Nissan leads the way in carbon fiber parts production

Nissan leads advances in carbon fiber part production

This new technology reduces manufacturing time for high-performance components that make cars safer, lighter, and more efficient.

A material used in the manufacture of airplanes, rockets, and sports cars could gain a foothold in mainstream models thanks to a new production technology developed by Nissan.

This new technology consists of a new production process that accelerates the manufacturing of parts made of carbon fiber reinforced plastics, or CFRP. Lightweight and highly resistant, this material can be used to manufacture cars that are lighter, safer, and more efficient. Currently, Nissan uses carbon fiber exclusively in the iconic 2020 GT-R Nismo supercar. Using carbon fiber in high areas of the car, such as the roof and hood, helps lower the vehicle’s center of gravity, making it more agile and exciting to drive.

Nissan’s goal is to apply new processes to the mass production of CFRP parts and implement them in more models to reach an ever-increasing number of customers. This innovation can reduce the time required to manufacture these components by up to half and the molding cycle time by 80% compared to conventional methods.

While its advantages are well known, carbon fiber is expensive compared to other materials such as steel. Coupled with the difficulty of molding CFRP parts, this has hampered the mass production of automotive components made from this material and limited it to the realm of racing cars and high-performance sports cars.

Nissan has developed a new technology for the existing production method known as compression resin transfer molding. The current method requires forming the carbon fiber into the correct shape and placing it in a mold with a small gap between the upper mold and the carbon fibers. The resin is then injected into the fiber and left to harden.

Nissan engineers have developed techniques to properly simulate the permeability of the resin in carbon fiber. They observed the behavior of liquid resin in a mold using an internal temperature sensor and a transparent mold. The result of the successful simulation was a high-quality component in a shorter development time.

Thanks to this important breakthrough achieved by Nissan technicians, which allows them to lead the way in carbon fiber construction technology, the brand will be able to build lighter, more efficient, and safer cars for all customers in the future, extending the cutting-edge technology of the iconic GT-R Nismo to the rest of the models in the range.

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