Source：Sister Publication of American Plastics News

Ford Motor Company has signed an agreement with a carbon fiber manufacturer, to develop the “mass” application of light materials jointly.

Its partner DowAksa Company is a joint venture of Dow Chemical and a Turkish company. This cooperation is based on the information issued by Ford in its launch of GT super car in January, which will adopt carbon fiber composite and aluminum materials, and be released in limited quantity next year.

The promise of Ford to reduce the vehicle weight has been embodied on F-150 of the aluminum body. Ford claims that carbon fiber can further reduce the weight without compromising the safety and performace of cars. The challenge of auto industry is to reduce the price of carbon fiber for high volume production of cars and trucks.

Director at Vehicle Enterprise Sciences for Ford Research & Advanced Engineering, Mike Whitens expanded on this by saying “This joint development agreement reinforces Ford’s commitment to our partnership with DowAksa, and our drive to bring carbon fiber components to the broader market. The goal of our work here fits within the company’s Blueprint for Sustainability, where future Ford vehicles will be lighter with optimized performance that would help consumers further improve fuel economy and reduce emissions.”

Ford has said carbon-fiber body panels and other elements will give the GT, whose 3.5-litre, twin-turbocharged V6 engine will produce more than 600 hp, one of the best power-to-weight ratios of any production vehicle. But it plans to sell only 250 of the cars annually due to carbon-fiber production constraints.

DowAska vice chairman Mehmet Ali Berkman said, “Automotive manufacturers’ use of carbon fiber composites has been hindered by the absence of both high-volume manufacturing methods and affordable material formats. “This partnership combines the individual strengths of each company to target these challenges.”