Automotive trim part comprising a fibrous layer

Abstract

An Automotive trim component for a passenger vehicle or a light or heavy duty truck comprising a porous fibrous layer, characterized in that the porous fibrous layer comprises at least one area such that the Fibers Orientation Scattering at any location comprised in that area is greater than 15 degrees, more preferably greater than 25 degrees.

Description

DescriptionAutomotive trim part comprising a fibrous layerTechnical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of automotive trim parts or components for a passenger vehicle or a light or heavy duty truck comprising a fibrous layer to be used within such trim parts.Background Art

[0002] Single or multilayer structures are used as soft trim parts to cover or clad areas in passenger vehicle and light and heavy trucks for a myriad of different functions. These functions can be roughly separated in main groups, mechanical requirements, acoustic requirements and aesthetic requirements. Some of the requirements for a specific trim part, may mandate the use of a certain group of materials, for instance to obtain a good shape conformation so it fits snug to the underlying structure of the car or truck, or to maintain a local required compressional stiffness.

[0003] Many of the automotive trim parts are combining different functions within a layer or within the part, for instance a decoupling layer used underneath an aesthetic surface layer may need to fullfill mechanical requirements and / or acoustic requirements.

[0004] Automotive trim parts may be built up of a single or multilayered system comprising at least one of a foam layer, a fibrous layer or a thermoplastic layer.

[0005] Car and truck producers may request a set of functional requierments for a given trim part, very often together with materials which according to past experiences are most suitable to achieve those requirements.

[0006] Foam and fibrous layer are both used for the same or simular layers and functions. However due to certain features intrinsic to the material properties, there is a prevalence by car makers for either the foam or the fibrous trim part solutions, in particular for decoupling layers, i.e. layers used underneath decorative and or acoustic layers.

[0007] For example, EP2159786 discloses both open-cell foams and porous fibrous materials as possible embodiments for the decoupling layer in an acoustic application.

[0008] Due to their basic characteristics, porous fibrous materials generally appear to be preferable over PU foams as decouplers for instance for acoustic applications: they have typically a lower dynamic Young’s modulus compared to PU foams used in automotive parts and, therefore, they provide a better sound insulation above the springmass resonance. Furthermore, they are preferable also in terms of environmental sustainability since porous fibrous materials may be much more easily recycled or can be, at least in part, produced from recycled content compared to PU-foams. While the sourcing of raw materials for PU foam is related to the crude oil, and the automotive industry wants to reduce the use of crude oil and derivatives of the oil industry.

[0009] In spite of this, many car manufacturers make use of PU foam decouplers, for instance because such decouplers typically offer a better shape conformity, in particular for trim parts within the passenger compartment, obtaining a good fit to the underlying structure reduces the risk of air pockets underneath the trim part. Such air pockets or less resilient areas might give the passenger the perception of less quality trim part, while depending on the area impaired the risk increases that the part is able to move around during handling of the car. In particular in the area of the footpedals this migh cause problems.

[0010] It is remarkable that, in the automotive field, to obtain the requested high values of compressional stiffness, it is generally necessary to resort either to PU-foams or to special porous fibrous layers with vertically oriented fibers as layers. However, with these prior-art solutions, the desired increase in resilience is generally accompanied by an undesirable increase of the dynamic Young’s modulus.

[0011] However, the use of a PU-foam decoupler to improve mechanical performance and in certain instances also the acoustic performance, especially at low frequencies, often represents an unwanted trade-off,since it comes at the price of a much worse environmental sustainability or larger carbon dioxide footprint.

[0012] Thus, there is a need in the automotive industry of an alternative felt or nonwoven felt solution, that has improved mechanical performance comparable or better than that achieved with PU foam. This is the object of the present invention.Summary of invention

[0013] The object of the invention is achieved by an automotive soundinsulating trim part according to claim 1.

[0014] In its main aspect, the invention concerns an automotive trim part comprising a porous fibrous layer, whereby the porous fibrous layer comprises at least one area such that the Fiber Orientation Scattering (FOS) at any location comprised in that area is greater than 15 degrees, preferably greater than 25degrees.

[0015] Quite surprisingly, it was discovered that when fibers of the porous fibrous layer according to the invention at least in one area do not feature any preferential direction, i.e., their FOS in that area is higher than 15degrees, further advantageous features may be obtained, in particular a high resilience and, even more, an optimal combination of high resilience and low dynamic Young’s modulus.

[0016] A high resilience of the fibrous layer as a trim part or in a trim part may be advantageous, if good static load resistance properties are required. A very relevant example is the floor insulator, which must be able to provide a good resilience to the load applied on it by passengers who step on it, in particular upon entering or leaving a vehicle. Another example of a part where a high resilience may be desirable is a trunk load floor.

[0017]

[0018] A “layer” is a body consisting of one or more materials and comprised between two closely spaced surfaces, wherein the distance between the surfaces is substantially smaller than their dimensions. The two surfaces are indicated as the "sides" of the layer and they are opposite to each other. The distance between the two surfaces is indicated asthe thickness of the layer, which may be variable. A layer may comprise other layers.

[0019] At each location in a layer, the direction along the thickness of the layer is hereafter indicated as “Thickness Direction” or “out-of-plane” direction. Any direction normal to the Thickness Direction will be referred to as an “in-plane” direction. The Thickness Direction may be of particular importance in layers comprised in sound-insulating automotive trim parts, since it is generally the main direction along which they may transmit noise and vibration.

[0020]

[0021] Within a porous fibrous layer, the fibers are organized in a three- dimensional network and may have various orientations. Typically, to analyze the orientation of the fibers at a specific position (hereafter referred to also as “location” or “point”) of a fibrous layer, a small square or rectangular sample of the layer around that position is cut and the orientation of the fibers on the side faces of the sample is examined. The sample should be small compared to the in-plane dimensions of the layer and such that, within the sample, the orientation of the fibers may be considered substantially homogeneous. Generally speaking, samples having dimensions in the range between about 10mm and 50mm may be used. By cutting samples around a set of positions regularly distributed over an area of a porous fibrous layer, the fiber orientation over that whole area may be analyzed.

[0022] Quite surprisingly, it was found that in areas of a porous fibrous layer where the fibers show a preferential orientation it is much more difficult to achieve the desired combination of AFR and DLF. It is thus preferable that the porous fibrous layer according to the invention presents at least one area wherein the fibers do not have any preferred orientation.

