25-01-2013, 12:44 PM
APPLICATION OF COMPOSITE MATERIALS IN THE AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY
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WHAT IS COMPOSITE ?
A composite material is a homogenous mixture created by the synthetic assembly of two materials of which one is a reinforcing material called fiber and the other is the binding material called matrix.
In the modern world composites are used in all the fields like Automotive, Aerospace, Construction industry, Entertainment industry etc.
SCOPE
The automotive companies in the today’s modern world are forced to look for new ways and innovations in manufacturing a car/truck due to fierce competition. The cars today should have all the comforts needed by the customer at low cost. This has led to the use of composite materials in the construction of the body, interiors, chassis, hoods, electrical components etc. The composite materials have the desired properties to suit the requirements. Hence there is more scope for the composites today and also will be in future in the Automobile industry.
The below Pie chart shows the amount of composite material used by the Automobile companies during the year 2007. The major players in the automotive world like General Motors (33%) Ford (25%) and Daimler Chrysler (21%) are using the composite materials extensively.
THE FUTURE OF COMPOSITE
In most cases polymer matrix composites (PMC) are in competition against existing metal components. In the case of automotive applications this means steel and aluminium. The advantages of steel are cost, strength, and a route for recycling that is an integral part of the manufacturing process, 50% of manufactured steel finds its way back to the steel works as scrap [1]. The disadvantages are the very high cost of plant and tooling and the limits of ductility. The case for aluminium is also constrained by the relatively high material cost. However, this is usually off-set by an additional weight saving potential.
The ductility implication of metals means that complex shapes must be made as Fabrications. Making a similar component from PMC is characterized by cheap plant, but expensive materials, which allow complex shapes to be made as single articles. Whilst PMC are usually accepted for low volume applications, they can only overcome their perceived disadvantages for large scale manufacture by being used to make a more sophisticated product.