On the Development of Lightweight IP Carrier 2017-01-0502

Now weight reduction is increasingly needed in automotive industry to improve fuel efficiency and to reduce emission. Various lightweight technologies have been used to vehicles. Because of its heavy weight and complex shape, IP carrier tends to be integration and weight intensive. Therefore lightweight is necessary for IP carrier. This paper lists the fourth lightweight technologies used for IP carrier by now, which are Magnesium alloy part, Aluminum alloy part, Hybrid composite part, Composite material injection part. For magnesium alloy part and aluminum alloy part, they have been mass produced for some years. The hybrid composite part has been researched for some years. Recently, the injection composite part has been researched and some parts have been developed and tested. By outlining the design, manufacturing, weight reduction and cost of these lightweight technologies, this paper fully analyzed these used technologies. Specifically, it will cover the analysis of the advantage and disadvantage of these technologies. By comparing these technologies and together the cost, manufacturing, weight reduction, the aluminum alloy part is the best lightweight solution presently for the relatively low cost and high weight reduction, although it is low parts consolidation vs. the other three technologies. However, for luxury car, the composite material injection part can be used. In the future, as the cost of composite material reduction, the composite material injection part would be the best choice for its advantage of manufacture simplicity and high degree integration.