The automotive industry's turnover is now approaching a value of an annual EUR 2 trillion, making it the equivalent of the sixth largest economy in the world. The global composites industry, around 90 % of which is currently glass fibre based, is now worth an estimated EUR 60 billion, and over the past five years, automotive and transportation has grown to become the biggest sector by tonnage. Composites account for 1.5 % of the global materials market which is dominated by steel, wood, plastics and aluminium. For the composites industry, the substitution of other materials with its products is the ultimate goal. Carbon fibre composites have a number of convincing properties in their favour, having high strength and durability, but most significantly, as far as the global automotive industry is concerned, being 50 % lighter than steel. It is known that the weight reduction carbon fibre composites could provide in replacing steel body parts would yield not only lower fuel consumption, but also allow the trucking industry to achieve higher payloads. The lifetime of the vehicle would also be improved due to the fatigue resistance and corrosion-free carbon composite parts. The potential for carbon fibre as a replacement for steel vehicle body parts alone, is simply staggering. If even just 100 kg of new carbon fibre composites were to be employed in the annual 100 million cars projected soon to be built each year, the demand for actual carbon fibre would be 10 million tons, 1.5 million tons more than the global production of carbon fibre which is forecast to be available for 2015, for all sectors.


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    Title :

    Lightweight future. Can carbon fibre composites really eventually replace steel in cars?


    Additional title:

    Die Bedeutung von Kohlenstofffasern für die Automobilindustrie


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Future Materials ; Nov ; 18-19


    Publication date :

    2010


    Size :

    2 Seiten, 3 Bilder



    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Print


    Language :

    English




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