[0023] For a person skilled in the art, visual inspection of a sample may be enough to assess “prima facie” the existence or non-existence of a preferential orientation for the fibers (hereafter called also “preferred orientation”), i.e. an orientation along which most of the fibers or fibersegments tend to be aligned. However, more quantitative methods available in the art may be necessary for a deeper and more objective analysis of this characteristic of porous fibrous layers.

[0024] An overview of the methods used in the art for quantitative analysis of fiber orientation in samples of porous fibrous layers may be found, for example, in N. Mao, “Methods for characterisation of nonwoven structure, property, and performance” in “Advances in Technical NonWovens”, Elsevier, 2016, ISBN 978-0-08-100575-0.

[0025] In methods based on image analysis, fibers orientation is examined by starting from a magnified image of a small area of a section of the porous fibrous layer, wherein the magnification factor used for obtaining the image should be enough for the resolution of the single fibers. From the image, the Fibers Orientation Distribution (FOD) and the relative disperion, herein indicated as Fibers Orientation Scattering (FOS) may be calculated. The FOD is a statistical distribution that gives the fraction of the total number of fiber segments in the image falling within a series of predefined ranges of orientation angle. The graph of the FOD is generally shown as a function of orientation angle in degrees. The corresponding FOS is obtained by fitting a Gaussian distribution around the maximum value of the FOD and taking the corresponding standard deviation. The lower is the FOS, the higher is the tendency of the fibers in the image to be aligned along a preferred direction. The FOS is measured in degrees.

[0026] Among the methods to calculate the FOD and the FOS from an image, those based on Fourier component analysis are widely used. In these methods, the image is chopped into square pieces and for each of these pieces the Fourier power spectrum is calculated and analyzed in polar coordinates using suitable filters. These methods are implemented also in open-source freely available image processing packages such as the software package ImageJ, developed by the USA National Institutes of Health (N I H) and by the Laboratory for Optical and Computational Instrumentation (LOCI, University of Wisconsin). In all analyses herein described, the method based on Fourier component analysis comprised in the “directionality” function of the ImageJsoftware (version 1.54j, released on June 12th, 2024) was used to calculate FOD and FOS. However, equivalent results may be obtained with other methods available in the art and / or by other image processing software packages.

[0027] Thus, to analyze the fiber orientation at a location of a porous fibrous layer, once a sample around that location is obtained as described above, images may be taken from the side faces of the sample and, for each one of these faces, the corresponding FOD and FOS may be evaluated by averaging over the values calculated from the images taken from that face. The lower the value of FOS obtained for a face, the higher is the tendency of the fibers on that face of the sample to be aligned along a preferred direction.

[0028] Figures 7a to 7d summarize the above-described process for obtaining the Fibers Orientation Distribution and the Fibers Orientation Scattering at a location of a porous fibrous layer. In Figure 7a, a location P on a porous fibrous layer 40 is chosen and a small rectangular area 41 around it is defined. As mentioned above, the area 41 should be small compared to the overall dimensions of the porous fibrous layer 40 and such that, within that area, the orientation of the fibers is substantially homogeneous. From the area 41 of the porous fibrous layer 40, a sample 42 around P is extracted.

[0029] By means of a microscope 44, a few magnified images of each side of the sample 42 are taken, as shown in Figure 7b for one side 43 of the sample. In the example of Figure 7b, 3 images 46 from the concerned side are taken, obtained from three areas 44 distributed over the surface of the sample side 43.

[0030] For each of the images 46, the Fibers Orientation Distribution 47 is calculated as shown in Figure 7c, e.g., by means of image processing methods such as those based on Fourier component analysis. After this, as shown in Figure lid, each Fibers Orientation Distribution 47 is fitted with a Gaussian Distribution and, by taking the corresponding standard deviation o, the corresponding Fibers Orientation Scattering is obtained. In each of the three charts in Figure 7d, the Fibers Orientation Distributions 47 obtained from one of the three images 46is shown with a solid line and marked with “FOD”, while the corresponding fitting Gaussian Distribution is marked with “Gaussian” and plotted as a solid line.

[0031] By averaging the Fibers Orientation Distributions 47 obtained from the three images and the corresponding Fibers Orientation Scattering values, one obtaines the corresponding quantities for the selected sample face 43. The process can be repeated for all side faces of the sample 42 and, eventually, the minimum of the FOS values obtained for the faces may be taken as an indicator of the presence of a preferred orientation of the fibers in the sample.

[0032] Preferably, the porous fibrous layer according to the invention comprises at least one area such that any value of Fibers Orientation Scattering obtained at any location comprised in that area according to the above-described procedure is greater than 15degrees, more preferably greater than 25degrees.

[0033]

[0034] These values were chosen based on analyses of different kinds of images taken from samples of fibrous layers, which indicated that when the FOS is lower than or equal to 15degrees, even a direct visual inspection of the sample by the person skilled in the art would detect the existence of a preferred orientation for the fibers. On the other hand, when the FOS calculated from an image is higher than 25degrees, no clear preferential direction can be identified visually in the sample from which that image was taken.

[0035] Preferably, the above-mentioned area of the porous fibrous layer according to the invention with a FOS of more than 15 degrees preferably more than 25degrees, covers at least 10% of the total surface of the porous fibrous layer, more preferably at least 20% and even more preferably at least 30%.

[0036]

[0037] The resilience of a decoupling layer is measured as the compression stress CV40, expressed in kPa, at a compression percentage of 40%, recorded at the 4thloading cycle following the measurement procedure given in ISO3386:1986.

[0038] The porous fibrous layer according to the invention has preferably a value of CV40 of at least 4kPa, more preferably of at least 6kPa and even more preferably of at least 8kPa. Such high values of CV40 may surprisingly be obtained with the porous fibrous layer according to the invention, provided the fibers comprised in it do not show any preferential orientation.

[0039] Surprisingly, with the porous fibrous layer according to the invention, when the fibers do not show any preferential orientation, the above- mentioned high values of CV40 may be obtained in combination with low values of dynamic Young’s modulus such as values of dynamic Young’s modulus lower than 55kPa or even lower than 40kPa.

[0040]

[0041] The porous fibrous layer according to the invention is preferably obtained from a fibrous web in the form of a flat layer or flat mat (often called “semi-finished” in the field) by compression moulding. In such a case, the orientation of the fibers in the porous fibrous layer is inherited from the orientation of the fibers in the semi-finished as well as from fibre relocation during the moulding process.

