Research on Improving the Accuracy of Material Cards for Simulating the Deployment of Plastic Covers of Automotive Airbags. With the growing global attention to the environment and energy consumption, polymer materials including composite materials, engineering plastics, and rubber have been increasingly applied in automotive lightweight design due to their high strength-to-weight ratio.

Although polymer materials have only a history of over a hundred years since their advent, their rapid development and wide range of applications have made them one of the four basic materials of modern society, alongside steel, wood, and cement. Compared with other materials, polymer materials possess excellent molding and processing properties as well as mechanical strength, which are closely related to their special structure, molecular weight, and degree of molecular weight variation (molecular weight distribution).

The failure of general plastic-encapsulated devices can be divided into early failure and in-service failure. The former is mostly caused by quality defects resulting from design or process errors, which can be identified through routine electrical performance testing and screening. The latter is induced by potential defects of the devices; the behavior of these potential defects is related to time and stress. Experience has shown that failures caused by moisture absorption, corrosion, mechanical stress, electrical overstress (EOS), and electrostatic discharge (ESD) dominate.

The development of offshore and onshore low-wind-speed wind power has driven the rapid increase in the length and root diameter of wind turbine blades, accompanied by the emergence of crazing issues in the infusion process of ultra-large blade roots.

The long-term service reliability of structural materials and components in high-temperature environments is one of the core challenges in the design of high-end equipment such as aerospace and energy power systems. Among them, creep—a phenomenon where materials undergo continuous deformation over time under constant stress and high temperature—is the key mechanical behavior that limits their service life and safety.

Applying coating treatment on product surfaces can not only significantly improve product appearance, enhance their artistry and aesthetics, but also increase the wear resistance and corrosion resistance of product surfaces, thereby playing a role in protecting products. Therefore, coating has become an essential surface treatment process in modern product manufacturing industry. The adhesion of coatings on products or substrates is a key parameter for coating quality control, which has a significant impact on ensuring coating quality, product appearance and service life.

Nowadays, consumers' pursuit of electronic products has gone beyond mere functionality, shifting toward more extreme aesthetic experiences and more reliable usage quality. Devices such as ultra-thin laptops, tablets, and smartphones not only need to be lightweight and portable but also robust and durable.

Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), commonly referred to as transmission electron microscopy, projects an accelerated and focused electron beam onto an extremely thin sample. Electrons collide with atoms in the sample and change direction, resulting in solid-angle scattering. The magnitude of the scattering angle is related to the density and thickness of the sample, thus forming images with varying brightness. These images are displayed on imaging devices (such as fluorescent screens, photographic films, and charge-coupled devices) after magnification and focusing. Due to the extremely short de Broglie wavelength of electrons, the resolution of transmission electron microscopes is much higher than that of optical microscopes, reaching 0.1–0.2 nm with a magnification range of tens of thousands to millions of times. Therefore, transmission electron microscopes can be used to observe the fine structure of samples, even the structure of a single row of atoms—tens of thousands of times smaller than the smallest structures observable by optical microscopes.

Polycarbonate (PC) is a commonly used engineering plastic with excellent mechanical and chemical properties. During processing, storage, and application, PC comes into contact with air, and the external environment can easily affect its structure and performance, leading to varying degrees of aging of the material, which impairs its properties and service life.

The interior of an automobile is a complex environment constructed from a variety of materials, including leather, plastics, fabrics, adhesives, shock absorption and sound insulation materials, etc. During the processing and usage stages, these materials continuously emit hundreds of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs). Collectively, these substances form what we perceive as the "in-vehicle odor".

Company A reported to our center that it had commissioned a third-party testing institution to conduct a tensile strength test on PA6 material. The result showed it was qualified (≥140MPa), but the internal test result of Company A was unqualified (125-135MPa). Due to the significant difference between the test results, Company A commissioned the Analysis and Testing Center of NERC-APM to conduct a root cause analysis of this abnormal situation.

After approximately a century of development, a variety of light sources are available for laboratory use, including enclosed carbon arc lamps, sunlight-type carbon arc lamps, fluorescent ultraviolet lamps, xenon arc lamps, metal halide lamps, and high-pressure mercury lamps. The technical committees related to polymeric materials under the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) mainly recommend three types of light sources: sunlight-type carbon arc lamps, fluorescent ultraviolet lamps, and xenon arc lamps.