Weight reduction has become an increasingly important enabler for fuel economy improvement and emissions reduction. The concurrent use of engine downsizing strategies and the proliferation of turbocharging creates a need for more effective and lightweight thermal management products to protect heat sensitive electronics and materials under the hood.

Federal-Mogul Corporation offers a solution to difficult heat and weight reduction challenges, as well as other engine compartment packaging challenges, with a versatile, lightweight heat shield material called Nimbus GII. The company's innovative heat shield technology provides both high thermal efficiency and high formability for creating complex shapes for custom applications. Nimbus GII also is up to approximately 80 percent lighter than typical steel sandwich heat shields.

Nimbus GII is a distinctive heat shield with a unique construction that interlocks two thin corrugated aluminum sheets, providing high formability and a rigid structure. An insulating air pocket between the two layers increases the inherent high thermal performance of the aluminum. The result is a 15- to 30-percent improvement in thermal protection when compared to a typical sandwich-style heat shield construction. Its corrugation provides high formability by allowing the material to be stretched without tearing and compressed without wrinkling or buckling. This formability enables the heat shield to be designed to cover large and complex areas with a single-piece design where multiple heat shields may have previously been required due to the formability limitations of other materials.  The resulting Nimbus GII shield is a rigid, highly efficient thermal barrier that can be formed and fit into complex, tight environments within and around the engine compartment.

– "Our Nimbus GII heat shield demonstrates Federal-Mogul's deep understanding of and ability to satisfy the broader challenges around engine downsizing and weight reduction," – said Gerard Chochoy, Federal-Mogul's senior vice president of Powertrain Sealing and Bearings. – "We have focused our considerable product and manufacturing expertise on developing technologies that solve customer requirements quickly and translate to improvements in fuel economy and CO2 reduction." – said Chochoy.

– "Nimbus GII is one of the only heat shield materials currently available in the market that offers a significant opportunity for weight savings with high levels of thermal efficiency and formability to allow for the manufacture of complex shapes," – said Jim Zwick, Federal-Mogul's global director of product technology, Gaskets & Heat Shields.

Along with the thermal management and weight reduction benefits of the Nimbus GII technology, there is the inherent corrosion resistance of aluminum, without the need for the coatings required by conventional heat shield material.  This technology also provides a heat shield that is completely recyclable and without the assorted fillers that may be used in other sandwich style-shields.

Nimbus GII heat shields are in production for several major global automakers at Federal-Mogul's manufacturing facilities in Skokie, Illinois; Port Elizabeth, South Africa; Tepotzilan, Mexico and Nanchang, China.