Yes! The automotive-composites industry really has a great opportunity to make significant in-roads in a traditionally metal world. And yes, significant progress will be hard-won.
There are many advantages of composite materials that give the steel folks a run for their money (strength, weight, & stiffness). Other points to consider: Savings in tooling, the elimination of secondary operations, part consolidation, and the incredible design freedom that comes from a molded part.
You hit the nail on the head when you said that the steal companies "aren't going to sit back and let their marketshare disappear." And who will be the winner? The consumer! Just like many other products that come out on the market expensive (flat screen TV's, computers), after a few years the price drops down to level where mainstream consumers can handle it.
I also agree that, in order to get these innovative designs to the masses, perhaps a little collaborative up-front work (in a serious way) is in order. Automotive companies need to do what they do best with their tier one suppliers: Set design standards that require innovation and demand delivery dates that are borderline to impossible to meet. I say that a little tongue-in-cheek, but I believe there's some truth to that kind of expectation. How else will you be able to push the envelope past the sticky part within a time frame that's faster than the change in technology? Working fast, furious, efficient, and imaginative is the key. I'm ready for a paradigm shift.
By the way, The whole battery/charging system and limited range of an electric car intrigues me...
Anyone ever thought of using the back wheels as an electric generating system? The inner part of the wheel would be the stator and the rotating part would be the rotor. The motor would drive the front wheels while the back wheels would generate more DC power than the front wheels use.
For 3D printing to make the jump from rapid prototyping to manufacturing, engineers will need to find easier ways to move products from their CAD screens to their printers.
Gigabit and PoE are two networking technologies moving ahead in tandem as industrial users power remote Ethernet devices such as IP security cameras at 1,000 Mbps over existing CAT5 cable.
New versions of BASF's Ecovio line are both compostable and designed for either injection molding or thermoforming. These combinations are becoming more common for the single-use bioplastics used in food service and food packaging applications, but are still not widely available.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
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