Trucking Looking to Follow Aerospace Example for Composites

1. Trucking Looking to Follow Aerospace Example for Composites Manufacturers of long-haul trucks are increasingly adopting composites, like carbon fiber, into their designs. But just like the auto industry, the percentage of composite materials used in new trucks is comparably low. It's not like the airline industry where composite adoption is now at the 50% mark. And yet the example set by aerospace leaders is giving truck manufacturers something to shoot for. According to Composites World's Karen Mason, the truck manufacturing sector is hoping to adopt a much larger volume of carbon fiber per vehicle by sometime during the middle of the next decade. Let us put this in simple terms: they want to start building carbon fiber trucks and trailers by the mid-2020s. Mason believes this is entirely possible. She cites the transition in aerospace that saw composite adoption at Boeing jump from 9% in the 777 to 50% in the 787. She reports that the trucking industry is looking to do the same thing. Yet they have a way to go. Aerospace companies like Boeing are not using carbon fiber for structural purposes. Truck manufacturers must in order to reach their goals. And quite simply, carbon fiber just isn't there yet. Structure vs. Skin Take your average commercial airplane built with 50% composite materials. The skin of that plane is likely made of composites. Peel back that skin and you'll see that the interior structures are either steel or aluminum. The same is true in auto and truck manufacturing. Take a car or truck with a carbon fiber body. Remove the body and you'll find metal underneath. In order for truck manufacturers to get to 50% adoption of composites, a complete rethink of how those materials are integrated into vehicle design must take place, according to Mason. We couldn't agree more. Carbon fiber is an incredibly strong material compared to both aluminum and steel. But it does have its inherent weaknesses. First and foremost, it's not very flexible. Carbon fiber also doesn't absorb shock very well. The combination of these two weaknesses explains why no manufacturer has yet built an open-deck trailer made entirely of carbon fiber.

2. For that to change, engineers have to start with a ground-up design featuring composites at the very core. They are doing just that in the trucking sector right now. But what they are doing goes well beyond building open-deck trailers. Mason says engineers are looking at everything from drive shafts to axles to wheels and suspension parts. A Better, Stronger Truck The ultimate goal is to create a better, stronger truck with increased capacity and fuel mileage. Succeeding in building a 50% cfrom the ground up could even lead to replacing diesel engines with electric motors. Wouldn't that be something? An all-electric long-haul truck strong enough to carry typical loads but light enough to not damage roads. In the meantime, Mason says manufacturers are gaining plenty of knowledge using composites even on a limited scale. They are learning what works and what doesn't work. They are learning how to utilize fabricating processes to create the kind of parts they want quickly and efficiently. Everything they are learning will eventually go into the process of making the next generation of long-haul trucks. Hopefully they will reach their targets as planned. Just like the airline industry, composite materials could completely revolutionize long-haul trucking in ways that make it more profitable. Lighter trucks would mean heavier loads and more volume per load. That would mean greater profitability, fewer vehicles on the road, and possibly an end to the driver shortage. It's all good.