Practical Developments in the Use of Recycled Carbon Fibre for Automotive Structures. Global Automotive Lightweight Materials April 2017

Transcription

1 Practical Developments in the Use of Recycled Carbon Fibre for Automotive Structures Global Automotive Lightweight Materials April 2017

2 Contents Current Status of Carbon Fibre Recycling Current Status of Recycled Carbon Fibre Products Development of Design Data Case Studies ELG Carbon Fibre Ltd. - Confidential 1

3 Rationale for Recycled Carbon Fibre Automotive Industry Needs Carbon fibre at less than $5/lb Product forms suitable for high volume, low cost production Stable supply chain. Low carbon footprint. Recycled Carbon Fibre Delivers Carbon fibre at less than $5/lb Product suitable for use in injection moulding and compression moulding processes 24,000 tonnes of carbon fibre from manufacturing waste, much of this coming from long term programmes using high quality fibres. Less than 10% of the global warming potential of virgin carbon fibre. Recycled carbon fibre either on its own or in combination with prime carbon fibre enables cost effective lightweight components and structures ELG Carbon Fibre Ltd. - Confidential 2

4 Value of Weight Saving Source: McKinsey & Company: Lightweight, heavy impact How carbon fiber and other lightweight materials will develop across industries and specifically in automotive Case studies suggest that a cost target of less than 5/kg per kg of weight saved is realistic ELG Carbon Fibre Ltd. - Confidential 3

5 Carbon Fibre Recycling Industrial scale process established and able to deliver 1,200 tonnes per year of carbon fibre recovered from dry fabric, uncured prepreg and cured laminate waste. Recycling process delivers staple carbon fibre at approximately US $9/kg. Raw material for conversion to intermediate products. Properties of fibres are similar to those of the prime carbon fibre. ELG Carbon Fibre Ltd. - Confidential 4

6 Reclaimed Fibre Length Recycled Carbon Fibre Products Prepreg compression moulding SMC compression moulding Dry fabric liquid compression moulding Focus on products suitable for high volume manufacturing 80mm Bulk moulding compound compression moulding SMC compression moulding Injection moulding 50mm Coatings and compounds 10mm 1mm Dry fabric compression moulding Preconsolidated laminate compression moulding Carbon Nonwoven Hybrid Nonwovens Chopped and Pelletised Fibres Milled Fibres ELG Carbon Fibre Ltd. - Confidential 5

7 Material Properties Availability of design data remains one of the main barriers to consideration of these materials. Numerous in-house and external testing programmes underway to address this. Testing programmes include short term properties under static and dynamic loading and long term effects of fatigue and environmental exposure. ELG Carbon Fibre Ltd. - Confidential 6

8 Case Study istream Carbon Conventional stamped steel chassis: Typically hundreds of stamped metal panels. istream hybrid structural composite chassis. Simple, low cost steel tubular members. 14 composite structural panels made from recycled carbon fibre. First production programmes start in ELG Carbon Fibre Ltd. - Confidential 7

9 Seat Frame Case Study Current seat is used in an aluminium bodied BEV. Seat frame made of steel weighs 9kg and comprises 34 parts. Current seat frame costs 42. ELG Carbon Fibre Ltd. - Confidential 8

10 Seat Frame Case Study Seat design was based on Carbiso TM PA6 60% SM45D thermoplastic laminate. Cured ply thickness: mm Fibre volume fraction: Density: 1320 kg/m3 Strength (MPa) Transverse Modulus (GPa) Carbiso TM PA60 SM45D 280gsm Poisson's Ratio Strength (MPa) Longtitudinal Modulus (GPa) Poisson's Ratio Tension Compression Shear One piece structure designed that was suitable for manufacture using compression moulding. Seat frame weight reduced from 9kg to 2.5kg. ELG Carbon Fibre Ltd. - Confidential 9

11 Seat Frame Case Study Carbon fibre seat frame cost estimated as 63 per part. 14% 14% 12% 60% Materials Direct Manufacturing Costs Manufacturing Overhead Other Overhead Cost per kg of weight saving is Next step is to optimise the design, build and test a full scale prototype scheduled for completion in ELG Carbon Fibre Ltd. - Confidential 10

12 Seat Component Case Study Current part is made from steel. Weight is 0.8kg. Goal was to assess weight savings possible using carbon fibre materials. Recycled carbon fibre materials investigated for cost reasons. ELG Carbon Fibre Ltd. - Confidential 11

13 Seat Component Case Study Carbiso TM materials based on both PP and PA fibres were considered for this part. Bolt bearing strength was a design consideration, leading to Carbiso TM PA6 60% SM45D materials to be selected for the design. Property (ATSM D5961) Unit 60% PP 40% CF 60 % PA6 40% CF Bearing modulus GPa Bearing strength MPa Weight reduced from 0.8kg to 0.2kg. Cost per kg of weight saving is ELG Carbon Fibre Ltd. - Confidential 12

14 Summary Carbon fibre recycling has been established at an industrial scale. Recycled carbon fibre products suitable for use in high volume, low cost manufacturing processes have been developed. Design data are being developed for these products in a number of ELG projects. A number of case studies have confirmed the technical and commercial viability of this approach. ELG Carbon Fibre Ltd. - Confidential 13