[0042] In turn, the concerned fibrous web or semi-finished may be obtained by means of a production line (hereafter called also “web-forming” line) comprising a series of steps organized in a fixed sequence, with the fibers transported from one step to the next along the process by various means such as rotating cylinders and / or air-jets and / or conveyor belts. The steps of the process may include, among others, feeding bale openers with bales of fibers, opening of the fibers, mixing of the fibers, carding, cross lapping, vertical lapping, horizontal lapping, needling and heating in an oven for partial consolidation. At the end of the process, the fibrous web is formed as a continuous and partially consolidated layer of fibers, eventually either collected in rolls or cut into blanks.

[0043] For such a process, it is generally possible to define for the fibrous web or semi-finished a Machine-Direction (MD), corresponding to the direction along which the fibrous web is produced and a Cross Direction (CD) normal to the MD in the plane of the fibrous web. TheThickness Direction (TD) will then be normal both to the CD and the MD. For the case of a semi-finished layer, the in-plane directions are those in the MD / CD plane.If, for example, in the last part of the process the fibrous web consisting of a continuous and partially consolidated layer of fibers is distributed along a conveyor belt, the direction of movement of the conveyor belt determines the MD, while the direction normal to the movement of the conveyor belt in its own plane determines the CD and the direction perpendicular to the plane of the conveyor belt determines the TD.

[0044] Furthermore, the above-described Machine Direction and Cross Direction of a semi-finished may be associated also to a porous fibrous layer which is obtained from such semi-finished by compression molding.

[0045] In a semi-finished layer, the orientation of the fibers is generally rather homogeneous, i.e., it does not depend substantially on the position. However, variations in the orientation of the fibers may occur around the boundaries of the semi-finished layer. Depending on the webformation process, the fibers in the semi-finished may show a preferred orientation or not. For example, if the web-formation process includes at least one vertical lapping step, the fibers in the semifinished may be oriented preferentially in the TD. US6534145 discloses a web having preferably at least 70% of the fibers oriented in the TD, often referred to as “vertically oriented” fibers. In such fibrous web, the fibers have a “pleated” arrangement. On the other hand, if the webformation process involves a horizontal lapping step (or even a crosslapping step), the fibers in the semi-finished will preferentially be oriented in the MD / CD plane. The same occurs for the so-called “parallel-laid” fibrous webs, wherein the fibers are, possibly through a sequence of carding steps, laid on top of each other and arranged preferentially parallel to each other in the MD or, more in general, along a direction in the MD / CD plane.All above-mentioned preferential orientations may be detected by the person skilled in the art already at a visual inspection, in particulartaking as an observation plane the MD / TD plane. However, they may also be detected using quantitative analyses like those previously described.

[0046] In general, if the fibers of the semi-finished have a preferential orientation, some preferential orientation, possibly different from that of the fibers of the semi-finished, may be shown also by the fibers of a porous fibrous layer obtained from it by compression moulding, at least locally.

[0047] For example, if the fibers in the fibrous web are preferentially oriented in the TD, during the compression moulding process they may be locally relocated and re-oriented in a different direction. This may happen, in particular, in areas where the porous fibrous layer obtained from the compression moulding is relatively thin. However, within each area of approximately constant thickness and / or curvature, the semifinished will be compressed in approximately the same way and along the same moulding direction and thus its fibers will be relocated in approximately the same way, such as by tilting them in a certain direction. A preferential direction will thus be maintained, even though it may be different from that of the semi-finished from which the porous fibrous layer is obtained and it may be only of a local character.

[0048] US6534145 discloses some examples of porous fibrous layers obtained by moulding fibrous webs with fibers preferentially oriented in the TD and wherein some preferential orientation of the fibers is maintained also after the moulding, although locally. On the other hand, if the fibers in the semi-finished are preferentially oriented in the MD / CD plane, in particular along the M D, at the end of the compression moulding process they may locally show an in-plane preferential orientation, i.e. they may be preferentially oriented in a way perpendicular to the local thickness direction of the porous fibrous layer.

[0049] The procedure previously described for the analysis of fibers orientation at a location on a porous fibrous layer is directly applicable also to a semi-finished layer. In the case of a semi-finished layer, it is of particular interest to consider -for the analysis of fibers orientationat a location- samples having faces aligned with the Machine and Cross Directions. In particular, due to the web-formation process, sample faces aligned with the Machine Direction are the ones for which the existence of preferred directions in fibers orientation may be best revealed. In general, if the analysis of fibers orientation on faces aligned with the Machine Direction does not reveal any preferred direction, the same applies also to faces aligned with other directions, in particular with the Cross Direction.

[0050] The same applies to a porous fibrous layer obtained by compression molding a semi-finished layer: also in this case, for the analysis of the fibers orientation at a location, it is of particular interest to consider samples having faces aligned with the Machine and Cross Directions and to analyze the fibers orientation on faces aligned with the Machine Direction.

[0051] The porous fibrous layer according to the invention is preferably obtained by compression molding a semi-finished layer comprising an area such that at any location comprised in that area the FCS obtained from a sample cut around that location and having faces aligned with the MD / CD is greater than 15 degrees, more preferably greater than 25degrees. As previously explained, this feature guarantees that the fibers in that area of the semifinished layer do not show any preferential orientation.

[0052] This is advantageous since a preferential orientation of the fibers in the semi-finished in the TD may confer to the fibers in the moulded porous fibrous layer an out-of-plane preferential direction, while a preferential orientation of the fibers in the semi-finished along the MD / CD plane may confer to the fibers in the moulded porous fibrous layer a preferental in-plane direction. On the other hand, if the fibers in the semi-finished do not feature any preferential orientation, this obviously occurs even more for a porous fibrous layer obtained from it by compression molding.

[0053]

[0054] In addition, the above-mentioned feature concerning the orientation of the fibers in the semi-finished may provide also further advantages,related to the shapeability of the semi-finished itself in a compression moulding process.

[0055] The actual shape of a sound-insulating trim part obtained by compression molding may match its nominal shape in a better or worse way, depending on the materials it comprises. Here, the “nominal shape” of such a trim part is the one defined by the cavity of the tool used to mold it. There may be several reasons why the actual shape of the sound-insulating trim part may not match well the nominal one. For example: due to poor elongation properties, some of the materials comprised in the trim part may offer a high resistance to the stretching typically occurring during molding, or some of these materials may have a high elasticity and thus show an elastic rebound at the end of the compression process, when the molding tool is opened (so-called “spring-back” effect).

