Advantages of Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymers in Automotive Industry

Running head: MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY AND MATERIALS
Manufacturing Technology and Materials
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MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY AND MATERIALS
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Table of Contents
Introduction............................................................................................................... 2
Advantages of carbon fibre reinforced polymers and Use in Automotive Industry.........................3
Effect of high production rates........................................................................................ 6
Joining Techniques of FRC Materials............................................................................... 7
Conclusion................................................................................................................ 7

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Introduction
The reinforces composite materials refers to the materials which are comprised of a
strong load carrying elements entrenched in a weak construction materials named matrix. The
reinforcement of materials will provide rigidity and strengths to the materials in order to
provide en extra support to the structure. By using the reinforcement technique, the fibres of
the materials will have a rigid structure and the loads are transferred as well. In recent years
the use of carbon fibre reinforced composites in the automotive industry has become very
common. Mainly, Carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP) is widely used in the automotive
industry of different part of the world. The primary properties of the used polymer in the
manufacturing industry, is to produce high strength to weight ratios that is light weight along
with strengths. This properties of the polymers is correlated with the FRC materials. On the
other, the properties of a ceramics is also associated with its durability.
In this essay, the brief idea of FRC, advantages of using FRC in the automotive
industry over the traditional metallic use in this industry. Along with this, the use of this
materials in the vehicle production and its advantages are also described. Moreover, the
various joining techniques of composite materials and metallic materials are also depicted in
this report in a brief manner.
Fibre Reinforced Composites (FRC)
A fibre-reinforced composite (FRC) comprises of three materials and they are the
fibres as the dispersed or discontinuous phase, the matrix as the continuous phase and the
interface region. The FRC materials were firstly developed for reducing the weight of the
materials and simultaneously aimed to enhance the strengths of the materials as well. The
characteristics of the fibre-reinforced composite (FRC) expresses in terms of specific
strengths of the materials. The mechanical characteristics of the fibre-reinforced composite

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(FRC) is associated not only with the properties of the fibres but also with the degrees of load
which is transmitted to the fibres during the matrix phase of process. The magnitude of this
load transmission is again correlated with the interfacial bonds in between the fibres and
matrix. In some cases it is also evident that, the effective strengthening and stiffening of the
fibres are associated with the lengths of the fibres as well. Moreover, the arrangement of the
fibres in the fibre-reinforced composite (FRC) is also very crucial for strengths of the fibre-
reinforced composite (FRC) as well.
Advantages of carbon fibre reinforced polymers and Use in Automotive
Industry
In recent years the use of carbon fibre reinforced polymers are widely used in the
automotive industry over the traditional metallic use for developing the subframes in the cars.
Polymer composite materials are the combination of reinforcement agents that is fibres
generally glass, carbon or natural fibres and the matrix that is resin either thermoplastic or
thermoset. Moreover, in some reinforced polymers, presence of the modifiers and additives
are also reported and they are associated with the modification of the properties and thereby
causing the improvement of performances of the polymers as well.
Therefore, it can be said that, the fibre reinforced polymer materials are anisotropic in
nature instead of being isotropic like other materials such as aluminium and steel. The
isotropic material that is traditional metallic compounds has the identical and uniform
properties in all the directions. On the other hand, the composite materials are more
associated with the directions that is directionally dependent and thereby causes changing of
the directions of the best mechanical properties of polymer composites. In carbon fibre
reinforced polymers the stresses and loads are different for different directions. In case of
carbon fibre reinforced polymers it is reported that, they are more capable of maintaining the