Advanced Automotive Technology: Visions of a Super-Efficient Family Car

TABLE 3-1: Lightweight Materials: Relative Component Costs and Weight Savings

Relative materials Relative Weight savings

Cast applications cost (per pound) component cost (Percentage)

Cast iron (base) 1.0 1.0 Base

Cast aluminum 1.8-2.2 1.0 50-60

Cast magnesium 3.0 1.0 65-75

Body structural

applications

Mild steel (base) 1.0 1.0 Base

High-strength steel 1.1 1.0^10

Aluminum 4.0 2.0 40-50

Glass fiber-reinforced

polymers 3.0 0,8a 25-35

Carbon fiber-reinforced

polymers^10

b-30c

1.25-2.25a 50-65

a Assuming low-cost resin transfer molding process is developed; with current processes, relative

component costs would be two times higher.

b Assuming 50 percent carbon fiber at $6 per prod.

c Assuming 50 percent carbon fiber at $20 per pound.

SOURCE: National Materials Advisory Board, Materials Research Agenda for the Automotive
and Aircraft Industries, NMAB-468 (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1993).