[0056] Generally, it is in desirable that the actual shape of a sound-insulating trim part obtained by compression molding matches as accurately as possible its nominal shape. This is even more true for a porous fibrous layer: in fact, in the event that this does not accurately follow its nominal shape, the part may not conform to the body panels of the vehicle on which it is to be installed.

[0057] In the preferred case in which the porous fibrous layer is obtained by compression moulding a semi-finished, the “shapeability” properties of the semi-finished become then important. In a broad sense, a semifinished may be considered to have good “shapeability” properties when a porous fibrous layer obtained from it by compression molding can accurately follow even complex three-dimensional features of its nominal shape, such as small curvature radii and / or abrupt thickness changes.

[0058] Given that no general standard is available to assess these properties, an engineering procedure was developed to study the shapeability properties of various semi-finished layers. This procedure is based on the idea that, in the automotive field, the shape feature that most commonly may lead to a misalignment between the actual and the nominal shape of a trim part is an abrupt change in the nominalthickness of the trim part, which may not be well followed by the actual shape of the same part itself.

[0059] Figure 1 illustrates the engineering procedure that was used for assessing the shapeability of a semi-finished. In this procedure, a semifinished is compression molded according to a nominal shape consisting of a layer having one flat side and featuring an abrupt change in thickness. In Figure 1, a section (1) of this nominal shape in the MD / TD plane is shown, wherein there is a change in thickness from a thickness tO nto a thickness tl n(with tO n< tl n). This change is exactly in the TD direction, i.e. as abrupt as possible. In the same Figure 1, also the corresponding section (2) of the porous fibrous layer obtained by compression molding the semi-finished is shown. As displayed, in correspondence of the abrupt change of thickness, the actual porous fibrous layer cannot perfectly follow the nominal shape. The minimum distance dabetween a point where the actual thickness is equal to tO nand a point where the actual thickness is 90% of tl nis taken. The shapeability of the semi-finished layer is then assessed by means of the parameter sMD= da / (tl n-tO n), hereafter indicated as “shapeability factor” in the MD. This parameter is normally expressed in % and it may depend of the thickness tO n, although in a mild way. Clearly, the procedure outlined here above may by applied also for a section cut along the CD / TD plane to obtain the analogous parameter in the CD sCD.

[0060] In the above-described procedure, the shapeability of a semi-finished layer is assessed based on the molding of a sample having one flat side. This allows an easy and objective assessment of the shapeability. However, it is clear to the person skilled in the art that a semi-finished layer providing a low sMDand / or sCDfactor allows obtaining porous fibrous layers more accurately following their nominal shape even when such shape is generically three-dimensional.

[0061] Surprisingly, if the fibers in the semi-finished layer does not show any preferential orientation in the sense previously explained, its shapeability is substantially enhanced. This may be due to the fact that the existence of a preferential orientation of the fibers may leadeither to elongation issues (e.g. when the fibers are preferentially oriented along the MD / CD plane) or to “spring-back” issues (e.g. when the fibers are preferentially oriented along the TD). On the other hand, when the fibers do not show any preferential orientation, they tend to fill the space of the porous fibrous layer in a more uniform and isotropic way.

[0062] Preferably, the semi-finished used for molding the porous fibrous layer according to the invention has a shapeability factor in the MD lower than 25%, more preferably lower than 15% and a shapeability factor in the CD lower than 50%, more preferably lower than 25%. Such low values of the shapeability factor may surprisingly be obtained provided the fibers comprised in the semi-finished do not show any preferential orientation. In which case, very advantagously, the porous fibrous layer according to the invention obtained by molding the semi-finished will more accurately follow its nominal shape.

[0063]

[0064] A fibrous web or semi-finished having the above-described preferred fiber orientation properties may be obtained by means of web-forming lines known in the art. An example is a web-forming line comprising a loading station, a processing station, a pressing station and an optional heating station organized in this sequence and performing the following steps:1. In the loading station, fibers are fed into the processing station, preferably in a continuous way. The loading station may be very simple and consist, for example, of just a conveyor belt. However, it may also be much more complex and comprise, for example, one or more bale openers, a blending box, a first opener and a buffer box, organized in this sequence.2. In a second step, the processing station performs the conditioning of the fibers as desired and required by the circumstances (e.g., further open the fibers, disentangle them, remove impurities, possibly orient the fibers, etc.). The processing station includes at least a main rotating cylinder, which must be able to engage the fibers arriving from the loading station. For this purpose, the surface of the main cylindermay be garnished, e.g., with rigid tips or rigid seals. The processing station may comprise also further pieces of equipment, e.g. further cylinders, which cooperate with the main cylinder in the conditioning of the fibers.3. In the transfer station, the fibers are collected from the outlet of the processing station and conveyed to the inlet of the pressing station. This is performed in such a way to avoid that, during the transfer, a preferential orientation is conferred to the fibers. This may be obtained, for example, with a transfer station comprising a conveyor belt moving from the outlet of the processing station to the inlet of the pressing station and a suction unit creating two air-jets which impinge on the inlet of the conveyor belt in directions substantially opposite to each other, to be then both re-directed along the conveyor belt in the same direction of its movement. The fibers will thus be transported by the combination of the air-jets and the conveyor belt towards the pressing station. The opposed air-jets are such that the flow along the transfer station is of a turbulent nature so that the fibers, in this transfer, will tend to assume random orientations. In particular, the transportation by means of the air-jets will prevent the fibers to align preferentially either in the TD or along the CD / MD plane.4. In the pressing station, the fibers are pressed to a predefined thickness, e.g., by means of calendering cylinders or belts arranged at a corresponding distance from each other.5. Eventually, at the outlet of the pressing station the fibers may be conveyed into the heating station which may consist, just by way of example, of a hot-air oven where they may be further compressed if desired. This heating step may be aimed at partially consolidating the fibrous web by partially activating the binder that may be present in it.

[0065] As it is apparent from the description above, in this example of webforming line the key-step in order to obtain the desired orientation of the fibers in the semi-finished is the step performed by the transfer station. The above-described web-forming line is just an example, wherein each step / station may be replaced by an equivalent one. For example, the partial consolidation of the fibrous web, obtained in theabove-described process by means of a heating station, could be obtained by needle-punching the unconsolidated fibrous web in a needling station.

[0066] However, in order to prevent the fibers from assuming a preferred orientation, the web-forming process preferably does not include any vertical-lapping step and / or any horizontal lapping and / or crosslapping step.

