The automotive industry is making progress in reducing weight, but plastics and composites are no longer listed as the best alternatives.
This is the result of the fourth annual auto industry survey conducted jointly by DuPont and WardsAuto.
The survey shows that 49% of respondents place less emphasis on the primary focus of improving fuel efficiency. The survey was commissioned by the Penton Market Research Corporation and published at the Automotive Research Center Management Symposium in Traverse City.
Nearly half of the 880 respondents work for automotive components or parts manufacturing companies and a quarter of them work for car manufacturers.
Unexpectedly, the importance of engine efficiency projects lagged behind weight loss, with only 39% of respondents mentioning it.
Jeff Sternberg, DuPont's automotive technology director, said in a telephone interview, "Our findings over the past few years have shown that insiders believe that improving engine efficiency and electrification is of utmost importance. This has received more attention. But in this year's survey, the weight loss The importance of being placed in the first place is beyond our expectation."
Other industry players are also talking about this trend. CAR researcher Greg Schroeder discussed the limitations of driveline technology at this meeting on August 4th.
He said: "I think it's obvious to all that the auto industry has done a very good job of improving the fuel economy of cars, but the difficulty will be greatly increased in the future. In this regard, I think that one day, our focus will be on It is no longer limited to the drivetrain. It will involve friction reduction, low rolling resistance tires and, of course, reduced weight, these are the main solutions for fuel economy."
Sternberg said that weight loss is increasingly valued, thanks in part to a variety of high-profile weight loss programs such as the new Ford F-150 and BMW i3, both of which have replaced lightweight materials with traditional materials and have significantly reduced Car weight. The success of the new polymer also helped.
He said that by using plastics and composites, the car achieved significant weight loss, and people began to realize more that there may be more room for weight loss than previously known. Opportunities in this area are emerging more and more.
The survey shows that aluminum is the only material of choice among light materials.
In last year's survey, the engineering plastics family ranked first with aluminum, but in this year's survey, aluminum once again took the lead with 27% of the votes, while engineering plastics 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 the F-150 and other projects, its leading position must also be attributed to the automotive industry's familiarity with aluminum.
He said: "I think one of the challenges facing the automotive industry lies in the strangeness of new materials, especially in composite materials. It involves various types of operations, supply chains, etc. This is not like metal for the automotive industry." So familiar."
"Plastics and composites are relatively new, so I think the initial reaction of the industry is: first try out the types of materials we know how to handle, if they are not feasible or have better choices, this is often in plastics and composites. The scenes that are seen, in which case they may 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 loss in the next few years or even decades. Is there any chance for plastics?
Sternberg said: "I think some of these plastics will have opportunities, especially composite materials. As applications continue to increase and need to continue to scale up to meet demand, the automotive industry will be more adaptable to its value chain, including ensuring the supply capacity. Etc. I think time will be an important consideration."