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Automotive
Lightweight Construction
Lean is the name of the game. But which is the
best diet?
For decades now, lightweight construction has been one of
the prime goals in automobile development. This is done
by using aluminum, carbon fiber, composites, polyure
thane and other weight-reducing materials, or frames
made of special steel alloys known as tailored blanks. In
this process, various steel sheets are lasered or welded to
yield frame components. One thing is certain: If the car’s
weight is to be cut, savings have to be made across the
board – involving everything from the frame components
and body parts, engine, transmission, chassis & suspension,
brakes and interior fittings to the instrument panel.
And all this without in any way compromising safety or the
joy of driving.
Incredible what the most creative automotive minds
dream up when they’re given free rein.
Futuristic automotive visions on wheels that have nothing
in common with conventional tires – electrically driven, of
course, or with fuel cells. Weight a mere 500 kilos. Cars
knitted by robots out of carbon fibers. Or others, like a
Mercedes sports car, that are to be grown in greenhouses
like fruit or vegetables. Other whiz kids and visionaries have
put forward gliders with pneumatic drives and body parts
made of ivy fibers. And others still propose using carbon
fiber and seaweed panels that also supply the power for
the electric motor with undisclosed biochemical processes.
A pity, though, that most of these ingenious yet wacky
ideas will most likely never make it to the production line.
And a good thing, too, that there are already a whole host
of realistic alternative ways of cutting weight. With polyurethane,
for instance, the universal material from BASF:
Much of what was just a pipe dream only a few years ago
is now already feasible.
Anything’s possible when cars are put on a diet of polyurethane.
Everything’s got to be lighter, faster, less complicated and, of
course, less expensive as well. In the last few years, the
chemists and product developers of BASF Polyurethanes
have developed materials that take some beating. For when
it comes to the development of lighter vehicles with the associated
lower fuel consumption and reduced CO 2 emissions,
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