Difference Between Design Domain of Plastic, BIW & Sheetmetal

These are the very important domain in design industries, which are wider use in automotive industries. There is some difference between the design domain of plastic, BIW & Sheetmetal, and various scop of all these domains.
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What is the Design Domain of Plastic?

The plastic domain comes under a wider range of industries where more sub-domain are existing. The design of plastics is using by surface modeling.
The automotive sector, mold design units, water industries, HAVC and plumbing, electrical and electronics industries are mostly using plastic-designed products.
HDP, LDP, polyurethane, polymer, and industrial-grade plastics are using for the plastic design domain. Nowadays, recyclable plastics are also using for special part design like plastic road design, use in the 3D printer, automotive parts.

Material Use for Plastic domain

• PET: Polyethylene
• HDPE: High-Density Polyethylene
• V: Polyvinyl Chloride is sometimes recycled
• LDPE: Low-Density Polyethylene
• PP: Polypropylene

Scope of  Plastic  Design Domain

Plastic-designed products are generally used for outer parts of the body which help to make a safe core body. It is mostly used in the electrical and electronic component design industry, automobile interior parts, the toy industry, and also in plastic mold design.

What is BIW?

BIW means body in white which deals with the outer part of any vehicle, machine, or parts. BIW is also designed by the sheet metal process but it is the core structure of the body which is completely white in color that is the reason it called the body in white.
It also refers to the body shell design of automotive products such as cars, buses, trucks, etc. But BIW is not dealing with doors, engine, chassis, or any other moving part. BIW is prepared with the help of welding, joints, forming, and fabrication processes.

Material Use for  BIW

• AHSS: Advance high strength steel
• Stainless steel: SS304, SS301, SS304L
• Aluminum: 4004, 5000 series, 6000 series
• ULSAC: Ultralight steel auto covers

Scope of BIW Design Domain

Mostly use in automotive products and assembly designs such as car body structure design, aerospace vehicle design, a vehicle like power-train, drive-line and it encloses, protect the passengers and cargo.

What is Sheetmetal Domain?

Where the metal is formed by an industrial process into thin, flat pieces. And the thickness of the thin sheet is varied between 5mm to 6mm if the sheet is more than 6mm then it will be called plate or structural steel.
Sheet metal is generally available in flat pieces or coiled strip. Most of the design process having sheet metal separate tools in design software so that it will be easy to use a standard design tools for steelmetal work.

Material Use for Sheetmetal

• Stainless steel: SS304, SS316, SS410 & SS430
• Aluminum: 1100-H14, 3003-H14, 5052-H32
• Brass

Scope of Sheetmetal Design Domain

Sheetmetal is mostly using in the automobile industry, electrical and electronics body design, aerospace body design, defense industry, and rail wagon.
Sheetmetal domain has its own empire field where designers can create his bright career with this domain and nowadays most of the core industries are required such kind of people who only have sheet metal design experience.

Which Domain is best for Design Engineer?

Now we know everything about the design domain of plastic, BIW, and sheet metal but now which one is the best for our career perspective.
So as per market analysis, all domains have their own advantages and disadvantages so it depends on person by person. For those who just starting his career in design then they can choose any one of them to depend on his interest if a person having an interest in car body design then they should definitely choose BIW, or if a person having an interest in creative molded product design then they should choose a plastic domain.
And sheet metal domain is for those who want to explore wide design areas because sheet metal is using in automobile, aerospace, electrical component design, HVAC, oil and gas industry, etc.