Lanxess has supplied thermoplastic composites to make a hybrid-molded rear bumper beam for Honda’s new fuel cell vehicle (FCV).
Clarity Fuel Cell is the latest model in the range of hydrogen electric vehicles from Honda and incorporates Lanxess’ Tepex continuous and long-fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites with PA 6 matrix in the part.
The worldwide automotive industry is facing increasing restrictions on CO2 emissions and therefore automakers actively developing zero emission vehicles such as FCVs. These trends have been driving the demand for innovative materials and new technologies to make cars lighter. Lanxess has developed a one-shot hybrid molding process for making large components out of its plastic and glass fiber composite. The result is approximately 50% weight reduction compared to the metal solution and a streamlining of the production process, the company said.
‘With this application, we not only realized the first rear bumper beam made out of Tepex and Durethan material, we also have the first serial automotive production in the Asia Pacific region for our composite material Tepex,’ said Deniz Guerkan, manager technical marketing and business development.
This story is adapted from material from Lanxess, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.
