The Plastic automotive engine has its origins in the late 1970s with research and work done by Matthew (Matti) Holtzberg of Polimotor Research and his associates. Since then Holtzberg and others have done steady work in the field.
Holtzberg's early work
Matti Holtzberg first attempted to make polymer pistons for an
Austin Mini
The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...
engine in 1969. The pistons ran for only 20 minutes until failure. Holtzberg remedied this by fitting the pistons with aluminium crowns and he sold these pistons to racing builders during the early 1970s.
Polimotor research
Matti Holtzberg founded Polimotor Research Inc. in 1979. It was based in
Fair Lawn, New Jersey
Fair Lawn is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, and a bedroom suburb located northwest of New York City. As of the 2020 United States Census, the borough’s population was 34,940, which constituted a 7.7% increase from 32, ...
. The company, in cooperation with its suppliers and sponsors, created and raced engines consisting of a large percentage of polymers in the 1980s.
Version One
Version one was based on Ford's
2.3-liter Pinto engine and weighed (vs. for its
cast iron
Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...
counterpart). It was designed to produce at 9200 rpm. It was composed of metal
cylinder sleeves, metal combustion chamber tops, metal piston crowns, bearings, valves and seats, and a stock 2.3L Pinto
crankshaft
A crankshaft is a mechanical component used in a piston engine to convert the reciprocating motion into rotational motion. The crankshaft is a rotating shaft containing one or more crankpins, that are driven by the pistons via the connecting ...
. Nearly everything else in the engine, including the block, rods and piston skirts, were made of glass reinforced
Polyamide-imide thermoplastic
A thermoplastic, or thermosoft plastic, is any plastic polymer material that becomes pliable or moldable at a certain elevated temperature and solidifies upon cooling.
Most thermoplastics have a high molecular weight. The polymer chains associate ...
resins manufactured at the time by
Amoco Chemicals Co.
The engine was never installed in a vehicle.
Although sources claimed that Ford had been a partner in creating the engine,
Holtzberg was later quoted as saying that "Ford was not involved at all".
Version Two
Another engine, supposedly based upon the
Cosworth BDA
Cosworth is a British automotive engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in high-performance internal combustion engines, powertrain, and electronics for auto racing, automobile racing (motorsport) and mainstream Automotiv ...
and
YB series engines, weighed , half the weight of its metal counterpart.
Plastic parts included the engine block, cam cover, air intake trumpets, intake valve stems, piston skirts and wrist pins, connecting rods, oil scraper piston rings, tappets, valve spring retainers and timing gears.
The engine was raced over two seasons. It was raced in a
Lola
Lola may refer to:
Places
* Lolá, a or subdistrict of Panama
* Lola Township, Cherokee County, Kansas, United States
* Lola Prefecture, Guinea
* Lola, Guinea, a town in Lola Prefecture
* Lola Island, in the Solomon Islands
People
* Lola (fo ...
T616 HU04 and competed in the
International Motor Sports Association
The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive direc ...
's (IMSA)
Camel GT Championship in the Camel Lights (Group C2) category in 1984 and 1985. The car earned several top 5 finishes including its best finish of third in class at the 1985
Lime Rock 2 hours.
Holtzberg patents
Throughout the 1980s, Holtzberg was granted 10 patents for composite engine parts and their methods of production. The patents were issued between 1983 and 1988 and are elaborated on in this section.
The first patent issued was for ignition cables, citing prior art for other non-metallic conductive materials and their ability to reduce
RF interference
Electromagnetic interference (EMI), also called radio-frequency interference (RFI) when in the radio frequency spectrum, is a disturbance generated by an external source that affects an electrical circuit by electromagnetic induction, electrosta ...
related problems. These cables consisted of a
graphite
Graphite () is a crystalline form of the element carbon. It consists of stacked layers of graphene. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Synthetic and natural graphite are consumed on large ...
/resin composite conductor strands and a protective
silicone
A silicone or polysiloxane is a polymer made up of siloxane (−R2Si−O−SiR2−, where R = organic group). They are typically colorless oils or rubber-like substances. Silicones are used in sealants, adhesives, lubricants, medicine, cooking ...
sheath. The strands were to be twisted together and drawn through the liquid matrix material, finally being surrounded by the sheath. The two parts would be extruded together to form the cable and ensure a well bound structure of thousands of individual graphite composite filaments.
