Weight Reduction of Structural Members for Ground Vehicles by the Introduction of FRP Composite and Its Implications

Abstract

The dependency of human beings on the automotive industries has risen to large extent and so is the fuel consumption. Vehicular lightweighting is featured in the present paper as an appropriate strategy to address growing concerns about greenhouse gas emissions and fuel consumption by passenger ground vehicles. For every 10% reduction in vehicle weight, the fuel consumption is reduced by about 4–7%. The current demand these days is the vehicles must not only become lighter, but should have power improvements. Vehicular lightweighting can be achieved by substituting some of the iron and steel alloys used in vehicles with other substitutional materials such as aluminum and fiber composites. The composite materials have exceptional properties such as lightweight, high-strength-to-weight ratio, low thermal conductivity, corrosion resistance, considering which the main emphasis has being given to carbon fiber composite materials (FRP) as the prime alternative material for fuel pipes of automobiles. A comparative analysis has been performed among steel 4340, aluminum 6061 alloy, and CFRP fuel pipe. It is observed that the use of aluminum 6061 and CFRP fuel pipe can lead to about 65 and 83% weight reduction of the fuel pipe. The cost associated with the manufacturing and the substitution of alternative materials is also discussed. The cost of substitution with composite materials is, however, the highest, but its implications on fuel saving are extremely beneficial.