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OVERCOMING NEW MATERIALS ANALYSIS CHALLENGES ACROSS THE SUPPLY CHAIN. By Mikko Järvikivi
Earlier this year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it's working on new rules to decrease NOx and other pollutants present in vehicle emissions. January's announcement will not be the only major one relating to worldwide vehicle emissions, with China 6a set to come into force this year. Similarly in Europe, the EU's next phase of emissions standards (Euro 6) comes into effect in 2021, under which the average CO2 emissions of new cars can be no more than 95g/km under real driving conditions. This limit will drop by a further 15% in 2025, and 37.5% in 2030.
These are part of a long-term trend with evolving regulations leading to modern cars and trucks being approximately 99% cleaner for common pollutants (hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and particle emissions) than their 1970 equivalents (source EPA).
As global legislation becomes increasingly stringent, light-weighting is a key element that will enable automotive OEMs to continue to meet this next generation of emissions targets: each 100 kg shaved off a vehicle's weight cuts (on average) 8.5g of CO2 per 100km. Adopting a light-weighting strategy is not only essential for internal combustion engine vehicles to reduce emis sions and get more out of every drop of fuel. Weight reduction also features highly on the agenda for electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers striving to increase range from a single charge.
But how do you cut vehicle weight without compromising material integrity and passenger safety, and without affecting the bottom line?
Materials science breakthroughs
Two of the key metals that will allow weight reduction are aluminum and magnesium. Aluminum weighs about a third of steel, while magnesium is the lightest structural metal-75% lighter than steel and 33% lighter than aluminum-and is abundant and easily recyclable too. Both metals are in widespread automotive use already. BMW recently used aluminum to more than halve the weight of the tailgate on its 5-Series range; and Opel (formerly a GM company, now part of PSA group, Europe's second biggest car maker) used magnesium to replace steel in the Vectra's dashboard support shaving 5 kg in weight.
It is therefore not surprising that, by...