Tomatoes, old Coke bottles and tiny carbon fibers crafted on giant looms are just a few of the environmentally sustainable materials that OEMs are weaving into automotive production as they continue to invent lighter and stronger components while assisting in preserving the planet.
Set to be completed by early next year and driven by clean hydroelectric power generated from the adjacent Columbia River, BMW and joint-venture partner SGL are embarking upon a $200-million expansion of their carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) plant in Moses Lake, Wash. Capacity will triple, making it the largest such facility in the world. A second CFRP factory is located at BMW’s Innovation Park in the Bavarian town of Wackersdorf, Germany.
“CFRP is a key material for the automotive industry of the 21st century,” says Dr. Klaus Draeger, a board member of BMW’s Purchasing and Supplier Network. “In our endeavor to identify increasingly lightweight materials in order to reduce a vehicle’s weight and thus its fuel consumption and carbon emissions, this material plays a crucial role.”
These products moving onto worldwide assembly lines consist of carbon fibers, carbon fiber fabrics and a non-woven complex.
Andreas Wüllner, who heads SGL’s car-carbon division, describes how “the automotive industry will increasingly turn to CFRP because it is a material of the future.” A single filament, prior to being bundled via an industrial loom, has a diameter equal to one-seventh of a human hair. Each bundle contains 50,000 individual fibers. Weighing in at 40 percent fewer pounds than aluminum and 60 percent lighter than steel, “Its properties also make entirely new vehicle designs possible,” he says.
SGL CEO Dr. Jürgen Köhler explains that “in a mix of materials, CFRP offers new opportunities in lightweight construction for an eco-friendly mobility.”
“Consumers today want better fuel efficiency, but they also want more technology and features in the car, which usually adds weight to the vehicle,” notes Raj Nair, Ford’s group vice president of global product development. “A focus on light-weighting will be fundamental to our industry for years to come, and we are investigating many advanced materials applications as possible solutions for weight reduction in our vehicles.”
In June Ford unveiled its Multi-Material Lightweight Vehicle (MMLV) concept car that applies a variety of innovations to achieve a nearly 25 percent reduction in mass. Co-funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) with research and development provided by Magna International, the project highlights a new aluminum-intensive design that facilitates an extensive use of advanced lightweight and high-strength materials, resulting in environmental and fuel economy benefits without compromising performance or occupant safety, according to Nair.
“Government mandated fuel economy and crash standards are big topics in the automotive industry, and as a supplier we play a significant role partnering with our customers to achieve fuel efficiency goals through lightweight vehicle structures that meet such safety standards,” says Swamy Kotagiri, Magna’s chief technical officer.
“Our goal was to investigate how to design and build a mixed-materials, lightweight vehicle that could potentially be produced in high volume while providing the same level of safety, durability and toughness as our vehicles on the road today,” according to Matt Zaluzec, Ford’s technical leader for global materials and manufacturing research. “There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to light-weighting. The research vehicle gives us the platform to continue to explore the right mix of materials and applications for future vehicles.”
As part of the automaker’s ongoing Blueprint for Sustainability, the 2015 F-150 already sheds weight through high-strength steel and aluminum, “enabling it to tow more, haul more, accelerate quicker and stop shorter – all with improved gas mileage,” Nair points out.
With cellulose fiber-reinforced console components and rice hull-filled electrical cowl brackets introduced in the past year, Ford’s bio-based portfolio now includes coconut-based composite materials, recycled cotton for carpeting and seat fabrics, and soy foam seat cushions and head restraints. Sound-absorbing denim amounting to more than two pairs of discarded blue jeans per car is being laid-down as carpet liner.
Anticipation validated
Over the past two years Ford has been collaborating with Heinz, Coca-Cola, Nike and Procter & Gamble to accelerate development of a 100 percent plant-based plastic to replace the petroleum-based materials currently in use.
The work with Heinz is harvesting the catsup-maker’s efforts to recycle and repurpose the peels, stems and seeds from the 2 million-plus tons of tomatoes the company uses each year. For example, dried tomato skins could become the key ingredient in wiring brackets and cabin storage bins. “We are exploring whether this food processing byproduct makes sense for an automotive application,” reports Ellen Lee, a Ford plastics research technical specialist.
“We are delighted that the technology has been validated,” adds Vidhu Nagpal, associate director of packaging R&D for Heinz. “Although we are in the very early stages of research, and many questions remain, we are excited about the possibilities this could produce for both Heinz and Ford, and the advancement of sustainable 100 percent plant-based plastics.”
Building on the success of Coke’s PlantBottle Technology, consisting of up to 30 percent plant-based materials, Ford has been able to produce a fiber that can be woven into a durable automotive-grade PET (polyethylene terephthalate) fabric. The Fusion Energi, a plug-in hybrid version of Ford’s global midsize car, is test-driving the material on seat cushions, seat backs, head restraints, door panel inserts and headliners.
