Japan looks to wood pulp to make auto parts lighter

kyoto — The global push among carmakers to make ever lighter vehicles is leading some auto suppliers in Japan to turn to what seems like an unlikely substitute for steel — wood.

Japanese researchers and auto component makers say a material made from wood pulp weighs just one fifth of steel and can be five times stronger.

The material — cellulose nanofibres — could become a viable alternative to steel in the decades ahead, they say, although it faces competition from carbonbased materials, and remains a long way from being commercially viable.

Reducing the weight of a vehicle will be critical as manufacturers move to bring electric cars into the mainstream. Batteries are an expensive but vital component, so a reduction in car weight will mean fewer batteries will be needed to power the vehicle, saving on costs.

“Lightweighting is a constant issue for us,” said Masanori Matsushiro, a project manager overseeing body design at Toyota Motor Corp. “But we also have to resolve the issue of high manufacturing costs before we see an increased use of new, lighter-weight materials in mass-volume cars.”

Researchers at Kyoto University and major parts suppliers such as Denso Corp, Toyota’s biggest supplier, and DaikyoNishikawa Corp, are working with plastics incorporated with cellulose nanofibres — made by breaking down wood pulp fibres into several hundredths of a micron (one thousandth of a millimetre). — Reuters