| FASTFRAMES | This project is in progress |
| The Volume Manufacturing of Lightweight Car Body Structures Using Low Cost Carbon Fibre Composite Materials |
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Context Reinforced plastic composite bodies are at present only economic for small production runs - typically below 10,000 per annum. The moulding process traditionally involves hand lay-up of the reinforcement material in the mould and cycle times that cannot be scaled up to larger production volumes. Low cost manufacturing technology for very low weight composite structures is a major challenge en route to light weight and hence low fuel consumption, crashworthy vehicles. Carbon fibre composite has recently been established as a most promising material as a result of the rapidly falling price of carbon fibre. Aims Investigate and develop a novel manufacturing process for fibre-reinforced composites. Method Identify target structures for potential manufacture to establish design requirements and manufacturing targets Develop low cost textile reinforcement forms for composite frame manufacture suitable for automated high speed deposition. Develop automated equipment to handle and deposit reinforcement material into mould tooling Create mould tooling and processing routes to allow the production of reliable, consistent mouldings Mould, assemble and test demonstrator components. Assess the investment requirements for comparison with steel and conventional composites manufacture, and hence determine the potential scale and economics of the new process. Benefits A new method of manufacturing light weight vehicle bodies for larger production volumes will benefit the environment through reduced energy consumption, pollution and noise. The capability to manufacture cars in significant volumes with fuel consumption less than 3 litres per 100km will be a great benefit to the UK economy. Participants Cranfield University Lotus Reynard Caterham Honda Ciba Performance Polymers Tenax Fibres BTG Vision Controls BTI Europe |
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