Biocomposites in Automotive Applications

1. APPLICATION TRENDS
01. FRP TODAY NEWS. VOL. 13. ISSUE 08 . AUGUST 2013
Biocomposites in Automotive Applications
Introduction
The recent forecasts indicate that the Crude oil
price will reach $100 dollar per barrel in 2015,
$120 price in 2020, $130 in 2025, and $150 per
barrel in 2035.Now we all in a situation of lack
of crude oil and not sure of its availability for
long term. Research sources say that we have
only crude oil at least for 45 to 60 years
maximum. The shortage of crude oil will hit
entire world and the businesses. Latest
discoveries of bioplastics, natural bers and
natural gas and hydrogen gives hope to the
sustainability. Companies in many industries
have started their research and development
projects on to produce chemicals, monomers;
polymers commercially by using renewable
feed stocks which are consume less energy and
produce fewer green house gas emissions. This
progress in Green Chemistry is affecting the
supply chains of many manufacturers in the
recent years. It is considered, 2010 as golden
year for bioplastics market where lots of
developments taken place and few succeeded
bio-based materials are introduced in the
market. Thus drives the industry to focus on
agricultural waste and its related projects.The
It seems that the Crude oil price will rise up to 100 dollarperbarrel
in 2015, $120 price in 2020, $130 in 2025, and $150 per barrel in
2035.Now we all in a situation of lack of crude oil and not sure of its
availability for long term. The research sources say that we have
only crude oil at least for 45 to 60 years maximum. The shortage of
crude oil will hit entire world and the businesses. Latest discoveries
of bioplastics, natural bers and natural gas and hydrogen gives
hope tothe sustainability.
rapid growth of bioplastics which is accounted
as 1% of total fossil based plastics in the world
market today. The newly introduced
bioplastics not only help the industry but also
makes us not dependant on crude oil anymore.
In addition to bioplastics market, Natural bres
use in various applications is going to increase
in the coming years. All giants are taking part
in Green chemistry now and there are lots of
biobased materials will replace conventional
materials in the next 3-5 years period.
Countries like Thailand, Brazil are becoming
leaders in production of monomers and
biopolymers. There is some scope for the
countries like India, china and South Korea to
get expand their production capacity of bio
based monomer and bio-polymer facilities in
the next 3 years. Europe and USAare leaders in
consumption of bioplastics at the moment. The
natural bre use is very limited so far but the
automotive sector adopts natural bre in
various parts in recent years.The Japanese
government has set a goal that 20% of all
plastics consumed in Japan will be renewably
sourcedby 2020.
POEMA system by Mercedes Benz
from1992
Mercedes Benz started the production of
headrests of the car using coconut ber and
natural rubber as POEMA system in Amazon
area in Brazil from 1991.This activity became
the rst start to use natural ber, and many
NFRP parts are used for German car
now.(Source;MiyukiTomari)
Arkema is the rst company which produces
bio-based Polyamide (PA) decades ago. Now
DSM and few more started offering PA with
improved properties which can well suited for
automotive applications. Toyota Motor Corp
has plans to add bio-PET in their new car
series. Bio based PP also will nd its place
when it is been offered to the market
commercially. Toyota's new electric hybrid
also has bioplastics in their interiors. Toyota
,Ford and few others use soy based seat
cushion and they have started adding various
bioplastics in all their passenger cars. Fiat also
use castor oil derived polyamide and soy
derived poly urethanes lately. Thus make all
car manufacturers are not dependent on Fossil
based plastics anymore. Fiat Automobiles has
Muthuramalingam Krishnan
Gruntech Polymer Consultants, India
E mail: muthu@gruntech.com
Muthuramalingam Krishnan

