Reducing the weight of a vehicle by 10% leads to a 7% reduction in fuel consumption and consequently in CO2 emissions.
Caprocast is a technology that enables low cost, sustainable thermoplastic composite materials with good mechanical properties to be produced via RTM-injection moulding. One of the main sectors of application is the automotive industry.
Composite materials are the solution to vehicle lightweighting, sustainability and rapid production cycles. Furthermore, there is a third advantage: low cost of the raw materials. This technology also focuses on other sectors, such as sports, construction or the machine-tool sector.
Using the Caprocast technology, components for vehicles can be produced, such as bumpers, suspension arms, structural chassis beams, anti-intrusion door reinforcements or any other part with structural requirements. They are all 40% lighter than their metal counterparts. Furthermore, there are also advantages that thermoset composites do not offer, such as sustainability and recyclability. Compared with other technologies available on the market, ours is characterised for being a more versatile process and for extending the durability of the raw materials throughout processing.
Reducing the weight of a vehicle by 10% leads to a 7% reduction in fuel consumption and consequently in CO2 emissions. New, less pollutant, electric vehicles must minimise the structure weight, not only to reduce consumption, but also to offset the weight of the batteries.
Further information
Our colleague, Sonia García-Arrieta, PhD, Head of the Thermoplastic Composite Materials Line in the Industry and Transport Division at TECNALIA explains it to us in greater detail in this video:
