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Prevalent Substitution Trends within Materials and Chemicals in Automotive Lightweighting
Frost & Sullivan, June 2011, Pages: 183
This Frost & Sullivan research service titled Prevalent Substitution Trends within Materials and Chemicals in Automotive Lightweighting analyses the various growth trends, substitution trends, market size, pricing, competition, geographies, applications and market forecasts of nine automotive material types. These are advanced high-strength steels (AHSS), aluminium, magnesium, polypropylene, polyamides (PA6 and PA66), polyurethanes, acrylo-nitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), thermosetting composites, and high-performance polymers {PA11, PA12, PA46, polyphthalamide (PPA), polyphenylene sulphide (PPS), polyetheretherketone (PEEK)}. In this research, Frost & Sullivan's expert analysts thoroughly examine the following applications: exterior and body-in-white (BIW), interior and under-the-hood.
Market Overview
Aluminium Accounted for 34.6 Per cent of the $38.00 Billion Automotive Materials Market in 2010
Greater Need for Fuel-efficiency Promotes the Use of Lightweight Materials in Automobiles
The legislation-driven automotive industry is gearing up for a game-changing shift to lighter materials to conform to environmental regulations. To assuage growing concerns about excessive greenhouse gases, governments all over the world have been passing laws mandating a reduction in vehicular carbon emissions. These laws have resulted in the lowering of vehicles’ weight through the replacement of heavy materials in certain systems with lighter alternatives, as the weight of the automobile has a direct bearing on its fuel efficiency. A 10 per cent reduction in vehicle weight offers fuel savings of 5 to 7 per cent (in mpg), provided the vehicle’s powertrain is also downsized. The greater incorporation of lightweight materials will help European OEMs to reduce emissions from the current levels of 160 g/km to 130 g/km by 2012-2015. Similarly, American automakers have to achieve the set average fleet fuel efficiency target of 35.0-39.0 mpg (miles per gallon) by 2016 with the passing of the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulation.
“While these laws go a long way in easing environmental concerns, they also challenge OEMs to find innovative solutions to comply with them and still stay profitable,” says the analyst of this research. For instance, the end-of-life directive in Europe compels automakers to minimize the waste created when a vehicle reaches the end of its useful life. On one hand, it encourages the incorporation of recyclable lightweight materials in passenger vehicles and on the other, it hinders the market growth of thermosets and carbon composites. Lightweight materials do decrease the overall weight and emissions, but it also hikes the costs considerably. The business of both OEMs and tier-I suppliers took a hit during the economic downturn and in such unfavourable economic conditions, they will hardly be enthusiastic about shifting from a metal-based assembly to alternative materials. The numerous regulations related to fuel efficiency, low carbon emissions and end-of-life are likely to remain stringent over the next ten years. Non-compliance with them will invite hefty fines, which will further strain OEMs’ margins.
Among all lightweight materials, aluminium leads in volume and revenue, while polymers are finding an increasing number of takers, mainly due to the low cost-to-performance ratio depending upon part size, shape and complexity. The adoption rate of plastics will be low in structural parts, which require robust impact resistance properties. Plastics need to overcome some of the challenges with respect to material behaviour under stress, high temperatures and fibre orientation within the base matrix material. Substitution among different types of plastics will be prevalent in car interiors, where polypropylene applications will dominate. In the under-the-hood segment, polyamides will continue to dominate over other types of polymers. “OEMs should encourage polymer suppliers to further develop and commercialise advanced polymeric materials that can compete against metals at several levels,” notes the analyst. “At the same time, improved predictive analysis is crucial for enhanced modelling of the behaviour of structural plastic parts.” Refinement of the molding and fabrication processes as well as joining techniques is also necessary to facilitate the adoption of plastics.
Market Sectors
Expert Frost & Sullivan analysts thoroughly examine the following market sectors in this research:
By Material Types:
- Advanced high-strength steels (AHSS)
- Aluminium
- Magnesium
- Polypropylene
- Polyamides (PA6 and PA66)
- Polyurethanes
- Acrylo-nitrile butadiene styrene (ABS)
- Thermosetting composites
- High-performance polymers (PA11, PA12, PA46, PPA, PPS, PEEK)
By Application:
- Body-in-white (BIW)
- Exterior
- Interior
- Under-the-hood
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