Advances and applications of metal-polymer hybrid for load-bearing body-in-white structural components: a comprehensive review

Metal-polymer hybrid (MPH) injection molding is an innovative manufacturing process with vast potential in today industries. This article reviews MPH, covering its introduction, applications, significance, and associated challenges. The introduction outlines MPH unique principles distinguishing it from traditional injection molding techniques. Next, the MPH potential in the automotive industry is explored, highlighting its ability to merge high-strength metal components with polymer matrix, resulting in improved structural integrity, decreased weight, reduced gas emissions, and promising cost savings. In addition, the process allows the production of complicated shapes, providing a large design window. Furthermore, its production sustainability potential makes it an interesting alternative for eco-friendly goals. Nevertheless, several technical challenges face MPH process, which have been observed in previous research, such as process parameters, thermal expansion, shrinkage behavior, interfacial adhesion, and manufacturing defects through the molding operation are mentioned thoroughly. Furthermore, considering all the relevant factors, the future scope of study and development has also been evaluated.