ANN ARBOR, Mich., Jan. 23, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) announces the publication of a new Technology Brief that highlights recent advances in vehicle lightweighting.
To reduce the overall weight of ground vehicles, components traditionally made with steel and other heavy alloys must be replaced with lighter weight materials such as carbon fiber and polymer composites. Some longstanding barriers have before now prevented the use of one strong candidate for lightweighting—thermoplastic composites. However, an NCMS initiative has made progress on solving two of those issues: (1) improving the mechanical integrity of thermoplastic components at elevated temperatures, and (2) optimizing the manufacturing process for thermoplastic vehicle components.
The NCMS project team successfully reduced the weight of two essential vehicle components by 36 percent and 55 percent, respectively, while maintaining mechanical integrity at elevated temperatures. Additionally, the initiative pioneered the production of high-temperature thermoplastic composites with a reinforced low-temperature, additively manufactured polymer mold, saving both time and costs in comparison to metallic molds.
To learn more about NCMS’s involvement in this work, see the full Technology Brief: https://ncms.org/news/technology-brief/advanced-manufacturing-processes-solve-vehicle-lightweighting-challenges/
About NCMS
NCMS is a cross-industry technology development consortium dedicated to improving the competitiveness and strength of the US industrial base for over three decades. NCMS leverages a network of industry, government, and university partners to develop, demonstrate, and transition innovative technologies efficiently, with less risk and lower cost. NCMS enables world-class companies to work effectively with other members on new opportunities—matching highly capable companies with the providers and end users who need their innovations and technology solutions. The NCMS network benefits from an accelerated progression of idea creation through execution. Learn more at https://www.ncms.org, at NCMS’s LinkedIn, and at @ncmsmfg.
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