Automotive lightweighting is also a market trend for basalt fibers
Release Date：
2022-12-23
Experiments have proved that for every 10% reduction in the weight of a car, fuel efficiency can be increased by 6% to 8%, and for every 100 kg weight reduction of a car, fuel consumption of 100 km can be reduced by 0.3-0.6 liters and CO2 emissions can be reduced by 1 kg. The use of lightweight materials is one of the main ways to lighten the car.
Basalt fiber is a kind of material for automobile lightweighting
Basalt fiber is a kind of green and environment-friendly high-performance fiber material, and the industry often uses the term "turning stone into gold" to describe its production process, that is, the natural basalt ore is crushed and melted in the temperature range of 1450~1500℃, and then drawn to prepare basalt fiber.
Basalt fiber has a series of advantages such as good mechanical properties, high temperature resistance, stable chemical properties, and environmental friendly production process, etc., with excellent overall performance. The fiber-reinforced composite material prepared by compounding it with resin is a kind of lightweight material with excellent performance. In recent years, the light weight cars made of basalt fiber composites have been frequently shown in major international auto shows.
The concept car of German Edag Company uses basalt fiber composite material to build the car body, which is both light and stable, and 100% recyclable.
Italian caravan company environmental concept car, using basalt fiber composite wall panels, compared with traditional materials to reduce weight by 30%.
Russian company launched an urban electric car with basalt fiber composite body, the total weight of the car is only 700kg.
Future prospects of basalt fiber in automotive lightweighting
①The prospect of application in passenger cars
In recent years, with the urgent demand for lightweighting of pure electric vehicles and the development of advanced molding processes such as high-pressure RTM and molded plus injection molding, continuous fiber reinforced composites have started to be used in bulk in automobiles. Continuous fiber reinforced composites have been widely used in door modules, hoods, battery boxes, crash beams, leaf springs, bottom shields and other components.
Prospect of application in commercial vehicles
In recent years, the application of composite materials in commercial vehicles is expanding rapidly, especially in heavy trucks, which are widely used in cab roofs, deflector covers, deflector panels, front surround visors, bumpers, wing panels, side shields, foot pedals, wheel covers and their trim panels, under-door trim panels, front surround trim panels, side skirts, etc.
Basalt fiber composites have better overall performance than traditional materials and are expected to be used in mass production for the above-mentioned parts of commercial vehicles
