Car Materials and Its Processing

Latest Advanced Technology and Tasks in Automobile Engineering

Seminar 3: Car Materials and its Processing

Jenna M. Eason

 

Choose the impressive metal forming process or materials in the lecture and describe it in detail.

Carbon fiber is the current ideal material for many automotive components.  Carbon fiber is extremely strong because of microscopic bonding of carbon atoms.  The fibers that make up a strand of carbon fiber are extremely thin (0.005-0.010 mm in diameter) and are aligned along a relatively parallel axis [1].  Twisting these fibers results in a yarn that is incredibly strong, small, and lightweight.  Theses yarns may be processed into materials in the same processes as most other textile yarns.  Weaving and 3D Weaving are becoming the most common means of manufacture.

Carbon fiber can be combined with a plastic resin and wound or molded to form composite materials such as carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP).  This is the technology briefly discussed in Wednesday’s lecture.  This provides for a very high strength-to-weight ratio material.  The density of carbon fiber is also considerably lower than the density of steel, making it ideal for applications requiring low weight (such as automotive).  The properties of carbon fiber such as high tensile strength, low weight, and low thermal expansion make it a very ideal choice for transportation vehicles. [1] The downside to this technology is very high costs, which results in low usage for production vehicles. 

 Carbon fiber reinforced plastic is used extensively in high-end automobile racing.  The high cost of carbon fiber is mitigated by the material’s unsurpassed strength-to-weight ratio, and low weight is essential for high-performance automobile racing.  Racecar manufacturers have also developed methods to give carbon fiber pieces strength in a certain direction, making it strong in a load-bearing direction, but weak in directions where little or no load would be placed on the member.  Conversely, manufacturers developed omnidirectional carbon fiber weaves that apply strength in all directions [1].  Much of this research is being conducted at my home college: the North Carolina State University College of Textiles.

Currently, CFRP are being used in aerospace applications, sailboats, lightweight bicycles and motorcycles.  They are also used in many non-transportation good including fishing rods, computers, and guitar strings.   All at a high price tag.  Much research is being conducted to lower the costs of carbon fiber composites by combining recycled materials to the raw resources, but there is still much to be discovered so that this technology can be widely applied in order to lower emissions and improve performance.

 

Sources

(1) www.Wikipedia.com