[0067]

[0068] In a preferred embodiment, the trim part according to the invention comprises a mass layer laminated onto one side of the porous fibrous layer according to the invention. The porous fibrous layer is preferably suitable to reduce as much as possible the transmission of vibrations from the side opposite the one in contact with the mass layer to the side in contact with the mass layer itself. Preferably, the side of the porous fibrous layer opposite the one in contact with the porous fibrous layer is intended to be put in contact with a panel of a vehicle body.

[0069] In order to further enhance the sound-insulating performance of the trim part according to the invention, the dynamic Young’s modulus of the porous fibrous layer according to the invention is preferably lower than 80kPa, more preferably lower than 55kPa, even more preferably lower than 40kPa. The dynamic Young’s modulus is measured by means of the commercially available tool Elwis-S, developed and commercialized by Autoneum Management AG. For the evaluation of the dynamic Young’s modulus, tests should be carried out in air, on square samples having a side of 50mm, loaded with a top mass of 50grams. For the post-processing, the resonant method should be used with polynomial interpolation. The measurement and postprocessing procedure is described in full detail in the currently available revision 2.1 of the Elwis-S manual, issued in May 2024.

[0070] In addition, always in order to enhance the performance of the soundinsulating part according to the invention, in particular in the frequency range around the spring-mass resonance, the porous fibrous layer according to the invention preferably has a porosity higher than 0.8,more preferably higher than 0.9 and even more preferably higher than 0.95. In fact, a higher porosity tends to further decrease the fluid- structural coupling between the acoustic waves passing through the fibrous porous layer and the fibers constituting it.

[0071] The porosity of a porous fibrous layer is the fraction of air contained in a given volume of the layer. It may be measured according to methods known in the art, for example the method explained in Champoux et al., “Air-based system for the measurement of porosity”, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 89, 910 (1991).

[0072] The area weight of the porous fibrous layer according to the invention is preferably between 400g / m2 and 3000g / m2, more preferably between 600g / m2 and 2000g / m2 and even more preferably between 800g / m2 and 1600g / m2. The thickness of the porous fibrous layer according to the invention is preferably between 1mm and 80mm, more preferably between 3mm and 40mm and even more preferably between 5mm and 30mm.

[0073] Both area weight and thickness may vary over the surface of the porous fibrous layer according to the invention, depending on design constraints such as weight and / or packaging space limitations.

[0074]

[0075] The porous fibrous layer according to the invention may comprise any kind of natural and / or synthetic fibers and / or mineral fibers common in the industry. Examples of natural fibers are cotton, wool, flax, hemp, bamboo, sisal, jute, and abaca fibers. Examples of synthetic fibers are polypropylene fibers, polyethylene fibers, polyester fibers, in particular polyethylene-terephthalate (PET) fibers, polylactic acid (PLA) fibers and polyamide (PA) fibers, in particular polyamide 6 or polyamide 6.6 fibers. Examples of mineral fibers are glass fibers or ceramic fibers.

[0076] The porous fibrous layer according to the invention may consist of only one single kind of fibers but it may also be a mix of fibers of different kinds.

[0077] Synthetic fibers may be mono-component or bi-component fibers. Mono-component fibers are made from a single polymer, while bicomponent fibers are made from two polymers, a first polymer and asecond polymer, of different chemical and / or physical structure that are tightly but separably connected to each other along the fiber. Bipart fibers may be produced using processes known in the art, e.g. by melt spinning. In this process, the polymers are spun by a spinneret into a fiber either next to each other (side-by-side configuration) or around each other (core-sheath configuration) or in a mixture with an inhomogeneous distribution (island-in-the-sea or segmented-pie configuration).

[0078] In addition, the fibers comprised in the porous fibrous layer according to the invention can have cross-sections of various shapes; preferably, the fibers have a round or trilobal cross-section. Always in relation to their cross-section, the fibers may be hollow or solid, wherein the cross-section of a hollow fiber presents an internal cavity, so that a hollow fiber has a tube-like structure, while the cross-section of a solid fiber is completely filled by the material or materials constituting the fiber.

[0079] The fibers of the porous fibrous layer are preferably staple fibers, with a length comprised between 32mm and 76mm. Staple fibers are fibers that, differently from endless filaments, come in discrete predefined lengths.

[0080] Furthermore, in order to enhance performance, the fineness of the fibers is preferably between 0.5denier and 30denier, more preferably between 0.5denier and 18denier, even more preferably between 0.5denier and 12denier. For a given mass of porous fibrous material, finer fibers provide a better sound-insulating performance.

[0081] Advantageously, the fibers of the porous fibrous layer may be at least partially of a recycled nature, in order to reduce the environmental impact of the manufacturing process of the part according to the invention, for what concerns specifically material consumption. In particular, the material or materials of the porous fibrous layer may be in the form of a shoddy natural fiber, for example a shoddy cotton, or in the form of a shoddy synthetic fiber, for example a shoddy polyester. A shoddy type of fibrous material is here defined as comprising at least 51% by weight of recycled fibers of the concerned material. Forinstance, a shoddy cotton contains at least 51% by weight of recycled cotton fibers, being the remaining 49% by weight constituted by fibers of a different material and / or by virgin fibers.

[0082] Furthermore, the porous fibrous layer according to the invention preferably comprises a binder, preferably in an amount comprised between 10% and 60% by weight. A binder may improve the mechanical consistence of the trim part according to the invention so that it can be easily handled during the production process and / or the installation process on the vehicle. The binder may be of a thermoset or of a thermoplastic nature. In both cases, some kind of thermal treatment may be needed in order to activate it. A thermoset binder is preferably in the form of an epoxy resin or a phenolic resin or a mixture of both. A thermoplastic binder is preferably in the form of thermoplastic binder fibers. These are fibers comprising at least one portion which melts as a result of a thermal treatment, forming droplets that bind all the other fibers at their crossing / contact points. The melting temperature of the binder fibers (or the portion of the binder fibers that melts) must obviously be lower than that of all the other fibers (and of the portion of the binder fibers that possibly does not melt). Binder fibers may be mono-part or bipart fibers. A thermoset binder is preferable when enhanced mechanical properties and structural consistence are needed. On the other hand, a binder in the form of thermoplastic binder fibers is preferable when very complex 3- dimensional shapes have to be realized.

