Implementation and assessment

of BS EN ISO 9001–2000

Quality assurance personnel, line managers and

supervisors will be required to document their quality

systems and practices into manuals and procedures

to comply with BS EN ISO 9001–2000.

Within the standard, the following areas are

addressed through an organized approach to the task:

Background on documenting a system

Consideration of all the elements

Understanding the written task

Support base necessary

Controls on procedures

Getting everyone involved

Contents of procedures.

The bodyshop’s company programme should

include:

Quality policy manual

Quality procedures manual

Workshop procedures manual

Welding test procedures manual.

BS EN ISO 9001–2000 also supplies the basic management

controls upon which the business can build

a documented management system, allowing recognition

and acceptance by a wider number of people

within the vehicle industry and by those wishing to

either supply or purchase from the company.

To meet the requirements of BS EN ISO

9001–2000, the business must ensure that complete

controls exist for such areas as workshop loading and

receiving customer orders. Systems must also be in

place to show that if faults do occur, positive actions

are taken to ensure that they do not occur again.

Those who have already met the requirements

of BS EN ISO 9001–2000 and passed assessment

by BSI Quality Assurance agree that a considerable

effort is required. However, the real benefits in

efficiency and staff morale have made it worthwhile.

BS EN ISO 9001–2000 is about the maintenance

of systems which work to ensure the provision of a

documented quality service. The procedures manual

is the starting point for this:

1 Are you doing what your manual says you

should do?

2 Can you prove that your procedures are correct?

3 Are your staff trained professionals who take

quality seriously?

The BSI needs evidence and history,and so the

assessors look at all the paperwork in the relevant

departments to search for major or minor nonconformances.

A minor non-conformance would be

a small error which would be acceptable in isolation.

A major non-conformance would be an error

with possible adverse effect on quality. The assessors

are looking for a system that will identify problems

at an early stage and take action to solve them.

15.7.5 What help do consultants offer?

Consultants offer a support and advisory service

to companies pursuing BS 5750 or looking to

implement a quality improvement programme.

This includes:

1 Consultancy support to develop company action

plans and the production of quality manuals

including standard operating procedures, policy

statements and all other mandatory documentation

required by the BSI.

2 Help with implementation, including training for

management and staff, production of company

literature, contact with suppliers and customers.

3 Support for the company and liaison with the

BSI and/or independent assessors and certification

bodies.

4 Advice on the maintenance of the system once

it is installed.

5 Estimate of cost including running costs.

Questions

1 Explain the role of a bodyshop planning

consultant in the planning of a new workshop.

2 Explain the importance of the choice of site in

locating a new workshop.

3 State the legal requirements necessary when

building a new workshop.

4 Define the following abbreviations: COSHH,

HASAWA, EPA.

5 Explain the importance of entrances, roof supports

and floor space when planning a workshop.

6 List the necessary areas to be considered for

inclusion in a new workshop.

7 Give reasons for the difference in floor areas

between a panel bay and a bay with a static jig.

8 Discuss the importance of the reception area as

part of the workshop.

Bodyshop planning 531

9 Why should a new workshop have a separate

vehicle assessment area?

10 What are the four types of heating system that

could be used in workshops?

11 Explain why bodyshop lighting plays a crucial role

in the repair and final finish of a vehicle.

12 Make a list of the essential equipment needed for

the stripping, repairing and painting areas.

13 Make a list of hand tools, power tools and

safety equipment needed in a workshop.

14 Explain the importance of dust and fume

extraction systems.

15 Name five of the main health and safety

legislation Acts which affect the workshop.

16 Discuss volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and

their effect on the environment.

17 Which Act applies to waste management?

18 Explain the importance of the Personal

Protective Equipment (PPE) at Work

Regulations 1992.

19 Explain what is meant by the Manual Handling

Operation Regulations 1992.

20 Explain the term BS EN ISO 9001–2000 and its

relevance to bodyshops.

Reinforced

composite

materials

16.1 Development of reinforced composite

materials

Glass fibres have been known in one form or another

since 1500 BC, and some glass fabrics have been produced

as far back as the beginning of the eighteenth

century, but all of these were far too coarse to be of

any industrial value. During the late 1930s glass fibre

became available on a commercial scale and of a

quality and smallness of diameter which enabled it

to be manufactured into textile products. This was

due to the development of the continuous filament

process. It was soon apparent that the fibres made by

this new process had many desirable properties such

as strength, smallness of diameter, high elasticity,

and the ability to withstand high temperatures.

