Ford shows off lightweight CFRP hood at European composites show - Auto News - LatestCarsWallpapers.com

The automaker's research, performed in conjunction with engineers from the Ford European Research Centre, made the development time of the hood fast enough to use on a conventional production line. The hood was developed as part of the Hightech.NEW project that follows up on Ford's partnership with Dow Automotive Systems. The two will work on finding cost-effective ways to bring lightweight carbon fiber materials to high-volume models, a strategy Ford detailed earlier this year.

Part of the strategy involves reducing the average mass of Ford cars by up to 750lbs before 2020. Carbon fiber is among the materials Ford plans to use in achieving this feat, as it is five times stronger than steel and twice as stiff while being just one third of the weight.

Other partners in the project include the Institute of Automotive Engineering at RWTH Aachen University, Henkel, Evonik, IKV (Institute of Plastics Processing), Composite Impulse and Toho Tenax. It was funded by the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and started in 2010. It is set to finish in September of 2013.

The CFRP hood also performed well in pedestrian collisions thanks to a special foam core set in-between CFRP layers.

While the prototype hood won't make it to Focus models in the near future, it could be applied to other, higher volume applications later.
Source: Leftlanenews

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