[0083] Particularly preferred is the case in which the porous fibrous layer entirely consists of polyester fibers. A porous fibrous layer entirely made of polyester allows easier recycling of either production cut-offs and / or of the sound-insulating trim part as a whole at the end of the product lifecycle. In particular, it turned out that the desired combination of AFR and DLF may be more easily obtained with a mix of bipart PET / CoPET core-sheath binder fibers having a fineness of about 4denier in an amount of 10% to 50% by weight and mono-part PET hollow fibers having a fineness of about lldenier in an amount of10% to 90% by weight, wherein the percentages corresponding to the different fiber types add up to 100%.

[0084] When PET and / or co-polymers of PET are used for the fibers constituting the porous fibrous layer, at least a part of it may advantageously be of a recycled nature. For example, the PET may be obtained from consumer products like PET bottle flakes or from PET packaging items or from PET marine products like fishing nets, by melting them and forming them into pellets that may be used for the spinning process. Using recycled polyester has the advantage of reducing the environmental impact of the manufacturing process of the trim part according to the invention, in particular its CO2footprint. Preferably at least 20% by weight, more preferably at least 50% by weight and even more preferably at least 70% by weight of the polyester used for the polyester fibers comprised in the porous fibrous layer according to the invention is recycled polyester.

[0085]

[0086] Automotive trim part comprising the porous fibrous layer according to the invention may further comprise at least one of a mass layer and or barrier layer and or thermoplasitic surface layer, a decorative layer, tufted or needlepunched carpet, needlepunch nonwoven layer, thermoplastic olefin based layer, injection moulded plastic layer, composite panel, a rigid board structure, like cardboard, corrugated board, honeycomb board.

[0087] Preferably the trim part comprises an additional thermoplastic layer in the form of a barrier layer and or surface layer with an area weight between 500g / m2 and 10000g / m2, preferably between 1500g / m2 and 5000g / m2, more preferably 2000g / m2 and 3500g / m2.

[0088] In a preferred embodiment, the barrier layer or surface layer is a layer comprising a matrix of thermoplastic elastomeric material, mass- loaded with an inorganic filler, wherein the material or materials comprised in the thermoplastic elastomeric matrix are preferably selected from the group consisting of ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA); Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer (EPDM); Poly Olefin elastomer (POE), like 1- Octene Polymer with ethene or 1-ButenePolymer with ethene; a Co-Polypropylene, like propene polymer with ethene; polyesters such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and / or polybuthylene therephthalate (PBT); poly-propylene (PP); polyethylene such as High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) and / or Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) and / or Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE); Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC); Poly Carbonate (PC); polyamide such as PA-4 and / or PA-6 and / or PA-66; Thermoplastic Polymide (TPI); Thermoplastic Polyolefin (TPO); Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU); Poly Tetra Fluoro Ethylene (PTFE); Poly Ether Ether Ketone (PEEK); Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS); Poly Methyl Metha Crylate (PMMA). The inorganic filler is preferably one of calcium carbonate (CaC03) and / or Barium Sulphate (BaSO4). In addition, the amount of inorganic filler is preferably up to about 85% by weight. Such an “acoustic barrier layer” is often referred to also as “heavy layer” in the field.

[0089] The thickness of the thermoplastic layer is preferably between 0.2mm and 5mm, more preferably between 0.8mm and 3mm.

[0090] The automotive trim part with a porous fibrous layer according to the invention may be used in or as an interior or exterior part for a passenger vehicle, van or light- or heavy duty truck, in particularly as or in one of a flooring part, a cladding part, an inner or outer dash, an engine trim part, a battery trim part, or trunk trim part or a trunk flooring part, wall panel, Truck bed structure, a trim or panel part, chairseat backrest backpanel, gap filling trim part, like in pillar beams, mechanical stiffening part or layer, for instance within flooring parts.

[0091] In addition to this, further embodiments of the trim part according to the invention may be derived from the description also by combining the different embodiments and examples of the invention and may be also derived from the description of the embodiments shown in the Figures. The Figures are schematic and not necessarily in scale. Ranges include end-points.Brief description of drawings

[0092] Figure 1 illustrates an engineering procedure for the assessment of the shapeability properties of a fibrous web or semi-finished layer.

[0093] Figures 2 to 4 show examples of sound-insulating trim parts with spring-mass characteristics.

[0094] Figures 5 show images A-C taken from a porous fibrous layer according to the invention, wherein the orientation of the fibers does not show any preferential direction (INI), a chart with Fiber Orientation Distributions calculated from the images shown and table 1 reporting the Fiber Orientation Scattering data for the Fiber Orientation Distributions shown in the figures and chart.

[0095] Figures 6 show images A-C taken from a porous fibrous layer which is not according to the invention (PA-VOF) wherein the orientation of the fibers does shows a preferential direction, a chart with Fiber Orientation Distributions calculated from the images shown and table 2 reporting the Fiber Orientation Scattering data for the Fiber Orientation Distributions shown in the figures and chart.

[0096] Figure 7A -D shows the process for obtaining Fibers Orientation Distribution and the Fibers orientation Scattering data as described earlier.

[0097]

[0098] Figure 1 illustrates an engineering procedure for the assessment of the shapeability properties of a fibrous web or semi-finished layer. This Figure has already been described and will not be further commented here.

[0099] Figure 2 shows a trim part (10) in the form of a flat panel comprising a thermoplastic layer (11) and a fibrous porous layer (12) according to the invention laminated together. The thermoplastic layer may be a barrier layer, mass layer and or a surface layer, like a carpet construction or a thermoplastic polyolefin type surface layer.

[0100] Figure 3 shows a trim part (20) in the form of an automotive floor covering thermoplastic layer (21) which may be the same as layer 11 in figure 2 and a porous fibrous layer (22) according to the invention. In this embodiment, the thermoplastic layer (21) comprises, on the side abarrier layer (22) combined with a decorative layer (23) such as a needle-punched or a tufted carpet.

[0101] Figure 4 shows a trim part (30) with spring-mass characteristics in the form of an automotive trunk load floor and comprising a panel layer (31) and a porous fibrous layer (32). In this embodiment, a handle (33) is integrated in the panel layer (31) to lift the trunk load floor when needed. The mass layer may be in the form of a rigid structure like a honeycomb plate, a paper board, corrugated board, a stiff fibrous layer or composite board. A simular structure may be used for wall panels or other stiffer structures including the fibrous layer according to the invention.

