1. India
  2. Automotive
  3. OEM & Tier
  4. Design Challanges
  5. Lightweighting
  6. Lightweight Advanced Materials
OEM & Tier

  • Lightweighting Automotive Parts with 3M™ Glass Bubbles helps improve fuel economy, contributing to sustainability.

  • Create ultra lightweight SMC1.0g/cc density and a weight reduction of up to 40% with 3M Glass Bubbles

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3M™ Glass Bubbles for Automotive Lightweighting

Lightweighting plays an increasingly important role in the automotive industry, as manufacturers seek to improve fuel economy and battery range. 3M™ Glass Bubbles can reduce the density of many interior and exterior automotive components, from pillar trim and central consoles to the hood, fenders, tire tubs and much more – all contributing to a lower overall vehicle weight.

 

The advantages of these high-strength, low-density additives go beyond lightweighting: they also help improve dimensional stability, reduce thermal expansion, and increase surface hardness and abrasion resistance. In addition, 3M glass bubbles contribute to processing improvements, higher throughput and cost savings through resin reduction. 

Lightweighting Applications
  • Injection Molded Parts

    3M offers high strength hollow glass microspheres that can withstand the requirements of the injection-molding process, despite their low density. They can be incorporated into a wide variety of plastics to drive down weight while maintaining desirable physical properties.

  • Sheet Molded Composites (SMC)

    3M glass bubbles reduce the density of standard SMCs/BMCs to below 1.0 g/cc enabling weight reductions of as much as 40%.

  • Seam Sealing & Underbody Coatings

    3M glass bubbles can reduce the weight of underbody coating and seam sealer by up to 50% - contributing to lower overall vehicle weight. 

Customer Applications with Lightweighting with Glass Bubbles

Resources & Literature

Glass Bubbles Lightweighting Videos

Connect With Us

Need help finding the right solution for your automotive project? Contact us via this form if you need product, technical or application advice or want to collaborate with a 3M technical specialist.

Call 1800-425-3030 (Mon-Fri, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM Central Time )

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  • 3M™ Glass Bubbles are intended for industrial applications and manufactured to industrial specifications in conformance with various recognized industrial quality standards. These products are not intended, designed, manufactured or labeled for sale to or use by consumers, or for medical device, food/food supplement/food additive, drug, or cosmetics applications. 3M Advanced Materials Division (3M) will assess the intended use of 3M™ Glass Bubbles and reserves the right not to sample, sell or supply if 3M determines that it is not in a position to support the intended use of 3M™ Glass Bubbles.


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