Hitachi Metals to start working on new aluminium-carbon composites for auto components

Japanese automobile and electronics parts manufacturer Hitachi Metals Ltd announced plans to develop a new aluminium-carbon composite that is 60 per cent lighter than steel and can be a cost-effective alternative of the presently available carbon fibres composites for automobile makers.

The manufacturing company will start working on the project at a new R&D facility that is to be launched next spring. Hitachi hopes to come up with a workable version of the new aluminium-carbon composite by 2025. The material, a composite of two otherwise incompatible elements- aluminium and carbon, can be used in suspensions and various structural parts of a car.

With the new material, Hitachi aims to solve the problem of joint corrosion that is common with these composites. The company will be using advanced casting technologies related to joining and surface processing to produce aluminium-carbon composites having fairly high anti-corrosion properties.



Manufacturing of auto components made of aluminium-carbon composites is cost-effective because it hardly requires installation of any new machinery. It can be mass-produced at a cheaper cost compared to other carbon fibre composites. Besides, aluminium being a light, highly ductile and formable metal helps auto manufacturers to reduce weight of their vehicles while giving them adequate design flexibility.

Hitachi Metals plans to promote the aluminium-carbon composite as an 'intermediate choice' in terms of cost and strength between aluminium and carbon fibre composites which are otherwise very expensive to make.

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There is a steady growth in demand for lightweight vehicles all over the world. The Japanese company wants to cash in on this buoyancy by positioning the new material effectively in the automotive components market.