Light weight, low carbon emissions, which may be the biggest benefit of lightweight car design, it has to be said that compared with many years ago, today's car is not only responsible for two shuttle tools, not only people for the car itself is higher requirements, car design manufacturers in the manufacturing of cycling is also done enough work, in addition to high-tech electronic equipment, The lightweight design of the body is probably the most important technology.
Developed countries use automotive plastics as an important indicator to measure the level of automotive design and manufacturing. At present, the number of engineering plastics used in Germany is the largest, accounting for more than 15% of the total automotive materials. In addition to British Land Rover, Lamborghini, Mercedes-Benz SLR, BMW i Series and many other models use more advanced automotive engineering plastics. Some experts even predict that innovative applications of new materials in the future may disrupt traditional cars.
Smog, energy conservation and emission reduction and stricter fuel consumption regulations, domestic car companies spare no effort to develop car lightweight technology. As we all know, automotive lightweight is mainly reflected in the optimization of automotive design, the application of alloy materials and non-metallic materials, which in turn is the lightweight weight reduction of the car 10% ~ 15%, 30% ~ 40%, 45% ~ 55%. It is obvious that the "weight reduction" effect of non-metallic materials such as engineering plastics is obvious, and its main role in the car is to make the car lighter. At present, more and more automotive parts are beginning to use engineering plastics instead of metal parts.
The application of automotive engineering plastics has increased year by year, "the proportion of ordinary plastics is 0.9 to 1.6, and the proportion of glass fiber reinforced composite materials does not exceed 2.0, which makes plastics the preferred material for automotive lightweight." The use of plastic can reduce the weight of parts by about 40%, and can greatly reduce the cost, replacing plastic parts with plastic parts can not only reduce the weight of the vehicle, reduce fuel consumption and emissions, but also improve the comfort and safety of the car power.
In developed countries, the amount of plastic used per vehicle increased from 100-130 kg in the 1990s to 152 kg in 2004 and 174 kg in 2006. Current consumption is 230 kg. Foreign auto brands now use plastic composites and high-performance engineering plastics, while domestic independent brands use plastics. This also reflects the gap in our vehicle lightweight technology.
By 2020, the average plastic consumption of cars may reach 500kg/ unit or more, accounting for more than one-third of the total material in the vehicle. With the widespread use of new energy vehicles, the cost of aluminum alloy and magnesium alloy is too high, mainly imported. The roof, doors, seat parts, wheels and car structural components, and even the body of the future car may be converted to engineering plastics. In fact, some parts of some high-end models abroad have been converted to engineering plastics.
At present, the body made of plastic in the world has been widely used in small batch cars or some high-end models. Such as BMW i series products. Compared with the steel body, the fuselage made of fiber-reinforced composite plastic material can achieve a weight reduction of 35%; If carbon fiber reinforced composite materials are used, weight reduction of more than 60% can be achieved. At present, the cost of carbon fiber plastic is too high, so it is only used in high-end models, such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz.
The use of engineering plastics and the lightweight design of automobiles in the future trend is actually inevitable, with the development of the automotive industry and more and more mature, metal materials as the main material on the car, it is impossible to forever maintain vitality, and fresh products are often produced in this way, the technology of the automotive industry is more and more mature, the problems of the car itself will be less and less.