The making of plastic car parts has been going on for many years. Witness the integral intake manifold, head cover piece on the GM Northstar engine and Series II 3800, and the Ford Intec engines. As far as joining plastic parts, take some time and visit a thermoplastic assembly line. How do you think plastic bicycles are assembled? In short, these things are being done and the technologies have been developed.
Then what is keeping carbon fibers from happening? Well, glass fiber sells for less than a buck a pound, weighs marginally more, and has the same strength, in short an engineers dream. And guess what. The plastics in the Northstar, 3800 Series II, and the Intec use glass fiber reinforcement. As do the body panels in the Saturn and Corvette, suspension members in the Corvette and other GM products. GM stopped using glass fiber composites in the suspension in the Grand Prix, Regal, etc for the new 97 models as it cost $0.40 to take out a pound of weight, a price they were not willing to pay.
Why? The advancements in engine technololgies have made it uneconomical in meeting CAFE requirements. For instance, the new Grand Prix has 195 HP, is a full size car weighing well over 3000 pounds, and gets 30 EPA MPG on the highway. That's rated 5 MPG better than a engine technology touted V6 Honda Accord, which is a compact car, weighs 400 pounds less, and is a full second slower in 0-60 times. And for those of you who have actually own, driven or rented a new Grand Prix, that is understated. The last one I rented averaged 35 MPG in combination city/highway driving. By the way, the sticker is $4000 less too. And for those of you who want to go all out, the supercharged engine adds another 45 HP and only takes away 2 MPG. Got to drive one of those someday.
Sorry to digress but the applications where carbon fiber fits is where the stiffness or other properties cannot be gotten from glass. Body panels and drive shafts (and only mixed materials in drive shafts) fit this catagory. However, in conversations with GM, they are talking about less than $3 per pound of carbon fiber, a target that even Zoltek is not talking about. And one that is technically impossible using acrylic precursors.
This is not to say that things are not happening. This is only to say you must be more aware of the market place and not wet your pants in excitement because someone talks about a GM application. GM has been looking at carbon fibers for 15 years (based on their patent literature) and are using no carbon fiber in any structural applications that I know of. The few applications that they do relate to friction uses (lockup torque convertors and limited slip differentials bought from Eaton Corp). Neither application considered Zoltek materials beyond initial looks due to poor qualtiy and lack of the correct product. Because Zoltek has talked to GM doesn't mean they are doing business or will.
Regards
Jake |
