The markets: Fuel cells and batteries (2021)
Although fuel-cell powered vehicles could still be in the automotive future, growth will be measured and so will the market for composite components. Composites for electric vehicle battery packs and hydrogen tanks for fuel cell vehicles will be the more immediate opportunity.
Ginger Gardiner
Senior Editor, CompositesWorld
BASF, Toyota collaborate for 2021 Sienna lightweighting
The 2021 Toyota Sienna features third row free-standing seatbacks and a 30% weight reduction with BASF’s 35% glass-reinforced polyamide PA6 grade Ultramid.
Composites feature in Altair’s 8th Annual Enlighten Awards
Recognized jointly with the Center for Automotive Research (CAR), winners represent the world’s best initiatives to reduce vehicle weight and meet emissions targets.
Innovative pressurized hydrogen storage for integrated vehicle structures using composites
Chained tubular storage tanks using semi-finished thermoplastic composite products offer flat designs aimed at easy integration into universal vehicle architectures.
Composites fare well at 2020 PACE Awards
This year’s automotive supplier award winners included composite bumper beam, liftgate and pickup box applications.
Toyota and Hino agree to develop heavy-duty fuel cell truck using composite storage tanks
Type IV tanks will help provide 600-kilometer range and meet commercial vehicle requirements
Covestro provides sustainable composite material for Toyota electric concept car
Components of the Toyota LQ will be made from a new kenaf fiber-reinforced polyurethane foam composite material.
Polypropylene honeycomb lightens, strengthens automotive panels
Polypropylene honeycomb cores from ThermHex are used by Brazilian OEM DPA Moldados to make the trunk floor of the Hyundai Creta ix25.
Jeff Sloan
Editor-in-Chief, CompositesWorld
TRB Lightweight Structures, Toyota form JV for high-volume composite parts for EVs
The new venture has opened a U.S. location and will begin delivering composite battery enclosures to a Tier 1 supplier to the truck and bus industry this year.
TRB Lightweight Structures to open U.S. manufacturing facility
The facility in Richmond, Ky. will focus on high-volume production of automotive components using TRB’s robotics-assisted press-forming process.
Modeling & Simulation Conference: Desiloing the Design Process
Dassault event challenges industry to break barriers between designers, analysts, manufacturing and business teams.
2019 SPE Automotive Innovation Awards winners announced
Among the winners and finalists, a wide range of technologies demonstrate composites’ benefits for ground transportation.
Composites 2020: A Multitude of Markets
The manufacturing world likes to think of composites fabrication as a single, global entity that operates to serve its customers’ needs with a variety of highly engineered parts and structures.
Scheurer Swiss supplies 3D printed parts for racecar engine
A Swiss engineering company used 3D-printing to quickly produce carbon fiber-reinforced composite engine parts for the Toyota FT-60.
The evolution of composites in NASCAR
The growing role of carbon fiber in stock car racing.
Scott Francis
Contributing Editor, CompositesWorld
U.K. research program explores aligned discontinuous fiber prepreg
A research program in the U.K. is attempting to achieve a fundamental step-change in the composites industry.
AZL production system wins JEC Innovation Award
AZL’s UItra-Fast Consolidator Machine, winner of the JEC Innovation Award 2019 for Industry/Equipment, will be the subject of further research into commercialization of the machine.
JEC Innovation Awards winners announced at JEC World 2019
Eleven winning innovations were chosen, out of the thirty finalists that had been previously selected from more than 100 applications from all over the world.
JEC World 2019 preview: AZL Aachen
The Aachen Center for Integrative Lightweight Production (AZL) is part of the Composites in Action display at JEC Group (5/D17) where it is featuring its Ultra-Fast Consolidator Machine, which is one of three finalists for the JEC Award 2019 in the category of Industry and Equipment.
Going discontinuous, for continuous improvement
The HiPerDiF (High Performance Discontinuous Fibre) project is exploring an alternate way of producing high-performance carbon fiber composites: start with discontinuous, rather than continuous fibers.
Composites 2019: A multitude of markets
The composites industry, in general, continued to show health and growth, powered particularly by the aerospace, automotive and wind energy sectors.
The markets: Pressure vessels (2020)
High-pressure gas storage vessels represent one of the biggest and fastest-growing markets for advanced composites.
Staff
Composite pickup box drives expansion of CSP’s Huntington, IN plant
The new expansion is where commercial production will begin next spring on the CarbonPro composite pickup box for top-of-the-line GMC Sierra Denali pickups.
Fast manufacturing of tailored composite blanks
AZL and 12 partner companies have completed a research project to develop a new machine prototype allowing increased speed for manufacturing tailored composite blanks.
Plant Tour: Agility Fuel Solutions, Salisbury, NC, US
This systems integrator enables CFRP pressure vessel growth in commercial vehicles by combining composites and alternative fuel systems expertise.
Lexus concept yacht opens door for production version
Lexus Sport Yacht concept recognized with a special award by Japan’s “Boat of the Year” committee at the Japan International Boat Show.
Advancing technology in a multinational world
What collaborative scenarios can we create that leverage assets in multiple countries and get to solutions faster?
Deadline reminder for the Lightweight Open Innovation Challenge
Innovators have until February 1st to submit their innovative lightweight solutions to two categories: materials and manufacturing.
