International, to create “The Mobility Alliance,” a strategic partnership that brings together Henkel’s material science capabilities and RLE’s engineering expertise to shape the next generation of structural solutions. To find out more about Henkel’s Mobility Alliance partnership, visit our dedicated page.

Further Information

To learn more about our structural foam insert solutions, download our white paper here.