FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a vehicular engine room manufacturing method, and more particularly to a method for manufacturing a vehicular engine room that has excellent heat-resistance and sound-absorption characteristics, and then scraps generated during the manufacturing process can be recycled.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Extraneous noises, for example friction sound between tire and ground, sound caused by high temperature and high pressure combustion gas flow in exhaust system, engine penetration sound which is generated in an engine and transferred to through autobody or air and so on are introduced through various paths into an inside of the vehicle on driving, which is an element hindering the quietness of the vehicle.

Generally, an engine cover or a hood insulator is used for suppressing the engine penetration sound or noise among the extraneous noises, but these alone have limitations in reducing engine penetration noise to a desired level.

The engine room is arranged in front of the vehicle, particularly a passenger car, and in which are gathered main devices being power sources of automobiles, such as an engine, a transmission, a cooling device, a generator and the like. The upper part of the engine room is equipped with a bonnet installed for opening and closing, which serves as a cover to protect the above main devices

Conventionally, in order to reduce the noise generated in the engine room, an engine room has been manufactured using various materials such as carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) by performing complex processes. More specifically, for example, a carbon fiber is prepared in a unidirectional (UD) or fabric form, then impregnated with a resin such as an epoxy resin, and a resin-impregnated carbon fiber is laminated to produce a material for an engine room. The material for the engine room is molded into a desired shape and then trimmed to the engine room using carbon fiber reinforced plastic. In such a case, since complicated and many processes must be performed, a large amount of loss is generated in the carbon fiber-reinforced plastic during the above process, and the scrap generated during the above process cannot be recycled, mostly dumped (discarded).

Further, due to the characteristics of the engine room, when the vehicle is driving, that is, when the engine is operating, not only high temperature heat but also large amounts of noise and vibration are generated.

Therefore, it is required to develop a material having excellent heat-resistance and sound-absorption characteristics as well as being able to recycle scrap generated in the production of engine room using carbon fiber reinforced plastic.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing a vehicular engine room in which scraps generated during the manufacturing process can be recycled.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing a vehicular engine room that has more excellent heat-resistance and sound-absorption characteristics and is lighter than the conventional.

In order to achieve these objects, the present invention provides a method for manufacturing a vehicular engine room, comprising the steps of: carding a thermoplastic fiber and a carbon fiber having a length of 10 to 150 mm and needle-punching the same, thereby forming a felt layer; applying heat and pressure to the felt layer, thereby forming a felt board; and applying heat to the felt board and molding the same, thereby forming a desired shape.

The method for manufacturing the vehicular engine room according to the present invention enables recycling the scraps generated in process of engine room manufacturing. Also, according to the present method, the engine room has excellent heat-resistance and sound-absorption characteristics and can shield an electromagnetic wave generated in engine room. In addition, the method for manufacturing a vehicular engine room according to present invention has some advantages that it is relatively simple manufacturing process and has a low manufacturing cost.

