The automotive industry is making progress on weight reduction, but plastics and composites are no longer listed as the best alternatives.
This is the result of the fourth annual survey of automotive industry professionals conducted by DuPont and WardsAuto.
According to the survey, 49% of respondents focus on reducing the primary focus of improving fuel efficiency. The survey was commissioned by Penton Market Research and published the results at the Automotive Research Center Management Symposium in Traverse City.
Nearly half of the 880 respondents work in automotive component or component manufacturing companies, and a quarter of them work in car manufacturers.
Unexpectedly, the importance of engine efficiency projects lags behind weight loss, only 39% of respondents mentioned. DuPont's director of automotive technology, Jeff Sternberg, said, "Our survey results over the past few years have shown that the industry believes that improving engine efficiency and electrification is the most important, and this has gained more attention. But in this year's survey, the importance of weight reduction was put In the first place, this is beyond our expectations." Other industry insiders are also talking about this trend. CAR researcher Greg Schroeder talked about the limitations of powertrain technology at this conference on August 4. He said: "I think it is obvious to all that the auto industry has done a very good job in improving the fuel economy of automobiles, but the difficulty will increase greatly in the future. In this regard, I think that one day, our focus will be No longer limited to the drive train, but will involve friction reduction, low rolling resistance tires, and of course weight reduction, which are the main solutions for fuel economy."
Sternberg said weight loss is gaining more and more attention, thanks in part to a variety of high-profile weight-loss projects, such as the new Ford F-150 and the BMW i3, which have replaced traditional materials with lightweight materials, greatly reducing The car is heavy. The success of new polymers has also helped. He said that through the use of plastics and composites, cars have achieved significant weight loss, and people are beginning to realize that there may be more room for weight loss than previously known. Opportunities in this area are increasingly emerging. According to the survey, aluminum is the exclusive material of choice for a variety of lightweight materials.
In the survey last year, the engineering plastics family topped the list with aluminum, but in this year's survey, aluminum once again took the lead with 27% of the vote, while engineering plastics won only 13%. Another 8% of respondents chose advanced composite materials as the first choice for weight loss and 16% chose multi-material solutions.
Sternberg said that in addition to the application of aluminum in F-150 projects, its leading position is partly attributed to the automotive industry's familiarity with aluminum.
He said: "I think one of the challenges facing the automotive industry is the strangeness of new materials, especially in composite materials. It involves various types of operations and supply chains, which is not like metal for the automotive industry. So familiar."
“Plastics and composites are relatively new, so I think the initial reaction in the industry is: first try out the types of materials we know how to handle them. If they are not feasible or have better options, this is often the case with plastics and composites. See the scenes, in which case they might enable new materials and do further research."
A number of industry experts also said at the meeting that aluminum is still the material of choice for car weight reduction in the next few years and even decades. So is there a chance for plastics?
Sternberg said: "I think there will be opportunities for some of these plastics, especially composites. As applications continue to increase and scale to meet demand, the automotive industry will be more responsive to its value chain, including ensuring supply capacity. And other factors. I think time will be an important consideration."
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