Automotive Chassis

A car’s chassis connects and supports all the vehicle’s components and systems, from wheels and body to suspension and powertrain. All unsprung masses of a vehicle are part of its chassis, so saving weight is particularly effective  in automotive chassis components when it comes to improving performance, road-holding, comfort and efficiency.

We offer materials for forming, assembly and corrosion protection of automotive body and chassis structure such as cleaners and lubricants for metal forming, casting, forging, and machining processes. Our composite matrix resins are perfect for lightweight carbon and glass-fiber reinforced plastic structures such as springs, leaf springs, and wheels.

Automotive Chassis Material

Our automotive chassis materials offer solutions to a number of chassis applications such as lightweight construction, composite wheels and springs, and corrosion protection of aluminum wheels and lightweight frames. Whatever your application, our chassis material formulas ensure you have the right solutions for your components.

Our composite technology enables highly durable and fatigue resistant lightweighting of unsprung masses. Henkel’s composite matrix resins have aided in the development of lightweight and strong leaf springs and wheels for automotive applications.

Henkel offers solutions and materials for chassis structure for the following areas:

• Wheels and Tires
• Brake System
• Suspension System
• Frames

Wheels and Tires

Wheels and tires are one area of a car where using lightweight materials makes a big difference to the cars overall agility and driving performance. Angular acceleration of rotating masses requires lots of energy, and a spinning wheel offers resistance against changing the plane of rotation, i.e. the direction of its torque vector. Hence, reducing the mass of a wheel not only reduces energy consumption of the vehicle, but also improves its steering response significantly. Road noise is generated by contact between tires and pavements, and the cavity between the tire and the wheel rim acts like a resonating body of a drum, while the wheel transfers the structure borne noise from the tire to the automotive body. Henkels portfolio of LOCTITE^® MAX matrix resins for fiber reinforced composites offers tailor made products for carbon wheels that combine outstandingly high temperature resistance with extraordinary toughness. They allow to reduce the mass of a wheel by about 50% as compared to aluminum wheels, and at the same time, they transfer significantly less structure borne noise, thus reducing the road noise that is transmitted to the passenger compartment. 

Henkel’s tire bonding adhesives can be used to bond a layer of sound-absorbing foam to the inner surface of the tire tread to absorb tire cavity noise. Leading tire manufacturers rely on LOCTITE^® Fix in Tire adhesives for their innovative silent tires. The adhesive can also bond sensors to tires.

The BONDERITE^® light metal pretraetment solutions for aluminum wheels have been developed to deliver excellent corrosion protection at minimum processing cost.

With a wide range of durable, fatigue resistant, and high-quality materials and noise reduction technology, Henkel offers reliable solutions for wheels and tires.

Brake System

As a leader in metal surface treatments, adhesives and sealants, Henkel offers a range of solutions for the following areas: 

• Brake Booster & Master Cylinder
• Brake Caliper
• Brake Disc
• Brake Pad

Suspension System

In automotive suspension applications, minumum installation space and lightweighting are two important factors along with excellent mechanical fatigue strength, modulus, ductility, and resistance to corrosion and liquids such as water and oil. Henkels portfolio of LOCTITE^® MAX matrix resins for fiber reinforced plastics include products designed for leaf springs and coil springs. Henkel’s range of surface treatment, adhesives, sealants, threadlockers and structural foams offers the right solutions for the following components:

• Control arm, wishbone
• Shock absorber
• Anti vibration parts (bushings, mounts)
• Leaf spring
• Coil spring
• Stabilizer
• Bearings

Frames

Our portfolio of materials for automotive chassis structures covers metal forming, surface treatment, coatings, adhesives and sealants for frames. Our impact resistant matrix resins for fiber reinforced plastics help to reduce the weight of  skid plates that protect the bottom of electric vehicles’ batteries from intrusions and mechanical damage.