PNGV to Develop Materials to Reduce Auto Weight
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PNGV to Develop Materials to Reduce Auto Weight The Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV) is a collaborative effort between the domestic automakers and the U.S. government to develop new automotive technologies. A major focus of this program is the development of a midsize family automobile which exhibits up to three times the fuel economy of present vehicles but offers the same performance, ride, and comfort at the same cost to the customer. To achieve this goal aggressive targets for powertrain thermal efficiency, rolling resistance, aerodynamic drag, and vehicle weight must be met. A well-established relationship between fuel economy and weight has led to the aggressive goal for PNGV to reduce vehicle weight by up to 40%. To meet this goal, target mass reductions for the various subsystems of the vehicle have been established. Because many of the powertrain alternatives under consideration have more components than the current integrated-circuit engine powertrain, the potential for weight savings may be limited. Thus in order to reach the overall 40% goal, the weight targets for the body and chassis call for reductions of 50% (or more). Substantial use of lightweight materials is clearly the way to achieve this goal. In general, lightweight materials are those whose strength to density and/or stiffness to density ratios are greater than those of the conventional material used in a given application. Current automobile production employs an increasing amount of lightweight materials, such as highstrength steel, aluminum alloys, magnesium, and polymer composites. The potential for achieving large weight reductions through the use of an optimum combination of these and certain advanced materials is well-recognized. However, all of the lightweight materials, except perhaps for high-strength steels, share major disadvantages: raw material and/or manufacturing costs are higher than those for current materials, there is little or no high-volume infrastructure, and recycling technologies may need to be developed. Thus it is necessary to identify the candidate lightweight materials for each vehicle application and conduct research programs aimed at establishing comprehensive technical feasibility and reducing the costs to affordable levels. Materials developments are being coordinated by a PNGV Materials Tech Team and many of the research projects are conducted by the United States Automotive Materials Partnership (USAMP); the membership of these groups overlaps. A
process has been developed to identify, initiate, and conduct the materials research and development programs necessary to achieve the PNGV goals. The process starts with workshops at which vehicle systems engineers work with materials specialists to develop a list of possible lightweight materials which might be used in each specific application. For each material, tables are developed listing challenges which must be overcome in order for that alternative to be technically and economically viable. This is done collaboratively by vehicle and ma
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