Carbon fiber reinforced parts are light, strong and load-bearing, structural parts. Cutting weight from cars is important, as automakers push to hit Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards of more than 54.5 mpg by 2025. They're looking at lightweight steels, aluminum — which made big news this year as the body material for the next Ford F-150 pickup truck — and carbon fiber.
The problem boils down to high cost and slow processing times, according to industry officials at JEC Americas, a composites trade show held in mid-May in Atlanta.
According to a sampling of people at the trade show, carbon fiber for automotive costs $10 to $12 a pound, compared to less than a buck for steel. That's more than half the $35 price a decade ago, but to see more widespread adoption, it needs to get down to about $5 or $6 a pound, they said.
Even so, automakers are taking notice, faced with unrelenting fuel-economy standards.
Much of the activity is happening in Europe. BMW AG's new electric car, the i3, uses carbon fiber for its body panels and frame — marking the most extensive use of carbon fiber in a “volume production” car so far.
The Lamborghini Urus made waves for extensive use of carbon fibers. And the Alfa Romeo 4C sports car uses a one-piece monocoque chassis made of carbon fiber composites.
Will we see major carbon fiber parts on mass-market car, say a Chevy Malibu, any time soon? Not likely. But Detroit is moving ahead, as well. The redesigned 2014 Corvette has a standard carbon fiber hood and roof. The Dodge Viper began using a carbon fiber hood, roof and trunk lid in 2012.
These are not mainstream cars. But if every automaker had a high-volume car using the advanced materials, the current carbon fiber industry could not make enough material, experts said at JEC Americas.
“The big question they're asking is, can the composites industry develop the infrastructure and capacity?” said Sanjay Mazumdar, CEO of market research and consulting firm Lucintel, who worked at GM on lightweighting projects.
Automotive composites should grow at about 6 percent a year through 2018, he said in a presentation at the Atlanta conference. Glass-fiber reinforced composites account for 92 percent of total plastics composites in cars today. Natural fibers are 7.6 percent. Carbon fiber? A miniscule 0.6 percent.
Carbon fiber has a good future, Mazumdar said, since a car's structural components are about 30 percent of the total vehicle, by weight. Likely applications for carbon fiber are the chassis, hood and trunk lid.
“But the cost of carbon fiber is eight times that of steel,” he said.
To ensure future supply, automakers and some major suppliers are forging appliances with glass-fiber manufacturers. BMW created a joint venture with Germany-based SGL Group for a carbon fiber plant in Moses Lake, Wash. In May, BMW and SGL announced they are investing $200 million to triple production at the factory, to 9,000 tons of fiber by early 2015. That would make Moses Lake the world's largest carbon fiber plant, the companies claim.
Ford Motor Co. is collaborating with Dow Chemical Co. on a research project on faster ways to bring carbon fiber to market.
GM formed a partnership with Teijin Ltd. of Japan to develop carbon composites for high-volume cars. Teijin has opened up a technical center in Detroit.
Other deals show the jockeying for position in a carbon-fiber future. Toray Industries Inc. took a minority stake in Plasan Carbon Composites Inc., which makes the carbon fiber parts for the Viper and other cars. Toray also bought Zoltek Cos. Inc., a St. Louis carbon fiber producer, for $584 million in a deal that closed earlier this year. Magna Exteriors now makes carbon fiber SMC at its plant in Grabill, Ind.
The Grabill plant is set to be sold to fellow composites maker Continental Structural Plastics, which is also moving into carbon fiber.
“There's a lot going on around the supply chain,” said Claire Michel, communications manager at Composites House, Cytec's research and development center in Derbyshire, England. “Everybody is trying to secure their supply base because there is not enough carbon fiber. One way of securing it is through acquisitions, partnerships and strong alliances.”
Cytec does not have any exclusive agreements in automotive, she said.
Cytec has expanded its carbon fiber plant in Piedmont, S.C., which makes polyacrylonitril-based (PAN) carbon fibers, sold mainly for commercial and military aerospace. Cars and trucks are a much bigger pie.
“Automotive wants the solution. You've got to come to them with a finished product,” said Russ Pancio, business development manager for Sigmatex Ltd., which displayed its woven carbon fiber mats at JEC Americas. The mats are later turned into prepregs.
Pancio, who works out of the U.K.-based company's U.S. office in Benicia, Calif., said the carbon fiber industry will need to get bigger to meet future demand from mainstream vehicles. “The plants have to be able to handle it,” he said.
Push for lower costs