Developments in vehicle manufacturing led to the use of nano technology in Corteco’s Torsional Vibration Dampers for Audi A4 applications, says the supplier.
The tighter emissions regulations governing the design of today’s vehicles, means that they are lighter with more powerful, more compact engines. A consequence is that these engines operate at higher temperatures that create a hostile environment for the materials used on components inside the engine compartment.
Current Audi A4 2L engines runs at around 20 deg C higher than previous models. Under such conditions, the use of standard natural rubber compounds on components inside the drive system is inappropriate. It is subject to compromise and premature failure.
Engineers at Corteco’s parent company (the Freudenberg Group) used nano technology to develop a synthetic rubber compound now used to manufacture the rubber inserts that provide the damping effect on Torsional Vibration Dampers fitted to Audi A4 models since 2009.
The new material is based on EPDM, a compound used extensively on automotive applications. Its performance is almost twice that of conventional elastomers, with the result that Corteco 80004350 TVDs can deliver the necessary decoupling performance.
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