In recent years, in the face of increasingly severe environmental protection and emission reduction challenges, it is imperative for traditional cars to promote lightweight design. For electric vehicles, the lighter body design is expected to ease one of the biggest bottlenecks currently hindering its development, namely the contradiction between cruising range and vehicle weight; its importance is unparalleled.
As the world's leading specialty chemical company, Evonik has long been committed to the lightweight development of the automotive industry, and has taken the lead in finding another breakthrough in curing agents for epoxy system sheet molding compounds (SMC). This is Evonik's leading amine-based curing system, VESTALITE® S.
Make automotive molding compounds have better mechanical properties and lower emissions
Evonik and Vestaro worked together to develop the VESTALITE® S, an amine curing system for epoxy SMC technology. At present, automotive components including tailgates and luggage compartment lids have been manufactured using SMC technology. The technology is robust and fast, with a wide range of freedom in geometric design and functional integration.
Li Shuanghu, technical engineer of Evonik's crosslinker business line, said: "VESTALITE® S as an ideal solution for epoxy SMC has three main advantages: First, the system has a low mixing viscosity and good wettability with reinforcing fibers. SMC material has high storage stability. High production efficiency, can be cured within 3 minutes at high temperature. Second, the cured product has excellent mechanical properties and heat resistance. Finally, its volatile organic compounds ( (VOC) emissions are extremely low, in line with increasingly stringent environmental protection policies. "
Significant weight reduction of components, unlocking the lightweight potential of automobiles
In the "Lightweight Open Innovation Challenge" hosted by the European Automobile Lightweight Feasibility Alliance in 2018, scientists from the Automotive Engineering Institute (IKA) of the Aachen University of Technology in Germany demonstrated the VESTALITE® S system carbon fiber-SMC components in Potential in prototype car parts.
The experimental reference part is a steel tailgate. The inner panel of the tailgate is replaced by VESTALITE® S carbon fiber-SMC element. The simulation results show that the stiffness values of VESTALITE® S carbon fiber-SMC components are almost the same as the steel reference values under various load conditions. More importantly, the weight of the internal structure of the preliminary designed tailgate was reduced from 3.96 kg of steel to 2.01 kg, and the weight of the components was reduced by nearly 50%.
On the other hand, the life cycle assessment results of VESTALITE® S carbon fiber-SMC components show that the reduction in CO2 equivalent emissions during the entire life of the component is reduced by more than 15% compared to steel due to weight reduction. The scientific evidence of scientific research has made the VESTALITE® S system SMC stand out from 22 applications from 9 countries and become one of the four winners of the challenge.
This makes us can't help thinking: if in the future more epoxy SMC is used on the appropriate components to achieve the integration of functions and components, the weight of the product can be further reduced. This will not only improve the cost-effectiveness of car manufacturers, but also contribute to the overall ecological balance of the car and promote the sustainable development of the industry.
Currently, Evonik is working with partners in the automotive industry to verify other potential applications, further unlocking the potential of automotive lightweighting.