2. APPLICATION TRENDS
02. FRP TODAY NEWS. VOL. 13. ISSUE 08 . AUGUST 2013
reduced its average emissions by 14%, from
137.3 to 118.2 g/km of CO , signicantly lower2
than the target set out by the European Union
for 2015, which has been xed at 130 g/ km.For
example to say about Renewable resources
benets to human life, with biogas produce
from 10 banana skin, can able to drive a car for
about 1 km.The agricultural chemistries are the
one which going to help out the world demands
inallsectorsinthecomingdecades.
Other leading car manufacturers are focused
on bioplastics use in interiors and working on
to make lighter parts for exterior parts. Lexus
also uses KENAF-the Natural in their cars.The
main factors which are focused by the car
manufacturers are Load bearing Structures,
light weight, cost, and exibility to all
moulding processes and resistance to UV,
chemical, re. University Nothingam has
made 3.5 metre blade by using Flax with
polyester which is suitable for an 11kW wind
turbine.
Flax has got anti fungus property and Hemp
fabric was tested against two bacteria strains,
Staphylococcus Aureus (staph) and Klebsiella
Pneumoniae (pneumonia). The fabric tested
was a hemp blend, 60% hemp and 40% rayon.
The staph test sample was already 98.5%
bacteria free during the rst measurement of
the testing. This shows that the Hemp has got
great potential in the usage of many
applications.
When compare with 100% PLA resin with
PLA+Kenaf, the biocomposites of PLA/Kenaf
results higher heat deection temperature,
exural strength, exural modulus and impact
strength which is almost as equal as PC/Glass
ber composite properties. This PLA/Kenaf
biocomposites is being used by NEC and
Unitika Ltd for producing mobile phone
housings.
In recent days, Nano cellulose ber has got
great scope of use in many applications. Now
biocomposites industry has started focus on
Nano cellulose ber for its outstanding
properties .In recent years, the new discovery
that intensive processing of wood releases
ultra-small, or "nano" cellulose bres, so tiny
that 50,000 could t inside across the width of a
single strand of human hair.Nano-cellulose
bres can be added to raw material where it can
replace glass/aramid, carbon biocomposites
that are stronger and more durable. These
bres are from banana and pineapple which are
s u p e r s t r o n g  b r e s ( a s s t i f f a s
Kevlar),sustainable, lighter and more eco-
friendly thus leads them to nd their use in
automotive applications in future. In the next 3
years, there will be more usage of this ber in
armourandbulletproofvests.
It's a good sign in the automotive industry to
add more bioplastics in their parts and can
reduce vehicle weight and also less GHG
emissionwhichmakesthemnamedGreen.
The world itself is focusing on renewable and
sustainability. The automobile industry is
already focused on so many alternate to fossil
based plastics and metals. It's been witnessed
by polymer composites with its natural bre
composites which has been imparted with
thermoplastic or thermoset resins to make
lighter parts when compare to thick metal
parts.Thus has proved the car manufacturers to
reduce 1 ton of total vehicle weight in the
recent years. Auto manufacturers are not
concern about prices of fossil based plastics.
They want to have good mechanical properties
and aesthetic look and exible to manufacture
various machinery processes. Even the
thermoset Epoxy resin chemistry can be bio
sourced.
Solvay group is producing bio-based
epichlorohydrin in Thailand and also bio
sourced corn byproduct Isosorbide to create a
derivative that can be used to replace bisphenol
A (BPA) in epoxy resins. These developments
will boost the theromoset plastic market in a
big way. The recycling also improved over the
years by using vegetable oil to separate natural
bre from the biocomposites parts.EVONIK's
Vestamid Terra Grade with Rayon bre
reinforced with Bio Poly Amide for
automobileapplications.
Source: Miyuki Tomari
History of natural ber composite in Japan
 1955-;Sound insulatorandseatmaterialofclothewaste's cottonber.
 2000;Door innerofkenaf/PPcompositebyLexus.
 2003;Roofliningofcarbon/sisalcompositebyTOYOTA.
 2003;Sparetirecoverof kenaf/PLA(PolylacticAcid)byTOYOTA.
 2006;Tailgate trim of bamboo/ PBS (Polybutylenesuccinate) composite by
Mitsubishi.
 2007;Carspeakerconeusingbambooberby Panasonic.
 2009;SeatcushionusingpolyolfromcastoroilbyToyotaBoshoku.
 2011;Seatfabricof cottonandPETcombinationbyMitsubishiMotors.
 2012;Kenafber compositeof injectionmoldingbyToyotaBoshoku.
 2012;Steeringwheel&interiorpartsofbamboocompositebyLexus.
 Future:PersonalmobilitydeviceusingnaturalmaterialsbyTOYOTA.

