China's leading supplier of composite auto parts and also a supplier of carbon fiber covers for the future sports car K50 in China.
SZHT carbon fiber has been specializing in the application of carbon fiber covering parts in automobiles since 2014.
On August 8, 2018, Qianqi Automobile released its K50, the first pure electric sports car, which is said to be the first domestic pure electric sports car. According to reports, this is a sports car full of modern technology, with a carbon fiber body + all-aluminum frame structure. The vehicle uses 29 carbon fiber composite material exterior parts, except for front and rear bumpers and glass, all cover parts are made of carbon fiber. The total weight is only 46.7 kg, which is 60% lighter than traditional steel materials and 35% lighter than aluminum alloy materials.
Except for the front and rear bumpers and glass, all cover parts of the K50 are made of carbon fiber. The total weight is only 46.7 kg, which is 60% lighter than steel and 35% lighter than aluminum alloy.
Carbon fiber gives K50 more flexibility while reducing weight. The huge front cover is extremely smooth without any characteristic lines. It was said that at that time, Qianqi Auto independently designed the only carbon fiber body cover production line in China for this purpose.
The hero behind the future car carbon fiber body cover is today's Suzhou Huate Times Carbon Fiber Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as: Huate Times). The predecessor of Walter Times is the molding workshop of Future Cars. Since 2014, it has specialized in the application of carbon fiber coverings to automobiles. In 2018, the molding workshop became independent and registered as Suzhou Walter Times Carbon Fiber Co., Ltd.
Xiong Fei, General Manager of Suzhou Huate Times Carbon Fiber Co., Ltd.
In an interview with CPRJ China Plastics and Rubber magazine, Xiong Fei, the general manager of Huate Times, said that at present, 45% of the company's main business components provide carbon fiber parts for future vehicles, and 55% provide carbon fiber products for other OEMs or other customers .
According to reports, The Walter Times covers most common carbon fiber composite material molding processes, such as prepreg molding, autoclave molding, air bag compression molding, vacuum bag compression molding, and resin transfer molding. Huate Carbon Fiber is focused on the carbon fiber application side. It is mainly engaged in the research and development, production, sales and technical service of carbon fiber composite material automotive parts, and has the qualification and ability to provide bulk supply to OEMs. At present, the Walter Times has a highly automated and informatized production line. The construction capacity of the first phase is capable of producing 30,000 carbon fiber composite automotive parts per year.
Six applications of carbon fiber
CPRJ: In your opinion, what is the application prospect of carbon fiber in automobiles?
Xiong Fei: Carbon fiber composite material is an important revolution and innovation in the field of materials. In addition to its excellent high strength, high modulus, high temperature resistance, fatigue resistance, electrical conductivity, and light weight, carbon fiber composite materials also have excellent comprehensive properties. Mechanical properties: Specific strength (ratio of strength to density), specific modulus (ratio of modulus to density), and specific energy absorption (effectively destroying the energy absorbed per unit mass within the length) are quite high.
In addition, carbon fiber composites have different aesthetics compared to other materials due to the variety of fabric weaving. Therefore, the application of carbon fiber must be considered in combination with its material characteristics.
Application of carbon fiber materials in automotive parts
CPRJ: What are the specific applications of carbon fiber in automobiles?
Xiong Fei: In my opinion, the application of carbon fiber in automobiles can be considered from six aspects.
The first is appearance parts, such as carbon fiber cover, carbon fiber door, etc. This is also where carbon fiber is mainly used in the automotive aftermarket, which is both beautiful and light;
The second is interior parts, such as some modified carbon fiber steering wheels, or instrument panel covers, etc. The carbon fiber interior parts produced using special processes not only retain the carbon fiber texture and feel smooth, but also very beautiful.
The third is structural reinforcements, which give full play to the performance advantages of carbon fiber composite materials. By connecting and compounding with other structural components (metal or plastic), they greatly enhance their mechanical properties. For example, A-pillars, B-pillars, crash beams, joints, etc. This improves the overall strength, modal, and resistance to bending and torsion. The more typical model that has been successfully applied is the BMW 7 Series.
The fourth is functional integration. Utilizing the characteristics of the carbon fiber molding process, many previous design principles were put aside during the design and many pieces were integrated together. Like the future K50 carbon fiber roof, it has only one piece in total, but integrates the traditional design of left and right A-pillar reinforcement plates, left and right upper beam reinforcement plates, roof front beams, roof reinforcement beams, roof rear beams, and roof total 8 parts. Greatly reduced development costs and cycles.
Fifth, parts made from recyclable carbon fiber felt. For places where the strength requirements are not high, some parts can be made from recyclable carbon fiber. This not only reduces costs, but also improves the recyclability of the entire vehicle.
Finally, there are some accessories and decorative parts.
Therefore, the application prospect of carbon fiber in automobiles is very broad, but what is lacking now is the compound talents who really understand carbon fiber materials and automotive product design. The application of carbon fiber must understand carbon fiber, and from the beginning of the design, we must consider the performance, process, production and other aspects of carbon fiber.
Carbon fiber mass production
CPRJ: In the automotive application of carbon fiber composites, did the Walt Times make efforts?
Xiong Fei: The Future K50 is the world's first mass-produced sports car using carbon fiber coverings. As its sole supplier of carbon fiber coverings, Walt Times has done a lot of work on the batch application of carbon fibers. First of all, we independently developed a fully automatic, information-based production line with Industry 4.0 to meet the batch requirements of K50.
At the same time, we have a complete product development process that corresponds to the entire vehicle development process of the OEM. From customer needs, project innovation, material selection, structural design, process design, CAE analysis, material verification, project confirmation, prototype production, To mass production, a development closed loop is formed.
In addition, we focus on basic research, from resins, fabrics to various basic experiments, and continuously accumulate data to provide customers with a package of technology and product services from materials to products.
Carbon Fiber Plant
Is carbon fiber bulk application really expensive?
CPRJ: Some people say that there is no way to use carbon fiber in batches in automobiles because the cost is too high. What do you think for this?
Xiong Fei: Everyone's general impression of carbon fiber is high strength, light weight and high cost. However, this cost only considers the cost of materials. If you look at the cost of the entire product development, the cost of carbon fiber is not necessarily higher than that of steel.
CPRJ: Can you give an example?
Xiong Fei: The top cover of the future K50 is always an example. The steel top cover assembly has 8 parts and requires at least 24 molds. The development cost is more than 5 million. The development cycle is about 1 year. However, the carbon fiber top cover molding only requires one mold, and the development cost is only 800,000. From design freeze to delivery, it can be done in three months.
So, taking into account development costs and time savings, carbon fiber will still have a cost advantage over steel to a certain extent, and it will also be significantly lighter and more valuable.
Where is the potential for future carbon fiber applications?
CPRJ: Do you think that carbon fiber may replace steel or aluminum alloy in automotive materials in the future?
Xiong Fei: Instead of the ultimate goal of the development of carbon fiber materials, each material has its advantages and disadvantages. What we want is to combine their advantages and avoid their disadvantages. Now the trend of automotive materials is "composite materials". "Composite materials" are not traditional composite materials such as carbon fibers and plastics, but cross-type materials such as steel and aluminum alloy, steel and plastic, steel and carbon fiber, aluminum alloy and carbon fiber, plastic and carbon fiber.
CPRJ: What are the main applications of carbon fiber in the future?
Xiong Fei: The advantages of carbon fiber are high strength and low density. Therefore, the main application point of future carbon fiber is structural strengthening. It will not replace steel or aluminum alloy, it will make steel or aluminum alloy stronger.