The majority of patents are for
Polyamide-imide engine components, with the potential for graphite, glass or titanium reinforcement as a composite. The inventions are claimed to have a superior stiffness-to-weight ratio, be up to 70% lighter than traditional parts and reduce vibration and forces within the engine. The composite parts are also claimed to reduce production requirements due to being injection moulded with consequently reduced finishing work.
Although the temperature, time and other process variables differ between parts, the general manufacturing process follows. The component is first
injection moulded
Injection moulding (U.S. spelling: injection molding) is a manufacturing process for producing parts by injecting molten material into a mould, or mold. Injection moulding can be performed with a host of materials mainly including metals (for ...
and allowed to cool past its plastic deformation temperature. It is then post cured by solid state polymerisation at a series of temperature steps. This is performed in an inert atmosphere which helps to expel by-products of reactions until the polymer is chemically stable. During this process the
heat deflection temperature
The heat deflection temperature or heat distortion temperature (HDT, HDTUL, or DTUL) is the temperature at which a polymer or plastic sample deforms under a specified load. This property of a given plastic material is applied in many aspects of pr ...
of the material also increases. The part is now cooled and post-processed. Post processing can take the form of machining, insertion or adhesion of metal parts or a simple cleaning of the part.
Composite Castings LLC
In 1990 Matti Holtzberg founded Composite Castings LLC, based in
West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lagoon. The populati ...
.
By 2011 they had developed a
V4 carbon reinforced epoxy composite engine block with materials supplied by
Toho Tenax
is an international company that supplies customers throughout the world with carbon fiber under the trade name Tenax.
History
Toho Tenax has been a member of the Teijin Group since 2000.
Since May 2018, Toho Tenax was integrated to its sub ...
. The block is claimed by Holtzberg to be up to 50% lighter than an equivalent aluminium model. The blocks are produced to net shape so minimal finishing work is required to make them ready for use. Holtzberg claims that this reduces tooling and production costs by 50% in comparison to die casting.
Fraunhofer and Sumitomo research
In April 2015 the
Fraunhofer group in collaboration with the high performance polymer division of
Sumitomo Bakelite Co announced their development of a single cylinder research engine with a casing made of
injection moulded
Injection moulding (U.S. spelling: injection molding) is a manufacturing process for producing parts by injecting molten material into a mould, or mold. Injection moulding can be performed with a host of materials mainly including metals (for ...
glass fibre
Glass fiber ( or glass fibre) is a material consisting of numerous extremely fine fibers of glass.
Glassmakers throughout history have experimented with glass fibers, but mass manufacture of glass fiber was only made possible with the inventio ...
reinforced
phenolic resin
Phenol formaldehyde resins (PF) or phenolic resins (also infrequently called phenoplasts) are synthetic polymers obtained by the reaction of phenol or substituted phenol with formaldehyde. Used as the basis for Bakelite, PFs were the first commerc ...
(55/45 respective composition). The engine weighs about 20% less than an equivalent of
aluminium
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...
. Their design uses metal inserts in places of high thermal and mechanical stress, for example in the cylinder liner.
The engine was presented at the 2015
Hannover Messe
The Hannover Messe (HM; "Hanover Fair") is one of the world's largest trade fairs, dedicated to the topic of industry development. It is organized by Deutsche Messe AG and held on the Hanover Fairground in Hanover, Germany. Typically, there are ...
.
Solvay revival of Polimotor
In May 2015 it was reported that the Belgian chemical company
Solvay Solvay may refer to:
Companies and organizations
* Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, Brussels, Belgium
* Solvay Conference, founded by Ernest Solvay, deals with open questions in physics and chemistry
* Solvay Indupa, an Argen ...
had shown interest in reviving the concept with assistance from Matti Holtzberg.
The engine is planned to weigh less than and generate over , it is also planned to be turbocharged.
Several components will be replaced with polymer counterparts, these can be seen in the table below.
The engine was planned to be installed in a Norma M-20 chassis and raced at Lime Rock in 2016 and a possible
Le Mans
Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...
entry in 2017.
However this did not materialise.
References
{{Reflist, 2
Gasoline engines
Plastics applications