Early attempts to use glass fibre as a reinforcement

were disappointing. The resin then being used

required high moulding pressures and this led to a

crushing of the fibres with a resulting loss in

strength. During the early 1940s an entirely new

group of resins was introduced; these were known as

contact resins as they could be used without pressure.

Of the contact resins the polyesters are

undoubtedly the best known, and they are the most

widely used resins in the preparation of glass reinforced

laminates because of their combination of low

cost and ability to be moulded without pressure, and

because their conditions of use fitted into normal

workshop practice. With glass fibre as a reinforcement

they could be used by relatively unskilled

labour to produce strong, lightweight structures in

complicated shapes which would be either too

expensive to produce by panel beating or too complicated

for pressing. The glass fibre reinforced plastic,

having characteristics of high strength, low weight,

resistance to corrosion, good electrical properties and

design flexibility, together with its suitability for a

wider range of moulding methods, has resulted in a

rapid growth of its use. A big advantage was the low

tooling cost needed for limited production.

In the automobile field the availability of resins

of various types and an extensive range of reinforcing

materials has widened the scope of the designer.

Increased production of polyester, although small

compared with many other resins, has permitted

raw material costs to be reduced sufficiently to

make the polyester/glass combination competitive

with traditional materials for the manufacture of

many components.

Although glass reinforced laminates are characterized

by high strength/weight ratio, it is well known

that they do not offer the same flexural strength as

steel and aluminium. Thus for bodywork the successful

application of the materials is largely dependent

upon careful design and a full understanding of

their properties. To the body designer one of the

most outstanding characteristics of these materials is

the ease with which complex curves can be produced

as compared with methods of panel beating and

wheeling, while from a production point of view the

fact that complex structures can be produced as onepiece

mouldings can greatly reduce assembly time

and the need for complicated assembly fixtures.

Although this system would appear advantageous

by reducing the large number of assembly operations

required for building a steel body, it must be

realized that in the layout of a steel body plant little

or no allowance is made for processing time and

that the speed of production is determined only by

the time required for handling and transporting panels

from one stage to the next. When time has to be

allowed for curing, and with resins this may be considerable,

production speed is greatly reduced and

the floor area requirements may make the use of

these materials prohibitive for quantity production.

The last few years have seen a rapidly increasing

acceptance of the material as an ideal alternative to

steel in the motor industry. Use of glass fibre as a

replacement for steel in body panels is economically

possible at comparatively low volume levels,

say 1000 vehicles a year. The reason is that, unlike

steel bodies, glass fibre panels do not require a

large investment in presses and dyes, and the

moulds to produce the panels, as well as the jigs

and fixtures to manufacture the vehicle, can also

largely be produced from glass fibre.

From the manufacturer’s viewpoint, glass fibre

production means low tooling costs, comparatively

small initial investment, flexibility of design, and

strength with lightness (Table 16.1). The user benefits

by the complete resistance of glass fibre vehicles

to corrosion, their sturdiness in a collision, and

ease of repair.

16.2 Basic principles of reinforced

composite materials

The basic principle involved in reinforced plastic

production is the combination of polyester resin

and reinforcing fibres to form a solid structure

(Figure 16.1). Glass reinforced plastics are essentially

a family of structural materials which utilize

a very wide range of thermoplastic and thermosetting

resins. The incorporation of glass fibres in the

resins changes them from relatively low-strength,

brittle materials into strong and resilient structural

materials. In many ways glass fibre reinforced

plastic can be compared to concrete, with the glass

fibres performing the same function as the steel

reinforcement and the resin matrix acting as the

concrete. Glass fibres have high strength and high

modulus, and the resin has low strength and low

modulus. Despite this the resin has the important

task of transferring the stress from fibre to fibre,

so enabling the glass fibre to develop its full

strength.

Polyester resins are supplied as viscous liquids

which solidify when the actuating agents, in the

form of a catalyst and accelerator, are added. The

proportions of this mixture, together with the

existing workshop conditions, dictate whether it is

cured at room temperature or at higher temperatures

and also the length of time needed for curing.