3. APPLICATION TRENDS
03. FRP TODAY NEWS. VOL. 13. ISSUE 08 . AUGUST 2013
Natural Fibres can be reinforced with
biopolymer resin to obtain the optimum
strength in the car exterior parts. As bio based
PP (Polypropylene) and bio-PVC are not yet
reached commercial production yet.At present
Long Fibre reinforced with fossil based
Polypropylene material for producing Car
Battery support trays and brake uid reservoir.
These parts are going to be replaced by
bioplastics in coming years. The same way, car
bumpers and door panels expected to have
Natural bre reinforced bioplastics in exterior
parts such as lighting,mirror,grills,chassis
pillars ,fenders and wipers)and interior parts
(seats,dashboardconsoles,airbag,moldings,ex
pansion tank, window encaps,engine support
and engine cover,pedal,ABS,o-rings and
wires, radiatorsupport)intheautomotive.
Use ofNFRPinGermanCar
Mercedes Benz S class offering 27 parts which
are used by Natural Fiber Reinforced Plastics
with the weight of 42.7 kg.There are
possibilities of introducing Natural ber in
many of the parts by German car makers at the
moment. Some parts, carbon and glass bers
have been used to have better strength on
certain parts in the vehicle segment. The NFRP
is low damage to environment because natural
ber is carbon neutral and renewable
resources. The NFRP waste can be recycled
with thermal recovery. The applications of
NFRP are increasing gradually in automotive
industry.In the next 4 years; there will be many
parts which can be used with Biocomposites.
Europe is 10 years ahead of USA and other
Automotive parts using natural cotton ber wastes
Toyota Camry since 2006
Instrumental panel using ax & PP by Faurecia SA S-class :27 parts
countries in biocomposites market.The
countries such as Japan,Germany,Italy,France
Canada are becoming more active in
biocompositesmarket.

4. APPLICATION TRENDS
04. FRP TODAY NEWS. VOL. 13. ISSUE 08 . AUGUST 2013
DevelopmentofNFRPinJapan
The Japanese government has set a goal that
20% of all plastics consumed in Japan will be
renewablysourcedby 2020.
The door inner board using NFRP of Kenaf
PP
In Toyota Lexus and Camry, Mark X, the
composite material of kenaf ber and
polypropylene (PP) is used for the inner board
of door panel from 2000.It reduces approx
20% weight reduction of door panel board.
Toyota produces kenaf board in Indon esia at its
own plantation and plans to mold kenaf
products in Japan, Thailand, China and the
USA.
Concept CarbyTOYOTA
Concept of EV using banana ber by
SUZUKI
SUZUKI exhibited concept EV using banana
ber. In this EV, composite of banana ber mat
colored for green and epoxy resin is used for
NFRP Kenaf / PP
Kenaf Fiber with PLA
Kenaf Fiber with PLA
Lexus GS from 2012
banana ber (green color) / epoxy
Made from Flax ber

5. APPLICATION TRENDS
05. FRP TODAY NEWS. VOL. 13. ISSUE 08 . AUGUST 2013
body outer. We can see the green ber through
transparent epoxy resin. And yarn mixed with
colored banana ber and cotton was used for
seat fabric. Furthermore, mat of colored
banana ber which molded by binder was set
on theoor.
Natural bres absorb vibrations better than an
articial bre and are easier to handle during
production. Natural bre properties are lower
than glass bre and the density is also lower.
Natural bres need to be processed to obtain a
bre length range, generally 1-5mm with low
particulate level. Surface treatments such as
plasma,corona,surfacebrillation,Acetylation,
Silane,isocyanate reactions, Alkaline swelling
need to improve bonding to matrix. The
BioMobile project was launched in Freiburg
using a technology developed by Bcomp. It
challengesthetraditionalconceptofthecar.
Car speaker cone using bamboo ber by
Panasonic
Panasonic developed speaker cone using
paper from bamboo ber on 2007. The
company utilizes bamboo ber because it
grows faster than soft wood. And it is lighter
and harder than wood. In this cone, short
ber and long ber of bamboo are mixed. The
surface of short ber is opened rag to make
rigid cone. Hence, bamboo cone speaker has a
wider sound and good treble than
conventional wooden papercone.