Most popular domestic manufacturers increase inves

Domestic manufacturers increase investment in lightweight research and development of automotive composites

on May 24, guests who spoke at the 2012 China Automotive Plastics summit said that the impact of China's automotive manufacturing process on work intensity characteristics is actively promoting innovation and trying to achieve the best balance between automotive performance, weight reduction and cost-effectiveness

in some ways, Chinese automakers are ahead of western competitors

step up R & D investment

Yang Xiaoming, general manager of Delphi connection system business department in Asia Pacific, said, "Chinese OEMs are more daring to take risks in the innovation process." In his view, China is changing from "made in China" to "created in China"

China has some incomparable advantages, which help to speed up the creation and application of innovative products, and Ningbo Huaxiang auto parts company is a good example. Karsten brast, general manager of research and development of the company, introduced the progress made by Huaxiang in reducing the processing cost of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP)

he said that CFRP is one of the most promising materials in automotive lightweight structures. But there are also obvious obstacles, including processing costs, parts production and assembly costs, and the lack of simulation capabilities

the automotive industry is developing low-cost processing and new molding processes (including accelerating resin molding), and such processes have been put into mass production

he pointed out: "however, this requires high investment and a lot of human preparation." He added that the labor cost of the carbon foam layer formed by China to protect the polymer is relatively low, which is more suitable for mass production of cfrr parts locally. This is just to propose a sample to discuss with you to reduce the cost of investment

Ningbo Huaxiang said that its newly developed HP compression RTM process can shorten the cycle time of CFRP parts to less than 3 minutes; However, researchers found that the rtm/rim process of the final materials, including 5 (1) 00 nm thin sheets composed of lignin and high modulus rubber interface system, takes more than 8 minutes

brast said, "production process is an important cost driver." The company plans to establish an Excellence Center soon

interior weight reduction

according to Brian pour, vice president of North Asia of IAC group, the automotive interior accounted for about kg of the total vehicle weight. At present, the interior weight of Asian cars is about 20 kg lighter than that of European and American cars

he said, "the key to maintaining this advantage is to understand how to add functional elements (i.e. more comfortable materials and space feeling), improve passenger safety, or reduce interior noise."

Yang Xiaoming of Delphi added, "enterprises will spend millions of dollars to try to reduce the vehicle weight by one pound." At the meeting, he talked about the weight reduction advantages brought by adopting electrical/electronic design, including the trend of "miniaturization"

Zou Li, senior manager of business development of Johnson Controls Co., Ltd., said that enterprises are trying to reduce weight by improving functionality. She believes that replacing all existing materials with plastics is not necessarily the best solution. Plastic applications and design solutions should be properly combined to achieve the best synergy

she said, "the combination of plastic and complementary materials can not only greatly reduce the vehicle weight, but also improve the functionality."

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