You are here

Automotive

The acceleration of change in the automotive industry has never been greater. Manufacturers and engineers face an increasing number of demanding challenges in any area of the car - may it be interior or exterior. In addition to that, these challenges also confront the chassis as well as the powertrain. With the initiative Off-Road Challenge Saint-Gobain reacts to the ever-changing automotive industry. Following stringent legislations on car emissions and safety, consumers are choosing to buy more efficient vehicles with fuel conserving engines. Emerging countries are driving worldwide car sales upwards, and consumers here expect the same safety and comfort features found in cars in developed markets. This in turn means that Tier One suppliers have to produce high quality components with global consistency, while balancing costs. Efficiency, safety and comfort have become the three key trends that are driving development in the automotive industry.

Meeting the Needs of Our Automotive Customers

At Saint-Gobain, we are working with OEMs and Tier One suppliers to help them meet the needs of their challenging marketplace. By collaborating on the product designs to meet their specific requirements, we are helping them make production ever more efficient, and their products ever more desirable.

NORGLIDE^® Bearings and RENCOL^® Tolerance Rings are lightweight, high quality, versatile bearings and fasteners. They have low friction values and excellent damping properties to decrease noise and vibration inside a vehicle.

Thanks to Smart Design, they enable weight reduction and bring down fuel consumption without increasing cost. They also come with Long Life built in, by providing constant performance and reducing the risk of corrosion to extend the life of the car.

Throughout many automotive sectors, these maintenance-free and wear-resistant products can handle a range of frictional requirements: axial and radial retention, torque slip, controlled collapse in both axial and linear motion between components, bearing function at lowest coefficient of friction.

Weight, Space & Cost Savings for the Automotive Market

Precision Bearings Provide Weight, Space & Cost Solutions To the Automotive Market

Saint-Gobain helps you design Automotive applications that meet Automotive OEM specifications, minimize space requirements and reduce costs.

Lightweight Gains

Automotive engineers can take advantage of NORGLIDE_® Bearing technology to deliver lightweight systems. Our custom designed composite bearings can make use of lightweight materials such aluminium, and feature an ultra-thin layer of high performance PTFE lining to deliver high-performing bearings with less weight. Today’s automotive engineer’s must look to make gains in every area of a system – NORGLIDE^® Composite Bearings can make large-scale CO₂ savings across a manufacturer’s fleet.

Saving Space

By working engineer-to-engineer, we can deliver components that save space and eliminate additional components whilst making performance gains within your applications. For instance, by using our RENCOL_® Tolerance Rings within an application, plastic sleeves and spring clips can be eliminated saving space and simplifying assembly.

Reducing Costs

By using RENCOL_® Tolerance Rings to reduce the number of individual components that are required in a system, manufacturers can take advantage of reduced assembly costs. Lightweight gains through lighter systems featuring components with advanced materials address increasingly aggressive CO₂ legislation targets and deliver cost savings on fuel for drivers.

Assembly & Fitting Solutions for the Automotive Market

Perfect Fit Benefits for the Automotive Market

Saint-Gobain designs products for Automotive applications that optimise the way components fit together and enable efficient and simplify assembly processes.

Perfect Component Fit

Components do not operate in isolation - automotive applications demand that multiple components sit together perfectly within the system whilst delivering reliable performance. By delivering custom solutions for each of our customers, we can introduce the ideal tolerance compensation into every design to ensure the best possible fit between mating components. This translates into products that are built to last and deliver predictable, robust performance for the end user and enhanced brand reputation.

Optimised Assembly

Improve and simplify your manufacturing process by taking advantage of Saint-Gobain’s in-house engineering expertise. By combining materials in unique and innovative ways, Saint-Gobain engineering solutions can eliminate additional parts in an overall system. By using a custom design approach with ease of assembly front of mind, versatile materials and parts will deliver an optimised and streamlined manufacturing process, saving both time and money at scale.

