TAGS: Automotive Green and Bioplastics
BASF and BNP Brinkmann have announced their participation in German Aerospace Center’s (DLR) transport program addressing the big questions involving the future of mobility. BASF and BND Brinkmann are supporting the current research project “Next Generation Car” with a tailormade, light-weight composite based on natural fiber.
A Prototype of the NGC SLRV by German Aerospace Center
“By using our Acrodur binder we were able, together with our partner BNP Brinkmann, to produce a composite material from renewable resources that meets the German Aerospace Center’s particularly high requirements for stability and weight”, explains Thorsten Habeck, Head of Business Management Fiber Bonding – Europe, Middle East & Africa at BASF.
Light-weight Construction for Future Vehicles
The goal of the German Aerospace Center’s project “Next Generation Car (NGC)” is to promote the development of quiet, low-emission road vehicles with a high degree of automation and a wide range. It uses state-of-the-art technologies for vehicle structure, engine and energy management.
The contribution to the project made by BASF and its partner BNP Brinkmann concerned the “Safe Light Regional Vehicle” (SLRV), the smallest and lightest of the vehicle concepts developed as part of the NGC project. It combines:
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A novel, metal sandwich type of construction with an innovative entry concept
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A highly efficient hydrogen fuel cell engine
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A novel car body to meet the demanding safety and weight (450 kg) requirements of the light-weight L7 vehicle category
The German Aerospace Center presented a prototype of the NGC SLRV at the Composites Europe trade fair held recently in Stuttgart.
Acrodur-based, Natural Fiber Composite to Protect the Car Body
The interior floor of the NGC SLRV features light-weight composites made from natural fiber to protect the car body against mechanical deformation.
Michael Kriescher, Responsible Project Leader at the Institute for Vehicle Concepts of the German Aerospace Center said: “BASF and BNP Brinkmann were able to help us meet a difficult requirement and supplied us with tailormade molded parts that combine extremely low weight with high stability. This was essential for our NGC SLRV because, as the hood opens upward, people get into the car in an upright position, which leads to a particularly high point load on the car body in the footwell,”
BASF helped produce the component by providing its experience with fiber bonding products. In the past, this expertise and the use of the Acrodur binder for natural fiber composites led to several high-performance light-weight components that were serially produced for the automotive industry.
Collaboration partner BNP Brinkmann supported the production of the component.
“When we develop innovative technical fleece fabrics, we are, as far as mobility is concerned, apart from light-weight, absorption and insulation solutions, particularly focusing on products made from renewable raw materials. Our experience and the particular characteristics of the Acrodur binder enabled us to produce the highly effective composite required by the German Aerospace Center by almost exclusively using natural fibers”,
says Thomas Güthe, Managing Director of BNP Brinkmann.
Source: BASF