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While carbon fiber is not as cost effective as traditional materials, as innovations in fuel efficiency decrease, engineers must look at other areas of the car to improve efficiency.  with the use of carbon fiber, cars would be more efficient, and   there would be less greenhouse gasses.  With the added strength attributed to carbon fiber, cars would be safer.

Carbon fiber, due to new government regulations is becoming increasingly more attractive for use in automotive applications. This is because while powertrain technologies are advancing, they are not advancing at a fast-enough pace to maintain and increase fuel efficiency. As a result, the weight of the car must be decreased in order to reach the goals set forth in the new regulations. However, carbon fiber’s use does not come without its caveats. Carbon fiber is known for being difficult and time consuming to work with. If carbon fiber can be designed and manufactured in a manner that would allow for high volume production, there would be no question about if carbon fiber should be used in automotive manufacturing.

https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44451.pdf

I learned quite a great deal from his presentation. Aside from enjoying his name, I learned a lot about something called fair use. I find this idea of fair use an interesting one because, the rise of youtube poses a new challenge to this idea, and with professional youtubers producing and making a living off of videos about other’s content. In an increasingly digital world, I think that with the sharing of more and more ideas and content is certainly a good thing. We must remain vigilant to make sure that everyone is getting their due credit. After all, I would want to receive credit for my work.

Thesis:

While carbon fiber is not as cost effective as traditional materials, as innovations in fuel efficiency decrease, engineers  must look at other areas of  the car to improve efficiency.  with the use of carbon fiber, cars would be more efficient, and   there would be less greenhouse gasses.  With the added strength attributed to carbon fiber, cars would be safer. 

Argument:

Carbon fiber , due to  new government regulations is becoming increasingly more attractive for use in automotive applications. This is because while powertrain technologies are advancing, they are not advancing at a fast enough pace to maintain and increase fuel efficiency. As a result, The weight of the car must be decreased in order to reach the goals set forth in the new regulations. However, carbon fiber’s use does not come without its caveats. Carbon fiber is known for being difficult and time consuming to work with. If carbon fiber can be designed and manufactured in a manner that would allow for high volume production, there would be no question about if carbon fiber should be used in automotive manufacturing.

Sources:

Decker, L., & Truskin, J. (2015). Design of a Composite Structural Panel for High Volume Production. SAE International Journal of Passenger Cars: Mechanical Systems, 8(2), 531–537. https://doi.org/10.4271/2015-01-1311

BABJAK, Š., DÚBRAVČÍK, M., & KENDER, Š. (2012). Composites in the Automotive Production. Annals of the Faculty of Engineering Hunedoara – International Journal of Engineering, 10(3), 77–82. Retrieved from http://proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=102165577&site=ehost-live

Decker, L., & Truskin, J. (2015). Design of a Composite Structural Panel for High Volume Production. SAE International Journal of Passenger Cars: Mechanical Systems, 8(2), 531–537. https://doi.org/10.4271/2015-01-1311

This source covers the design of a composite panel for high volume production in the automotive industry

both of the authors work at FCA or fiat/Chrysler of America, which is a huge automotive company

I chose this source because it speaks about the way one would design a panel for high volume, which would be needed in order for widespread use

this article is three years old, so a lot of the material is very much still relevant

i found this article on academic search complete, through osu libraries

BABJAK, Š., DÚBRAVČÍK, M., & KENDER, Š. (2012). Composites in the Automotive Production. Annals of the Faculty of Engineering Hunedoara – International Journal of Engineering, 10(3), 77–82. Retrieved from http://proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=102165577&site=ehost-live

this source covers why one would chose carbon fiber over other materials when building a car

the authors are engineers who research carbon fiber and are knowledgeable when it comes to writing about its properties

i chose this source because it helps make a case on why carbon fiber would be a better material than steel or aluminum

the article is only six years old and the properties of carbon fiber have not changed since then.

Malnati, P. (2012). AUTOMOTIVE CFRP: Repair or Replace. High Performance Composites, 20(3), 46–53. Retrieved from http://proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=76166472&site=ehost-live

this was chosen because it  speaks of how carbon fiber can be repaired and/or when it should be replaced

this author is credible because he has written numerous articles on various applications of carbon fiber in the automotive industry

i chose this, because it helps support the argument that carbon fiber can be repaired, rather than needing to be completely replaced after a crash or other damage

this article is only six years old and the process for repairing carbon fiber has not changed since then

While carbon fiber is not as cost effective as traditional materials, as innovations in fuel efficiency decrease, engineers  must look at other areas of  the car to improve efficiency.  with the use of carbon fiber, cars would be more efficient, and   there would be less greenhouse gasses.  With the added strength attributed to carbon fiber, cars would be safer. 

1> Carbon fiber is generally stronger, and lighter than traditional materials. With internal combustion engines reaching peak efficiencies, with no real new innovations, engineers turn to reducing the weight of the car to help increase fuel efficiency.

2>Carbon fiber is roughly 10 times stronger than steel and 8 times as strong as aluminum.

3>The largest benefit to using carbon fiber in the automotive industry is the the added strength as well as the stiffness.

4>Carbon fiber  is generally more harmful to the environment as it uses toxic epoxies and resins to bond together

5>I believe carbon fiber will find widespread use. AS innovations with the internal combustion engine grind to a fault, engineers will look to other methods to increase fuel efficiency. I.e. Reducing weight

6>Perhaps the biggest drawback to carbon fiber’s use is cost, and time unlike steel carbon fiber cannot be reused as easily as steel and carbon fiber usually requires more skilled workers as opposed to autonomy.

7>Again, the strength and stiffness are the largest benefits to using carbon fiber. One could make a case that it looks nicer as well

8> carbon fiber is much more expensive than steel to manufacture, and further down the supply chain, it takes skilled workers and less automation to use, in addition, carbon fiber is harder to scale in a  automotive manufacturing setting.

9>While there are materials that are stronger, such as graphene and carbon nanotube technology, these materials have yet to make it out of a lab setting.

10>Again, carbon fiber is going to be harder to work with just because it requires a skilled worker, and at this point in time isn’t able to be done by robots.

I think that a student at OSU could benefit from the information that Chris and Beth brought because, as a student myself, I feel that the library and its resources are often underutilized. Too many times I see other students just sleeping in the library as apposed to using the resources. Using the resources that Chris and Beth talked about would allow anyone to not only write a better paper, but finish faster.

Why use carbon fiber in automotive manufacturing?

Potential Experts: People on the Formula SAE team here at OSU, People who work at Wolf Composites.

Ten questions:

1. Why use carbon fiber in place of more traditional materials?
2. How much stronger is carbon fiber in relation to those traditional materials
3. Are there any other benefits to using carbon fiber in manufacturing
4. how does carbon fiber manufacturing relate to the environment
5. Will carbon fiber find widespread use in the automotive industry? why or why not?
6. What are some drawback to the use of carbon fiber in the automotive industry?
7. what are some benefits to using carbon fiber
8. How does cost factor in to the use of carbon fiber
9. are there alternatives to carbon fiber that could be used?
10. in relation to traditional methods, is carbon fiber harder or easier to work with?  why?

Possible sources:

1. https://www.machinedesign.com/contributing-technical-experts/will-carbon-fiber-find-widespread-use-automotive-industry
2. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2238785415000599
3. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264838761_Prediction_of_energy_intensity_of_carbon_fiber_reinforced_plastics_for_mass-produced_passenger_cars
4. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11837-006-0234-2
5. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11837-006-0233-3
6. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032112000135