[0102]

[0103] Example INI according to the invention

[0104] A first porous fibrous layer according to the invention was realized as follows. A semi-finished was first produced, using a web-forming line comprising a loading station, a processing station, a transfer station, a pressing station and a heating station as previously described, wherein in the transfer station a suction unit with two suction areas along the web-forming line was comprised to prevent, as much as possible, the fibers to assume a preferential orientation, as previously described. The fibrous mixture used for the production of the fibrous web consisted of 80% by weight of PET hollow staple fibers having an average length of approximately 60mm and a fineness of approximately 12dtex and 20% by weight of PET / CoPET bipart coresheath binder staple fibers with a length of approximately 51mm and a fineness of approximately 4.4dtex. The thickness of the semi-finished layer was about 30mm and its area weight was approximately 900grams / m2. The semi-finished was then compression molded to a flat sample having size 1.2m x Im and a constant thickness of about 20mm. The compression molding process was a standard steam molding process as known in the art. The results of this example are partly shown in figure 5.

[0105]

[0106] Example IN2 according to the invention

[0107] A second porous fibrous layer and a second sound-insulating trim part IN2 according to the invention were then realized following the same steps as described above for INI but modifying, in the fiber mixture, the ratio between the two types of fibers from 80% - 20% by weight to 60% - 40% by weight.

[0108]

[0109] First comparitive example PA-FO1

[0110] For comparative purposes, a prior-art sound-insulating trim part with mass-characteristics, comprising a PU-foam layer and having the spring-mass resonance at a frequency comparable to that of the above-described sound-insulating trim parts INI and IN2 according to the invention was realized as follows.A layer consisting of a PU foam in the form of a flat sample having dimensions 1.2m x Im and a thickness of 20mm was produced, wherein the density of the foam was about 52kg / m3and the mixing ratio used in its production (i.e., the ratio between the two main constituents of the PU foam polyol and diisocyanate) was 0.46. From this, a first prior-art sound-insulating part with foam decoupler was obtained by laminating a barrier layer on one side of the PU-foam layer, wherein the barrier layer has the same characteristics (same material, same area weight) as that previously described for the trim parts INI and IN2 according to the invention.

[0111]

[0112] Second comparative example PA-FB

[0113] Always for comparative purposes, a second prior-art trim part was realized in a similar way as the above-described trim part PA-FO1. In this prior art porous fibrous layer the fibers may be considered substatially “parallel-laid” along the in-plane direction. The area weight of this prior art porous fibrous layer was about llOOgsm and its thickness about 20mm. The fiber mix used for this prior-art porous fibrous layer consisted in 18% by weight of PET / CoPET binder fibers with a length of approximately 51mm and a fineness of approximately 4.4dtex, 30% by weight of PET hollow-conjugate fibers having a length of approximately 51mm and a fineness of 7dtex and 52% by weight ofsolid staple fibers having a length of approximately 38mm and a fineness of approximantely 3.3dtex.

[0114]

[0115] The fiber orientation of the two porous fibrous layers according to the invention (those corresponding to examples INI and IN2) was analysed, in particular taking as observation plane the one corresponding to the MD / TD plane of the semi-finished from which it was produced. This observation plane was chosen since, due to the production process, it is the plane that may better than any other plane reveal any preferred orientation directions of the fibers. Figures 5A to C show pictures of the fibers of the first porous fibrous layer INI. To obtain these pictures, a square sample with 50mm side and aligned with the Machine and Cross Directions was extracted from the first porous fibrous layer according to the invention. The images in Figures 5A-C were taken in three different areas of one of the two side faces of the sample aligned with the M D / TD plane (as indicated in the Figures). Pictures were taken with a Keyence VHX-5000 microscope, using a 20x magnification factor. Visual inspection of these pictures does not indicate any preferential orientation for the fibers.

[0116] The FOD and the FOS were calculated from the three pictures shown in Figures 5A-C using the “directionality” function of the open source software ImageJ (method based on Fourier parts), version 1.54j released on June 24th, 2024. The three pictures in Figures 5A-C provide very similar FODs as shown by the chart in Figure 5 as a function of the orientation angle from -90degrees to +90degrees, with a step of about 2degrees. In this Figure, the FOD is shown taking as reference the horizontal direction (corresponding to Odegrees), which corresponds also to the MD. As previously described, the peak appearing in each FOD was best-fit with a Gaussian distribution, whose mean and standard deviation, corresponding to the Fiber Orientation Scattering, is shown in Figure 5 Table 1. As one can see from this table, the FOS resulting from the three images A-C ranges between about 27degrees and 29degrees.

[0117] Similar fiber orientation analyses were carried out also on the second porous fibrous layer according to the invention (the one corresponding to IN2), leading to very similar results (data not shown).

[0118] The CV40 of the first porous fibrous layer according to the invention (corresponding to INI) was measured according to the 1303386:1986 and resulted to be about 8.05kPa + / - 0.37kPa. The dynamic Young’s modulus of the same layer was also measured in Elwis-S and resulted to be 31.2kPa+ / -1.75kPa. The CV40 of the second porous fibrous layer according to the invention (corresponding to IN2) was measured according to the 1303386:1986 and resulted to be about 8.75kPa + / - 1.05kPa. The dynamic Young’s modulus of the same layer was also measured in Elwis-S and resulted to be 37.85kPa+ / -2.68kPa. The values indicated for the CV40 and for the dynamic Young’s modulus correspond to an average over 3 samples, while the dispersion corresponds to the standard deviation.

[0119] As one can see from these values, the porous fibrous layers according to the invention allow achieving a very good combination of high resilience and low dynamic Young’s modulus.

[0120] For comparative purposes, the CV40 of the above-described PU-foam prior-art layer (corresponding to PA-FO1) was measured and turned out to be only 3.71kPa + / - 0.08kPa, thus much lower than that of the porous fibrous layers according to the invention. This is a clear indication that, in order to obtain a comparable dynamic stiffness with a PU-foam decoupler, it is necessary to compromise on the resilience of the PU-foam.

[0121]

[0122] Third comparative example PA-FO2

[0123] For further confirmation, a third prior-art sound-insulating trim part was realized, using a second PU-foam layer produced in the same way as the first one, but increasing the mixing ratio to 0.6. It is known that an increase in the mixing ratio generally leads to an increase in the resilience properties of a PU-foam. The CV40 of this second PU-foam layer was measured and it resulted to be 8.57kPa + / - 0.36kPa, thuscomparable to that of the porous fibrous layers according to the invention (i.e., those corresponding to INI and I N2).

