Design and manufacturing of direct mirco- and long-fibre lightweight composites

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The automotive industry is one of the core markets for long-fibre thermoplastic (LFT) composites because oftheir inherent advantages such as weight-effectiveness, structural dimensional stability, high strength, enhancedmodulus, superior creep resistance, and heat resistance. There is always market pressure for innovation andrevolution to reduce cost, fuel consumption, and weight of the vehicle. Direct long-tibre thermoplastic (0-LFTcompounding and molding is the new market trend in the automotive industry for manufacturing structuralbody parts as well as exterior body panels. While numerous advances have been made in the manufacturingmethods of 0-LFT technology, particularly in fatigue behavior and damping properties, it still finds limitedapplications in the North American automotive industry. This is mostly because it requires high throughputproduction (500,000 units or more) to be cost-effective. Use of natural fibres in the 0-LFT compoundingprocess has been impeded by the lack of availability of continuous long fibre and the lack of requirements(such as thermal degradation, and compatibility) identified by the automotive industry. The objective of thisresearch is to develop high performance cellulose fibre reinforced composites by developing a unique and highthroughput Microfibre-Direct Long Fibre processing Technology (MF-DLFT). This technology integratesstandard DLFT with the cellulose microfibre composite processing technology developed at the Univer.$ity ofToronto (U ofT) to produce automotive parts using renewable and petrochemical-based polymers, reinforcedwith continuous mineral fibres and discontinuous natural fibres. At this moment, the proposed technology iscurrently beyond the means of all major Canadian research institutions, and thus, needs close workingcollaboration with Ford Motor Co., one of the leading automotive manufacturers in Canada. The outcome ofthis research will be a quantum leap forward in developing new automotive components by reducing the partweight and will benefit Ford by helping them to fulfill their vision of utilizing the maximum amount of highstrength composite materials from renewable resources.