The Ministry of the Environment's Nano-Cellulose Vehicle (NCV) Project has successfully developed a sports car made of cellulose nanofiber (CNF).
The project aims to replace car body parts made mainly of steel with car parts made of cellulose nanofibers as much as possible. Toyota Motor Corporation's 86 compact sports car is one of the goals of the project implementation plan. Cellulose nanofiber is a new type of lightweight and strong material made of wood, and its commercialization is accelerating in the automotive field.
The newly developed components based on cellulose nanofibers include the front cover, trunk lid, top sill, seat back, intake manifold, door trim, hood, etc. of the Toyota 86 sports car. In particular, large parts such as front covers and trunk lids are more noticeable because large parts are difficult to form and require new production technologies. Reducing the weight of such parts can have a big impact.
The front cover, based on cellulose nanofibers, weighs 8 kg, which is 40% lighter than existing steel front covers (14 kg). The front cover has a three-layer structure, and a foamed polyurethane layer (core material) is sandwiched between the inner layer and the outer layer. The thickness of the foamed polyurethane layer is about 10mm, and the thickness of the inner layer and the outer layer are 1mm (the total thickness is about 12mm). Cellulose nanofibers are mainly used for the inner layer and the outer layer. The latest development aims to reduce the part forming time from about 30 minutes to less than 10 minutes.
On the other hand, the trunk lid based on cellulose nanofibers uses honeycomb paper made of cellulose nanofibers as the core material and is sandwiched between cellulose nanofiber boards. This type of structure is called "cellulose nanofiber honeycomb clips." Core board. " All trunk lid components are made of cellulose nanofibers only and weigh only about 0.7 kg. The trunk lid with cellulose nanofiber honeycomb sandwich structure increases rigidity by increasing thickness. In addition, due to the air layer, the trunk lid also has unique sound insulation and thermal insulation properties. Toyota is currently improving its waterproof performance, because non-water resistance is also one of the problems with the trunk lid.