In common practice pre-accelerated resins are

used, requiring only the addition of a catalyst to

affect the cure at room temperature. Glass reinforcements

are supplied in a number of forms,

including chopped strand mats, needled mats,

bidirectional materials such as woven rovings and

glass fabrics, and rovings which are used for

chopping into random lengths or as high-strength

directional reinforcement. Other materials needed

Reinforced composite materials 533

Table 16.1Advantages of reinforced composite plastics (Owens-Corning Fiberglas)

Compared with Compared with Compared with

laminated injection moulded injection moulded

Compared with metals thermoplastics thermoplastics thermosets Compared with wood

1 Higher strength 1 Greater scope in 1 Far higher strength 1 Far higher strength 1 Much higher strength

weight ratio mouldable shapes 2 Improved 2 Ability to be formed 2 Greatly increased

2 Easier and cheaper 2 Higher strength dimensional stability into thin flat sections strength/weight ratio

manufacture of 3 Comparable or 3 Higher temperature or panels 3 Improved

complex shapes better electrical resistance dimensional stability

3 Good corrosion properties 4 Better weathering

resistance properties

4 Ability to incorporate 5 Higher water

self colours resistance

6 Ease of fabricating

complete structures

534Repair of Vehicle Bodies

are the releasing agent, filler and pigment concentrates

for the colouring of glass fibre reinforced

plastic.

Among the methods of production, the most

used method is that of contact moulding, or the wet

laying-up technique as it is sometimes called. The

mould itself can be made of any material which

will remain rigid during the application of the resin

and glass fibre, which will not be attacked by the

chemicals involved, and which will also allow easy

removal after the resin has set hard. Those in common

use are wood, plaster, sheet metal and glass

fibre itself, or a combination of these materials.

The quality of the surface of the completed moulding

will depend entirely upon the surface finish of

the mould from which it is made. When the mould

is ready the releasing agent is applied, followed by

a thin coat of resin to form a gel coat. To this a fine

surfacing tissue of fibre glass is often applied.

Further resin is applied, usually by brush, and carefully

cut-out pieces of mat or woven cloth are laid

in position. The use of split washer rollers removes

the air and compresses the glass fibres into the

resin. Layers of resin and glass fibres are added

until the required thickness is achieved. Curing

takes place at room temperature but heat can be

applied to speed up the curing time. Once the catalyst

has caused the resin to set hard, the moulding

can be taken from the mould.

16.3 Manufacture of reinforced composite

materials

When glass is drawn into fine filaments its strength

greatly increases over that of bulk glass. Glass

fibre is one of the strongest of all materials. The

ultimate tensile strength of a single glass filament

(diameter 9–15 micrometres) is about 3447000

kN/m2. It is made from readily available raw materials,

and is non-combustible and chemically resistant.

Glass fibre is therefore the ideal reinforcing

material for plastics. In Great Britain the type of

glass which is principally used for glass fibre manufacture

is E glass, which contains less than 1 per cent

alkali borosilicate glass. E glass is essential for

electrical applications and it is desirable to use

this material where good weathering and water

resistance properties are required. Therefore it is

greatly used in the manufacture of composite vehicle

body shells, both for private and for commercial

vehicles.

Basically the glass is manufactured from sand or

silica and the process by which it is made proceeds

through the following stages:

1 Initially the raw materials, including sand,

china clay and limestone, are mixed together as

powders in the desired proportions.

2 The ‘glass powder’, or frit as it is termed, is

then fed into a continuous melt furnace or

tank.

3 The molten glass flows out of the furnace

through a forehearth to a series of fiberizing

units usually referred to as bushings, each containing

several hundreds of fine holes. As the

glass flows out of the bushings under gravity it

is attenuated at high speed.

After fiberizing the filaments are coated with a

chemical treatment usually referred to as a forming

size. The filaments are then drawn together to form

a strand which is wound on a removable sleeve on

a high-speed winding head (Figure 16.2). The

basic packages are usually referred to as cakes and

Figure 16.1Flow chart showing the principles of reinforced composite materials

Reinforced composite materials 535

form the basic glass fibre which, after drying, is

processed into the various reinforcement products

(Figure 16.3). Most reinforcement materials are

manufactured from continuous filaments ranging

in fibre diameter from 5 to 13 micrometres. The

fibres are made into strands by the use of size. In

the case of strands which are subsequently twisted

into weaving yarns, the size lubricates the filaments

as well as acting as an adhesive. These textile

sizes are generally removed by heat or solvents

and replaced by a chemical finish before being

used with polyester resins. For strands which are

not processed into yarns it is usual to apply sizes

which are compatible with moulding resins.

Glass reinforcements are supplied in a number of

forms, including chopped strand mats, needled

mats, bidirectional materials such as woven rovings

and glass fabrics, and rovings which are used for

chopping into random lengths or as high-strength

directional reinforcements (Figures 16.4–16.7).

