Why Carbon fiber is becoming increasingly popular in the automotive industry?

carbon fiber (CF) is a new type of fiber material with high strength and a high modulus of carbon content above 95%. It is composed of flake graphite microcrystals and other organic fibers stacked along the axial direction of the fiber and obtained by carbonization and graphitization of microcrystalline ink materials. Carbon fiber is a new material with excellent mechanical properties. Its proportion is less than 1/4 of that of steel. The tensile strength of carbon fiber resin composite is generally above 3500Mpa, which is 7~9 times that of steel. But the carbon fiber material only along the fiber axis direction shows very high strength, its impact resistance is poor and easy to damage, so the manufacturing of structural components often uses its tensile light advantage and avoids bearing side impact part.

With the academic research from short-fiber carbon fiber to long-fiber carbon fiber, the technology, and products using carbon fiber to make heating materials have gradually entered the military and civil fields. Automotive carbon fiber composites can be used as automotive drive shafts, plate springs, frames, and brake pads. At present, steel materials account for about 3/4 of the weight of a car body. If all steel parts of a car were replaced by carbon fiber composite materials, the weight of the car body would be reduced by 300kg, fuel efficiency would be improved by 36%, and carbon dioxide emissions would be cut by 17%.

1. Application of automobile body and chassis, because carbon fiber reinforced polymer matrix composite material has sufficient strength and stiffness, it is the lightest material for manufacturing major structural parts such as automobile bodies and chassis. It IS ESTIMATED THAT THE APPLICATION OF CARBON FIBER COMPOSITE MATERIAL CAN REDUCE THE MASS OF AUTOMOBILE body and chassis by 40% ~ 60%, which is equivalent to 1/3 ~ 1/6 of THE mass of the steel structure. The usual racing car body and the partially modified car body are all for this purpose, and the visual effects are excellent and very cool.

2. The application of brake pads, carbon fiber is also applied to brake pads because of its environmental protection and wear-resisting characteristics, but products containing carbon fiber composite materials are on the high side, so this kind of brake pad is mainly used in high-grade cars. Carbon fiber brake discs are widely used in racing cars, such as F1 cars. It can reduce the speed of the car from 300 km/h to 50 km/h at a distance of 50 m, at which time the temperature of the brake disc will rise to more than 900 ℃, and the brake disc will turn red because it absorbs a lot of heat energy. The carbon fiber brake discs can withstand temperatures up to 2 500 ° C and provide excellent braking stability.

3, the application of wheel hub, wheel hub manufacturing experts in Germany launched the wheel series, adopting 2 piece design, the outer ring is made of carbon fiber material, and the inner hub is a lightweight alloy, with stainless steel screws, compared with the general size of the wheel mass is about 40% lower. A 20-inch hub, for example, weighs 6 kg, while a typical hub weighs about 18 kg. The RX-X type advanced automobile special wheel made by Kahm of Britain using CFRP has a mass of only 6 kg, which can run at high speed and minimize the radial inertia force of the wheel. Developed by DYMAG in the UK, the world's lightest carbon fiber/magnesium wheel consists of two parts, a carbon fiber wheel mesh, and a magnesium brake disc, connected by special titanium-plated hardware.

4, drive shaft application of force of the automobile drive shaft is more complex, especially must bear large torque, giving full consideration to the carbon fiber reinforced composite material anisotropy, high strength, and modulus of the characteristics of relatively low, thus using carbon fiber reinforced composite transmission shaft to replace metal products, meet the use requirement. Carbon fiber driveshaft not only reduces the weight by 60% but also has better fatigue resistance and durability.

As long as the application of carbon fiber in the automobile is to achieve the lightweight of the automobile and meet the rigid demand of the automobile, it can not only meet the global demand for energy saving and emission reduction but also meet the problem of fuel saving related to the Volkswagen.

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