Noise & Vibration Solutions for the Automotive Market

Polymer Bearings Offer Vibration Solutions for the Automotive Market

By using Saint-Gobain's Automotive application expertise and the unique geometries and structures of our technologies we can help engineers minimise Buzz Squeak and Rattle by addressing the Noise and Vibration characteristics of automotive components with our NORGLIDE^® Polymer Bearings.

Minimising Noise

Noise can be irritating and unpleasant for today’s users. Unwanted vehicle noise – known as Buzz Squeak Rattle (BSR) – adversely affects the driving experience and can reduce the user’s confidence in a brand, particularly as consumer trends increasingly demand a smooth, quiet ride.

In automobiles, multiple systems featuring a large number of small moving parts, noise often seems unavoidable. However, by using advanced materials, engineers can take advantage of technologies that deliver a quieter and more pleasant experience time-after-time, within both interior and exterior vehicle applications.

Reducing Vibration

Vibration is the physical oscillating movement of a body or an object. Within automotive systems with a large number of moving parts, this vibration can create unnecessary noise and discomfort for the user. Vibration also increases wear on assembly.

Saint-Gobain solutions are designed to minimise vibration. Our technologies and solutions reduce wear on components to deliver a long life for systems and provide for smoother, more consistent operations, inspiring consumer confidence over the lifetime of a vehicle.

Friction & Longevity Solutions for the Automotive Market

Maintenance Free Bearings Provide Solutions for the Automotive Market

Saint-Gobain works closely with Automotive design engineers to design solutions which offer consistent controlled friction between mating components to reduce wear and tear and protect against corrosion, vibration and mishandling.

Controlled Friction

Wear and misuse overtime can affect how systems perform, which can eventually lead to malfunction and negatively affect the experience for end user. From Saint-Gobain you can select materials and technologies that deliver controlled friction at very low levels but also at the very high end.

NORGLIDE^® Bearings are designed for applications where low friction is required for easy and smooth movement of components to minimize frictions losses and reduce wear over lifetime.

RENCOL^® Tolerance Rings are designed for applications where high friction is required to allow fixed parts only to move in case of misuse to protect systems to break or lead to malfunction (over-load protection).

Longevity as Standard for Automotive

A car is more than likely the second most expensive investment a person can make, and consumers expect that they are putting their cash into something that will last.

Factors such as corrosion, vibration and mishandling can all shorten the life of automotive applications. Engineers today must build in long life elements into their system, guarding against corrosion which looks unsightly and affects performance and compensate for mishandling by the end user. Saint-Gobain’s NORGLIDE^® Bearings and RENCOL^® Tolerance Rings ensure that engineers can develop systems which maintain their function and perform consistently over time.

Automotive Interior Applications utilizing NORGLIDE & RENCOL Components

Interior

Quieter drive technology and better acoustic shielding decrease noise from outside and make car users more sensitive to interior noise. By dampening structure-borne vibration in automotive interior systems Saint-Gobain helps you deliver a quieter drive. Less vibrating components also reduce wear for a longer life.

Automotive Exterior Applications utilizing NORGLIDE & RENCOL Components

Exterior

We believe hinge operation shouldn’t be affected by exposure to the elements. By developing corrosion-resistant system components Saint-Gobain helps you deliver longer-lasting automotive exterior systems. We can also help to banish noise for a quieter open and close.

Automotive Chassis Applications utilizing NORGLIDE & RENCOL Components

Chassis

Steering should remain as smooth as it feels on the day a vehicle rolls of the production line. Saint-Gobain works with automotive manufacturers to design systems with the perfect steering feel over the life of the vehicle and enable light weight solutions.

Automotive Powertrain Applications utilizing NORGLIDE & RENCOL Components

Powertrain

Efficiency in the automotive powertrain is crucial to meet ever stronger emissions targets. Saint-Gobain provides solutions which help manufacturers optimise the increasingly important ancillary powertrain systems.