Figure 16.2Manufacture of glass fibre. The story

starts with molten glass, heated in a modern

furnace. As it is pulled through tiny holes, that liquid

mass is transformed into fibres smaller in diameter

than a human hair. These fine fibres are then

assembled into textile yarn, or into reinforcement

products, including glass fibre roving, mat, chopped

strands, glass web and milled fibres material

(Owens-Corning Fiberglas)

Figure 16.3Derivation of glass fibre reinforcement

Figure 16.4Manufacture of rovings. Rovings

can be supplied to suit a variety of processes,

including projection moulding, continuous

laminating, filament winding, pultrusion and as

reinforcement for sheet moulding compound. These

rovings consist of continuous glass strands,

gathered together without any mechanical twist and

wound to form a tubular, cylindrical package

(Owens-Corning Fiberglas)

536Repair of Vehicle Bodies

Figure 16.6Manufacture of chopped strands.

Chopped strands are widely used to reinforce thermoplastic

compound (GRTP), polyester bulk moulding

compounds (BMC) and in the manufacture of wet-laid

glass webs. Chopped strands consist of continuous

glass strands chopped to a desired length and are

available with a wide veriety of surface treatments to

ensure compatibility with most resin systems. They

are generally solvent and heat resistant and offer

excellent flow properties (Owens-Corning Fiberglas)

Figure 16.5Manufacture of mats. Glass fibre mats

are used as resin reinforcement in contact and

compression moulded applications. Chopped strand

mats, made from fine chopped glass strands bonded

with a powder of emulsion binder, are used in both

areas (Owens-Corning Fiberglas)

Figure 16.7Manufacture of yarn (Owens-Corning

Fiberglas)

16.4 Types of reinforcing material

Woven fabrics

Glass fibre fabrics are available in a wide range of

weaves and weights. Lightweight fabrics produce

laminates with higher tensile strength and modulus

than heavy fabrics of a similar weave. The

type of weave will also influence the strength

(due, in part, to the amount of crimp in the fabric),

and usually satin weave fabrics, which have little

crimp, give stronger laminates than plain weaves

which have a higher crimp. Satin weaves also

drape more easily and are quicker to impregnate.

Besides fabrics made from twisted yarns, it is

now the practice to use woven fabrics manufactured

from rovings. These fabrics are cheaper to

produce and can be much heavier in weight

(Figure 16.8).

Chopped strand mat

Chopped strand glass mat (CSM) is the most

widely used form of reinforcement. It is suitable

for moulding the most complex forms. The

strength of laminates made from chopped strand

mat is less than that with woven fabrics, since the

Reinforced composite materials 537

glass content which can be achieved is considerably

lower. The laminates have similar strengths in

all directions because the fibres are random in orientation.

Chopped strand mat consists of randomly

distributed strands of glass about 50 mm long

which are bonded together with a variety of adhesives.

The type of binder or adhesive will produce

differing moulding characteristics and will tend to

make one mat more suitable than another for specific

applications.

Needle mat

This is machanically bound together and the need

for an adhesive binder is eliminated. This mat has a

high resin pick-up owing to its bulk, and cannot be

used satisfactorily in moulding methods where no

pressure is applied. It is used for press moulding

and various low-pressure techniques such as pressure

injection, vacuum and pressure bag.

Rovings

These are formed by grouping untwisted strands

together and winding them on a ‘cheese’. They are

used for chopping applications to replace mats

either in contact moulding (spray-up), or translucent

sheet manufacture of press moulding (preform).

Special grades of roving are available for

each of these different chopping applications.

Rovings are also used for weaving, for filament

winding and for pultrusion processes. Special forms

are available to suit these processes (Figure 16.9).

Chopped strands

These consist of rovings prechopped into strands

of 6 mm, 13 mm, 25 mm or 50 mm lengths. This

material is used for dough moulding compounds, and

in casting resins to prevent cracking (Figure 16.10).

Staple fibres

These are occasionally used to improve the finish

of mouldings. Two types are normally available, a

compact form for contact moulding and a soft

bulky form for press moulding. These materials are

frequently used to reinforce gel coats. The weathering

properties of translucent sheeting are considerably

improved by the use of surfacing tissue

(Figure 16.11).

Figure 16.9Rovings (Owens-Corning Fiberglas)

Figure 16.8Woven fabric (Scott Bader Co. Ltd )

538Repair of Vehicle Bodies