[0124]

[0125] Comparative example PA-VOF

[0126] To analyze the effect of a preferential orientation in the fibers approximately in the thickness direction, a porous fibrous layer in the form of a flat panel with thickness approximately 20mm and obtained by compression molding a vertically lapped fibrous web was considered and pictures were taken in the same way as described above for the porous fibrous layers according to the invention. These are shown in Figures 6A-C. The FODs calculated from these images are shown in Figure 6 and, b, they show a very evident and narrow peak, much narrower than that shown by the FODs in Figure 7. The Fiber Orientation Scattering for images 9a to 9c was calculated and both the pictures and the measured data show a clear preferential orientation with a FOS between approximately 14degrees and 15degrees, as shown in figure 6, table 2.

[0127] The CV40 and the dynamic Young’s modulus of the vertically lapped porous fibrous layer (PA-VOF) were measured and resulted to be respectively lO.OlkPa + / - 0.41kPa and 60kPa + / - 5.1kPa. This indicates that, by using fibers with a clear preferential orientation approximately in the thickness direction, a high resilience can actually be obtained, however at the price of a very substantial increase in the dynamic Young’s modulus. In fact, the CV40 of the vertically oriented porous fibrous layer PA-VOF is about 20% higher than that of the porous fibrous layers according to the invention, while its dynamic Young’s modulus is more than 50% higher than that of the porous fibrous layers according to the invention.

Claims

ClaimsClaim 1. Automotive trim component for a passenger vehicle or a light or heavy duty truck comprising a porous fibrous layer, characterized in that the porous fibrous layer comprises at least one area such that the Fibers Orientation Scattering at any location comprised in that area is greater than 15 degrees, preferably greater than 25degrees, wherein the Fibers Orientation Scattering at a location on the porous fibrous layer is obtained as follows:- a square sample of the porous fibrous layer around the location is cut, wherein the size of the sample is substantially smaller than that of the porous fibrous layer and the orientation of the fibers within the sample is substantially homogeneous;- at least three magnified images are taken from each side face of the sample, wherein the magnification factor is suitable for the resolution of the individual fibers;- for each image, the corresponding Fibers Orientation Scattering is calculated using image-processing techniques such as those based on Fourier component analysis;- for each side face, the Fibers Orientation Scattering values obtained from images taken from that face are averaged;- the minimum of the Fibers Orientation Scattering values so obtained for the side faces is taken.Claim 2. Automotive trim part according to claim 1, characterized in that said area is at least 10% of the total area of the porous fibrous layer, preferably at least 20%, more preferably at least 30%.Claim 3. Automotive sound-insulating trim component according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that the porous fibrous layer is obtained by compression molding a flat semi-finished layer obtained from a webforming process and featuring a Machine Direction aligned with the direction in which the semi-finished layer is produced in the web-forming process and a Cross Direction, which is normal to the Machine Direction in the plane of the flat semi-finished layer.Claim 4. Automotive trim component according to claim 3, wherein the semifinished layer comprises at least one area such that the Fibers OrientationScattering at any location comprised in that area is greater than 15 degrees, more preferably greater than 25degrees, wherein the Fibers Orientation Scattering at a location on the semi-finished layer is obtained as follows:- a square sample of the semi-finished layer around the location is cut, wherein the sides of the sample are aligned with the Machine and the Cross Directions and wherein the size of the sample is substantially smaller than that of the semi-finished layer and the orientation of the fibers within the sample is substantially homogeneous;- at least three magnified images are taken from each side face of the sample, wherein the magnification factor is suitable for the resolution of the individual fibers;- for each image, the corresponding Fibers Orientation Scattering is calculated using image-processing techniques such as those based on Fourier component analysis;- for each side face, in particular for the side faces aligned with the Machine Direction, the Fibers Orientation Scattering values obtained from images taken from that face are averaged;- the minimum of the Fibers Orientation Scattering values so obtained for the side faces is taken.Claim 5. Automotive trim part according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the porous fibrous layer has a value of CV40 measured according to ISO3386: 1986 of at least 4kPa, preferably at least 6kPa, more preferably at least 8kPa.Claim 6. Automotive trim part according to any of the preceding claims characterized in that the dynamic Young’s modulus of the porous fibrous layer is lower than 80kPa, preferably lower than 55kPa, even more preferably lower than 40kPa.Claim 7. Automotive trim part according to any of the preceding claims, whereby the Damping Loss Factor of the porous fibrous layer is equal to or higher than 0.15.Claim 8. Automotive trim part according to any of the preceding claims, whereby the Air Flow Resistivity of the porous fibrous layer is lower than 7500Ns / m4.Claim 9. Automotive trim part according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the area weight of the porous fibrous layer is between 400g / m2and 3000g / m2, preferably between 600g / m2and 2000g / m2, more preferably between 800g / m2and 1600g / m2.Claim 10. Automotive trim part according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the thickness of the porous fibrous layer is between 1mm and 80mm, preferably between 3mm and 40mm, more preferably between 5mm and 30mm.Claim 11. Automotive trim part according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the porous fibrous layer comprises natural fibers such as cotton, wool, flax, hemp, bamboo, sisal, jute, abaca and / or synthetic fibers such as polypropylene fibers, polyethylene fibers, polyester fibers, in particular polyethylene-terephthalate (PET) fibers, polylactic acid (PLA) fibers and polyamide (PA) fibers, in particular polyamide 6 or polyamide 6.6 fibers and / or mineral fibers such as glass fibers or ceramic fibers.Claim 12. Automotive trim part according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising at least one of a mass layer, decorative layer, tufted or needlepunched carpet, needlepunch nonwoven layer, thermoplastic olefin based layer, injection moulded plastic layer, composite panel, a rigid board structure, like cardboard, corrugated board, honeycomb board.Claim 13. Automotive trim part according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the part comprises a mass layer with an area weight between 500g / m2and 10000g / m2, preferably between 1500g / m2and 5000g / m2, more preferably 2000g / m2and 3500g / m2.Claim 14. Use of the automotive trim part according to any of the preceding claims as or in an interior or exterior part for a passenger vehicle, light or heavy truck, in particularly as or in one of a flooring part, a cladding part, an inner or outer dash, an engine trim part, a battery trim part, or trunk trim part or a trunk flooring part, wall panel, bunkbed trim or panel part, chairseat backrest backpanel, gap filling trim part, like in pillar beams, mechanical stiffening part or layer, for instance within flooring parts.

Images