“By using PlantBottle Technology in a plug-in hybrid, Ford and Coca-Cola are showing the broad potential to leverage renewable materials that help replace petroleum and other fossil fuels, reducing the overall environmental impact of future vehicles,” according to John Viera, Ford’s global director of sustainability and vehicle environmental matters. If these interior fabrics were applied to the majority of Ford’s American models, it would displace nearly 4 million pounds of petroleum-derived materials along with saving the equivalent of 295,000 gallons of gasoline and 6,000 barrels of oil, he says.
“This collaboration with Ford demonstrates that PlantBottle Technology can be applied anywhere PET plastic is traditionally used, but with a lighter footprint on the planet,” concurs Coke’s Scott Vitters, general manager of the soft drink-maker’s packaging platform.
Ford, Coke and Heinz are members of the Bioplastic Feedstock Alliance (BFA) recently established by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to concentrate on “guiding the responsible selection and harvesting of feedstocks such as sugar cane, corn, bulrush and switchgrass” to further develop plastics made from plant material.
“This alliance will go a long way in ensuring the responsible management of natural resources used to meet the growing demand for bioplastics,” says the WWF’s Erin Simon. “Ensuring that our crops are used responsibly to create bioplastics is a critical conservation goal, especially as the global population is expected to grow rapidly through 2050.”
The organization’s eight founding firms, along with the WWF, are supported by academic experts, supply chain partners and technology development engineers, she reports, and “all of whom are focusing on a variety of issues, challenges and possible tools within the growing bioplastic industry.”
Streamlined paint processes
A new ecologically conscious paint process adorning Ford Transit vans rolling out of the Kansas City Assembly Plant is an industry-first two-wet monocoat technology that delivers a more durable finish while retaining 90 percent of its gloss after four years on the road.
“The two-wet monocoat process allows us to design a system considerably smaller than a conventional paint shop, especially with regard to a vehicle of this size and complexity,” says Dennis Havlin, Ford’s supervisor of global paint engineering development. “Because painting time is cut down, the technology enables greater productivity using less equipment.”
A conventional paint process uses water filtration – known as a wet scrubber system – to remove the overspray from the air in the paint booth that produces sludge. A new dry scrubber system pumps the air through a filter containing limestone that can be recycled. This dry scrubber system alone annually reduces energy use and carbon dioxide emissions by 44 percent, cuts particulate emissions by 99 percent and uses 75 percent less water.
It applies a primer coat that requires only a few minutes of open-air drying time before the color coat is applied. The color coat is formulated with the same appearance and protection properties of the clear coat, eliminating a separate clear coat. The painted body is fully cured in an enamel oven after the color coat is applied. The total process removes one paint application step and one oven-drying step when compared to conventional paint, according to Havlin.
“Durability was a critical consideration when we initiated this project,” he recounts. “The advancements in paint chemistry enable us to deliver the appearance, performance and durability our customers demand.”
A more-streamlined process takes the van’s body through an electrostatically bonded corrosion-resistance (E-coat) bath. The body remains on a carrier that is lowered into the E-coat by four pendulums, rather than being manually removed from the carrier and attached to chains to be taken down, only to have to repeat the same steps before moving on to the paint booth. The pendulums take the body into and out of the bath at steep angles, reducing the length of the bath by as much as 320 feet.
Vetting the ‘Vette’s weight
At General Motors, the 2014 Corvette has an aluminum frame that is 99 pounds lighter than previous models. A lightweight shape memory alloy wire is used in place of a heavier motorized actuator to open and close the hatch vent that releases air from the trunk, allowing the trunk lid to close more easily.
Considering that there are about 200 motorized movable parts on the typical vehicle that could be replaced with lightweight smart materials, GM is looking at significant mass reductions going forward.
Shape memory alloys – typically made of copper-aluminum-nickel or nickel-titanium – are smart materials that can change their shape, strength, and/or stiffness when activated by heat, stress, a magnetic field or electrical voltage. Shape memory alloys “remember” their original shape and return to it when de-activated.
“Smart materials like shape memory alloys offer new possibilities for many movable vehicle features,” says Jon Lauckner, GM’s chief technology officer. “These new materials enable innovative designs and new and improved features at a lower cost than traditional motors and actuators.”
Marking the Italian sports car maker’s return to the North American market and borrowing from technology found on Formula 1 race cars, the 2015 Alfa Romeo 4C coupe and limited-edition 4C Launch Edition contain ultra-lightweight carbon fiber, aluminum and composite components.
Engineers created the bodywork entirely of SMC (Sheet Molding Compound), a low-density, high-strength composite material that is 20 percent lighter and dimensionally more rigid than steel. Providing the ability to fabricate complex shapes while saving weight by 20 percent compared to steel are PUR-RIM (injected polyurethane) fascias and the rear spoiler. The windshield and side windows are optimized by using 10 percent thinner glass to reduce weight by up to 15 percent.
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