The international push among automakers to make ever lighter vehicles is leading some vehicle providers in Japan to rely on exactly what seems a not likely alternative to steel: wood.
Japanese researchers and car part makers say a product made from wood pulp weighs simply one fifth of steel and can be 5 times more powerful.
The product, cellulose nanofibres, could end up being a practical option to steel in the years ahead, they say, although it deals with competitors from carbon-based materials, and stays a long way from being commercially practical.
Lowering the weight of a car will be important as producers move to bring electric vehicles into the mainstream. Batteries are a pricey but vital part, so a decrease in car weight will indicate fewer batteries will be required to power the vehicle, saving money on expenses.
“Lightweighting is a consistent issue for us,” stated Masanori Matsushiro, a project manager supervising body model at Toyota.
“However we likewise need to deal with the problem of high production expenses before we see an increased use of brand-new, lighter-weight materials in mass-volume automobiles.”
Researchers at Kyoto University and significant parts providers such as Denso, Toyota’s most significant supplier, and DaikyoNishikawa, are dealing with plastics integrated with cellulose nanofibres – made by breaking down wood pulp fibers into a number of hundredths of a micron (one thousandth
Article source: http://speedlux.com/japanese-researchers-finds-wood-pulp-make-lighter-automobile-parts/
