Kyoto, Japan——
CarManufacturers' global efforts to make lighter cars have caused some Japanese auto suppliers to switch to a seemingly unlikely alternative to steel, wood pulp.
Japanese researchers and auto parts manufacturers say that a material made of wood pulp weighs only one-fifth of steel and is five times stronger than steel.
They say that this material-cellulose nanofibers-may become a viable alternative to steel in the next few decades, although it faces competition from carbon-based materials, and it is still a long way from commercialization. The way to go.
As manufacturers push electric vehicles to the mainstream, reducing the weight of vehicles will be crucial. The battery is an expensive but vital component, so the reduction in the weight of the car means the reduction of the battery required by the car, thereby saving costs.
Masanori Matsushiro, Toyota's project manager in charge of body design, said: "Lightweight is an ongoing problem for us."
"But we must also solve the problem of high manufacturing costs before we can see more and more new lightweight materials used in mass production of cars."
Researchers from Kyoto University and Toyota’s largest supplier Denso Corp and Daikyo Ichikawa Co., Ltd.Nishikawa Corp) and other major component suppliers are studying technolo
Kyoto, Japan——
CarManufacturers' global efforts to make lighter cars have caused some Japanese auto suppliers to switch to a seemingly unlikely alternative to steel, wood pulp.
Japanese researchers and auto parts manufacturers say that a material made of wood pulp weighs only one-fifth of steel and is five times stronger than steel.
They say that this material-cellulose nanofibers-may become a viable alternative to steel in the next few decades, although it faces competition from carbon-based materials, and it is still a long way from commercialization. The way to go.
As manufacturers push electric vehicles to the mainstream, reducing the weight of vehicles will be crucial. The battery is an expensive but vital component, so the reduction in the weight of the car means the reduction of the battery required by the car, thereby saving costs.
Masanori Matsushiro, Toyota's project manager in charge of body design, said: "Lightweight is an ongoing problem for us."
"But we must also solve the problem of high manufacturing costs before we can see more and more new lightweight materials used in mass production of cars."
Researchers from Kyoto University and Toyota’s largest supplier Denso Corp and Daikyo Ichikawa Co., Ltd.Nishikawa Corp) and other major component suppliers are studying technologies that combine plastic and cellulose nanofibers.
Cellulose nanofibers have been used in a variety of products, from ink to transparentmonitor, But their potential use of cars enabled the "Kyoto Protocol" process, which chemically treats wood fibers, kneading them into plastics, and decomposes them into nanofibers, greatly reducing production costs by about one-fifth of the other processes.
Hiroaki Yano, a professor at Kyoto University who led the research, said in an interview with Reuters: "This is the lowest cost and highest performance application of cellulose nanofibers, which is why we focus on applying them to automotive and aircraft parts."
The university and auto parts supplier are currently developing a prototype car using cellulose nanofiber-based parts, which will be completed in 2020.
"We have been using plastics instead of steel, and we hope that cellulose nanofibers can broaden the possibilities of achieving this goal," said Yukihiko Ishino, spokesperson of O Inagawa, of Toyota andMazdaIs one of the company's customers.
Automakers are also using other light-duty alternatives.BMWThe i3 compact electric car and the 7 series have adoptedCarbon fiberReinforced polymers (CFRPs), and high-strength steel and aluminum alloys are currently the most widely used lightweight materials because they are cheaper and recyclable.
"Spruce Goose" Yano said that his research was inspired by a photo of "Spruce Goose", the famous cargo plane almost entirely made of wood by American billionaire entrepreneur Howard Hughes (Howard Hughes) , Was driven by Hughes only once in 1947. At the time, it was the largest aircraft in the world.
He said: "I think if Howard Hughes can find a way to use wood to build a large aircraft, why not use wood to make a material as strong as steel?"
The cost of mass production of one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of cellulose nanofibers is currently about 1,000 yen ($9).
Yano intends to halve the cost by 2030, he said, this will make it an economically viable product, because it will be combined with plastic, and therefore compared with the current high-strength steel and aluminum alloy of about 2 US dollars per kilogram. Compared to be competitive.
Industry experts predict that by 2025, the price of carbon fiber will drop to around US$10 per kilogram.
Analysts say that in the coming years, high-tensile steel and aluminum will become more popular alternative materials, because component manufacturers need to completely transform their production lines and find ways to fix new materials such as cellulose nanofibers in other materials. On auto parts.
Anthony Vicari, an applied materials analyst at Lux Research in Boston, said that if Yano's prediction proves to be correct, it "will be a big deal."
But he said that for now, this is still a "very big'hypothesis'".
