The Trend of Lightweight in the Automotive Industry

Roller coaster gas prices, offshore drilling, environmental concerns over grace, and smoggy cities are some deadlines to increase fuel efficiency in commercial and passenger vehicles. One way to achieve this is by reducing vehicle weight. Light cars require less fuel, which means cleaner air and less fossil dependence.

The technology department has imposed strict rules to guide automobile producers to reduce fuel consumption. It implies that most automakers will have to design and produce lighter automobiles. The basis for any lightweight production is prototyping, where the manufacturing process and selection are paramount.

The Benefits of Lightweight In the Automotive Industry

Aside from reducing the amount of waste, lightweight in the automotive industry has several other benefits. Let’s get right into it!

Improved Performance

Lightweight automotive prototype parts usually have more performance advantages over their counterparts parts. It is more visible in the automobile industry. Vehicle lightweight process improves acceleration, mileage capacity, and maneuverability. Lighter vehicles also have a reduced occurrence of wear and tear with a better fuel component.

In aviation, reducing the weight of an aircraft can boost efficiency. For instance, Boeing 787 is 20% lighter than Boeing 787-9, saving more fuel.

Superior Products

In the consumer products sector, lightweight can give firms a competitive edge by providing considerable ergonomic, ecological, and performance advantages.

For instance, the global market for carbon fiber tennis rackets is predicted to grow significantly between 2021 and 2027 as athletes become more aware of the many benefits of employing lightweight and sustainable materials like carbon fiber to construct tennis rackets.

Carbon composites not only provide a better strength-to-weight ratio, making the rackets lighter, but they also make it possible to control how much weight is distributed throughout the racket precisely.

Expanded Product Functionality

Lightweighting allows engineers to build products with a given weight but with increased functionality. For example, In the automotive sector, there is a high demand for modern vehicles to have larger cabins without additional weight.

Additionally, increased product functionality will likely give businesses a sizable competitive advantage in the market.

Reduced Manufacturing Costs

Typically, lighter parts use less material, which lowers the costs of material procurement and production. Material costs make up 44.3% of production costs. In other words, a 10% lighter design results in an average production cost reduction of more than 4%.

These numbers show that a small reduction in the amount of material needed for a design can result in significant cost savings when a product is produced on a large scale.

Reduced Transportation & Packaging Costs

Lightweight parts are always less expensive to package and transport because they require fewer packaging materials to ensure safety while in transit. They are also simple to handle, and there is increased safety when used with heavy machinery.

Plastic Alternatives for Automotive Components

The best material that is suitable for lightweight is plastic. Here are some of the best plastics to consider:

Polypropylene (PP)

Polypropylene is a fatigue-resistant, flexible family of thermoplastics used commonly in the automobile industry, prosthetics, boat hills, battery cases, and other products that require lightweight and toughness.

Polypropylene is grouped as random copolymers, impact copolymers, and homopolymers. Impact and random copolymers are engineering-grade materials with good impact resistance at cold temperatures and a higher strength-to-strength ratio.

Polypropylene is resistant to heat, and they have a melting point of about 300 degrees Fahrenheit. They can also be microwaved and can be left colored or translucent. Polypropylene is an excellent food storage container.

Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS)

This is another form of thermoplastic with great toughness and impact resistance. It is a lightweight alternative to hubcap covers, electronics enclosures, dashboard trim, and other automotive parts.

Injection-molded ABS is also available in antistatic grades or multiple flame-retardant colors, opening doors to many lightweight consumer, electronics and medical products.

Many passenger automobiles feature ABS grills, ABS fender flares, and ABS hubcaps with chrome plating to lighten the vehicle.

Nylon

Nylon is mostly filled with glass fibers or minerals to boost mechanical properties and stiffness-to-weight ratio. This feature makes nylon one of the strongest plastics you can ever get.

Nylon is thermally stable, wear-resistant, very light (containing 40% aluminum and 15% steel), and self-lubricating. It is also very suitable for fan blades, latches, gears, and sprockets.

Manufacturing Process Options for Automotive Parts

There are several on-demand manufacturing processes in the making of lightweight parts, and they include:

CNC Machining

Despite the variety of available materials, knowing which manufacturing holes each material fits into is a good idea. In the past, hand-cranked milling machines and engine lathes were used to manufacture machined prototypes. They took weeks to deliver and were primarily made of steel, brass, or aluminum.

Electronic part designs can now be submitted one day and delivered the next, thanks to RapidDirect”s automation. The CNC machining centers at RapidDirect create prototypes from solid blocks of metal and plastic approximately the thickness of an encyclopedia. In contrast, live tooling lathes create parts around the size of a flower vase.

3D Printing

Another important prototyping process is 3D printing. RapidDirect uses stereolithography to produce lightweight parts. It uses the nine grades of plunder which cuts across three groups: polypropylene, ABS, and polycarbonate. 3D printing produces accurate prototypes, and it’s the first step of the touch and feel of lightweight parts.

Injection Molding

A fast way to produce magnesium parts is through thixomolding(also known as injection molding ). Here, magnesium feedstock chips are placed into a molding press’s hopper. The magnesium payload is heated and stirred to a semisolid state, then shot into a molded vanity over a feeder screw under pressure. As a result, fully functional magnesium components can be made in small quantities for a lower price than “production-tooled” parts.

Die Casting

Most manufacturers associate sue casting with magnesium as this has a high volume, the traditional method of forming this universal metal. Magnesium injection molding has several unique advantages over its counterparts.

Last Words

Lightweighting has several amazing benefits, especially in the automotive industry. Designing a stronger, lighter, and more affordable automotive part will give companies an edge over their competitors. The holy grail of these companies is the drive to increase fuel efficiency in trucks and cars. The good part is that RapidDirect can help produce these lightweight parts due to its low-bound production services and prototyping.