Project duration: 1 January 2019 – 31 December 2021

Objective

The increasing drive to reduce the weight of vehicles has resulted in the gradual replacement of dense ferrous metals by lower density materials, like plastics and short-fibre reinforced plastics. Today, plastic materials represent 12% to 15% of the weight of a car and this number has remained stable for many years. A further very significant weight reduction is rendered mandatory by the new EU or other regulations on Green House Gas emissions, which can only be achieved by massively substituting today’s steel by lighter weight materials in the car body structure and powertrain.

The solution (technology)

The CIRCULAR-TP project aims at developing cost-effective, light-weighting materials and technologies that will allow the European automobile manufacturers to introduce light-weight solutions in existing plants in the short- to mid-term. The main objectives of the project are to scale-up the production of thermoplastics reinforced with continuous carbon or glass fibre, and to develop production tools and processes that will allow the combination of very thin steel sheets with such thermoplastic composites. This approach shall lead to metal/hybrid composites with expected weight losses of 30% compared to pure steel while allowing a fast implementation in the existing car manufacturing processes. At the same time, this technology shall help to reduce production waste by as much as 90% compared to current thermoset or organosheet composite solutions.

Partnership

  • Arkema France, France (Lead Partner)
  • Agenzia Nazionale per le Nuove Tecnologie, l’Energia e lo Sviluppo Economico Sostenibile (ENEA), Italy
  • CANOE ADERA, France
  • Centro Ricerche Fiat S.C.p.A. (CRF – C.R.F.), Italy
  • Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V. (Fraunhofer), Germany
  • Fundación Tecnalia Research & Innovation, Spain
  • Idertia Soluciones Industriales, S.L., Spain
  • Technische Universiteit Delft (Delft University of Technology), Netherlands