Carbon fibre to cut Daimler’s carbon emissions
OEM is working with Toray of Japan on realising mass-produced carbon-fibre reinforced plastics
AE in Technology.
- Published in Technology.
Daimler has formed a joint venture with the world’s largest carbon-fibre manufacturer. The OEM is working with Toray of Japan on realising mass-produced carbon-fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP) to reduce the weight of its vehicles.
The first application will be launched in 2012.
Daimler wants the body-in-white of each of its new models to be up to 10% lighter than the outgoing versions. This will become increasingly difficult to achieve using only high-strength steels and aluminium alloys.
Composites can help, and can also increase body stiffness, further improving crashworthiness, but the high cycle times make them unsuitable for mass production. Toray has developed a resin transfer moulding process which it claims offers short cycle times.
This will enable CFRP to be used in a wide range of vehicles, instead of being limited to low-volume sportscars.
The OEM said: “Toray, in addition to developing the carbon-fibre intermediate materials, has also been working on the design and moulding processes. We have taken responsibility for designing parts and developing joining technologies. Working together, we’ve succeeded in developing technology for mass-production of CFRP parts with a significantly shorter moulding cycle.”
Other premium vehicle manufacturers have similar programmes in place: BMW has partnered with SGL Carbon to develop composites for its Megacity electric vehicle.
