With 54.5-mpg CAFE mandates looming, most automakers are deseperate to find ways to cut weight. If suppliers can develop the mechanical strength needed for body panels and seat components, and provide the heat resistance for underhood components, automakers will snap up these materials.
The low-hanging fruit of plastic-to-metal conversion is no longer there for the taking, but that doesn't mean there are no opportunities. This article does a good job of explaining how to go about finding these opportunities: design engineers should sit down with suppliers or other experts, with a focus on part function. You are probably not going to make the same exact part out of plastic that you made out of metal -- at least, not if you want the part to work! But, with a little creativity, you might be able to get the same function. It takes design ingenuity, along with a knowledge of what's out there in terms of materials. This is where suppliers and outside experts can help.
When demand is there, surplus is there. You can still buy car parts, new, from popular models from the 80s. They made so many of them, they are still cheap.
Designing trade-offs are always more complex than getting exact matches of properties. The thermally conductive compounds referenced in the article have thermal conductivities up to about 20 W/mK. While that isn't quite equivalent to aluminum at 100W/mK, it's over 3 orders of magnitude improvement over base plastics which sit at around 0.1 W/mK.
That does make these formulations viable options for heat management. We've done several design cases in areas such as automotive lighting and have shown that those sorts of conductivities are more than enough to replace metal heat sinks which in many cases are *overspecified* for thermal conductivity.
As to 3D printing. We have 3D printing capability and development programs to be able to print some of our key functional formulations. Happy to discuss further if you like.
Not that conductive, but sounds like a great material that can both house and supply data for low voltage sensors. I wonder if this is being explored. Also, a great way to send power or a signal through a enclosed container. That is if both conductive and non-conductive plastics can be molded together. Sound like this will revolutionize the automotive sector sometime soon.
I found myself wondering if there were some polymer/metal hybrid materials out there for use in automotive applications? Is that a practical tradeoff for weight, strength, conductivity, etc.? Any thoughts?
I agree Kendall. The improved thermal conductivity of many polymers is now opening design doors that were previously closed for us. In addition to metal heat sinks that may have been overspecified in the past, new LED technologies burn cooler and brighter, so the opportunity to replace a metal heatsink with a thermally conductive plastic heatsink may now be available.
Greg, LED lighting is one area we've looked at extensively and yes, I think that conductive polymers can play a big role in heat management of the new LED systems.
Scott, not sure what sort of construct you mean specifically by a 'hybrid.' Some of our systems are filled with various substances. Metals sometimes play a role. But the metal itself doens't play a role for strength. Obviously the trade-off when systems are more highly filled is for strength properties (flex mod, impact). I think maintaining this balance is more critical for automotive applications than say electronics. We are also looking at composite-based constructs for these types of properties. Best, Kendall -
By experimenting with the photovoltaic reaction in solar cells, researchers at MIT have made a breakthrough in energy efficiency that significantly pushes the boundaries of current commercial cells on the market.
In a world that's going green, industrial operations have a problem: Their processes involve materials that are potentially toxic, flammable, corrosive, or reactive. If improperly managed, this can precipitate dangerous health and environmental consequences.
With LEDs dropping in price virtually every year, automakers have begun employing them, not only on luxury vehicles, but on entry-level models, as well.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 3
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 ...
A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
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