CompositesWorld
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JUNE 2015 26 CompositesWorld WORK IN PROGRESS ยป Te automotive industry has used glass fbers in direct, long- fber thermoplastic (D-LFT) manufacturing for many years to produce a variety of parts, among them battery trays, load foors and spare-wheel wells. Long-fber thermoplastics are a type of composite material wherein thermoplastic polymers are mixed with chopped fber reinforcements of nominal 6 mm length. Recently, high-modulus, lightweight carbon fbers were studied as a drop-in replacement for chopped glass fbers in D-LFT, as a means to help automakers simultaneously improve part perfor- mance and reduce vehicle weight, fuel consumption and CO 2 emis- sions in anticipation of US govern- ment Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) mandates. CAFE currently calls for an average of about 29 mpge (mile-per-gallon equivalent; that is, either mpg for internal combustion engines, or an equivalent degree of energy efciency in an alternative mode of propulsion), with gradual increases to 35.5 mpge, by 2016. Research progresses toward attainment of 80-90% of continuous carbon fiber tensile modulus in lighter parts molded from direct long fiber thermoplastic compounds. Carbon fiber as a replacement for glass fiber in D-LFT auto parts Research Epicenter The D-LFT line used for the trials was located at the Fraunhofer Project Centre for Composites Research University of Western Ontario (London, ON, Canada). Source | Fraunhofer Project Center Te study and its results were frst presented at SAMPE Tech Seattle (June 2-5, 2014), by George Husman, the now retired chief technology ofcer for Zoltek Corp. (St. Louis, MO, US), and, subsequently, at the SPE Automotive Composites Conference & Exposition Sept 9-11, 2014, (Novi, MI, US). Husman summa- rized study fndings recorded in a paper titled "Mechanical Study of Direct Long Fiber Termoplastic Carbon/ Polyamide 6 and Its Relations to Processing Parameters," by Kyle Rohan and T.J. McDonough of Zoltek with Vanja Ugresic, Eva Potyra and Frank Henning from the Fraunhofer Project Centre for Composites Research University of Western Ontario (London, ON, Canada). Materials and process Although the D-LFT process can be used with a variety of thermo- plastic resins and reinforcing fber combinations, the automotive industry commonly uses polypropylene (PP) and glass fbers in LFT and D-LFT processing. For that reason, PP was considered for High-modulus carbon fbers were studied as a drop-in replacement for glass fbers in D-LFT manufacturing. By Donna Dawson / Senior Writer Emeritus