Lightweight Rear-Seat Shell in Composite Design
The Tepex continuous-fiber-reinforced composites from specialty chemicals company LANXESS is being used in the Audi A8. This sedan is offered with two electrically adjustable individual rear seats, the shells of which have been developed by Faurecia Automotive Seating and are manufactured using the hybrid molding process. The polyamide-6-based Tepex dynalite 102 RG600(2)/47% is used for […]
R.I.P. Beloved Beetle
Your storied history has come to an end. Volkswagen is shutting down your production. You were truly a lightweight car. Your 1955 model weighed a mere 1,600 pounds. Puny next to that year’s Cadillac Coupe de Ville’s 4,610 pounds. You started out as a pet project for Adolf Hitler. He wanted you to be the […]
The Next Industrial Revolution
Advances in Gen3 steel and battery 3-D printing is transforming product development and manufacture. The rate at which new methods of additive manufacturing are coming online is staggering. The number of new materials being developed seemingly grows by the day, and the additive technologies continue to be improved and refined for better speed, resolution and […]
Sales Rising for Light Vehicle Batteries
The global light vehicle batteries market is expected to post a compound annual growth rate of more than 10 percent from 2019 to 2023, according to market-research company Technavio. A key factor in this growth is the declining Li-ion battery prices. Li-ion batteries are the most widely used batteries for light vehicles across the world […]
Lightweighting Fuels Chemical & Materials Market Growth
Automotive lightweighting will boost the global chemicals and materials in the infrastructure and mobility applications sector, business-consulting firm Frost & Sullivan predicts. Other key factors pushing the market will be 3-D printing, digital transformation, circular economy and CO2 as feedstock. Frost & Sullivan expects market growth to be propelled by rapid economic and infrastructure development […]
Observations on Lightweighting at Great Designs in Steel
As a lightweighting consultant in automotive, defense and commercial trucking, I follow the information flow. A great place to do that is at the annual Great Designs in Steel (GDIS). Its focus is on steel and the innovations in material development, processing, applications and vehicle performance. This mid-May event is well-organized and extremely well attended. […]
Reinforcing the Trends in Lightweighting
Adding NVH and crash performance The challenges in vehicle design and assembly are getting bigger. Lightweight construction, increasing requirements for crash safety, cost pressures, design of derivative car models on the same platform, material flexibility and shortened development times are aspects that are often difficult to reconcile. Added to the equation, efforts to reduce mass […]
EIB Invests in Lightweighting
The European Investment Bank (EIB) will finance the innovation strategy of Spanish firm Cikautxo, a specialist in the production of plastic and rubber components for the automotive sector. The company will seek to implement new, more sustainable production processes enabling the development of products for less-polluting vehicles. EIB and Cikautxo are securing a loan from […]
Lightweighting and Greenhouse Gas Emissions
University of Toronto and Ford R&D researchers have determined that lightweighting will be effective in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emission over the next 10 to 20 years. Conventional powertrain vehicles are expected to be dominant during that time. Their study, “A Dynamic Fleet Model of U.S Light-Duty Vehicle Lightweighting and Associated Greenhouse Gas Emissions from […]
New High-Performance Aluminum Extrusion Alloys
Two alloy families generating interest due to unique performance properties. Automakers have relied on aluminum since the industry began. In 1899, a sports car with an aluminum body was introduced at the Berlin International Motor Show. In 1901, Carl Benz designed the first engine with aluminum parts. But it took the metal’s cost to drop […]
