A twin-sheet thermoforming process for the manufacture of vehicle
headliners. In the process a first sheet and second sheet of SuperLite
material are mounted onto respective frames. The frames transfer the
sheets into an oven, where they are heated to a desired temperature using
IR. The first sheet is combined with a cover-stock material using
compression molding forming a covered first headliner part. The covered
first headliner part is then transferred to a second mold station. The
second sheet is heated and then transferred from the oven to the second
mold station where it is vacuum-formed on the upper half mold, forming a
second headliner part. The upper and lower mold halves are pressed
together fusing and sealing the first and second headliner parts into a
unified part. The unified part is then unloaded and trimmed as necessary
forming a headliner. The SuperLite material used to form the headliner is
a sheet of low pressure, thermoformable, thermoplastic composite
comprised of polypropylene and long chopped glass fibers.