Elmarakbi,   Ahmed   (2015)   Novel   Composite   Materials   for   Automotive 

Applications: Concepts and Challenges for Energy­Efficient and Safe Vehicles. 
In:   10th   International   Conference   on   Composites   Science   and   Technology, 
ICCST/10, 2­4 September 2015, Lisbon, Portugal. 

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 10th International Conference on Composite Science and Technology
ICCST/10
A.L. Araújo, J.R. Correia, C.M. Mota Soares, et al. (Editors)

© IDMEC 2015

NOVEL COMPOSITE MATERIALS FOR AUTOMOTIVE APPLICATIONS:

CONCEPTS AND CHALLENGES FOR ENERGY-EFFICIENT AND SAFE
VEHICLES

Ahmed Elmarakbi*, Wiyao Leleng Azoti*

*
Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of Sunderland, Sunderland, UK, SR6 0DD
[email protected], [email protected],

Key words: Automotive applications, Composite modelling and design, Energy efficient and
safe vehicles, Graphene, Graphene composites.

Summary: The present work provides an overview on Graphene Related materials (GRM)
for automotive applications and investigates efficient ways to integrate Graphene as polymer
reinforcements within composite materials for energy-efficient and safe vehicles (EESVs).
The idea is based on the Concept-oriented lightweight design aiming of combination of light
structures with novel multifunctional materials. For such a purpose, GRM are addressed
with respect to some challenging factors for instance the large scale production of Graphene
or the non-existence of constitutive material models for high performance structural
applications like crashworthiness. Therefore, accurate material models need to be developed
to support simulation of structural design for these vehicles. A focus on the hierarchical
modelling of GRM with an emphasis on the multiscale constitutive behaviours of each
material phase is elaborated in the framework of the Graphene Flagship to well understand
such limitations for a full applicability of Graphene.

1 INTRODUCTION
The need for reducing motors engines pollution has been generalized since the carbon
footprint become an important design parameter for improving the fuel economy of
conventional, gasoline-powered automobiles. Electric-based vehicles, advanced combustion
and fuels technologies have been developed to improve energy efficiency of cars and trucks.
Lightweight materials are another important technology that can improve passenger vehicle
fuel efficiency by 6–8% for each 10% reduction in weight while also making electric and
alternative vehicles more competitive [1]. Therefore, the new generation of vehicles must be
lighter, less polluting and more fuel-efficient. Their design should be developed aiming for
individual mobility whilst also retaining safety, environmental friendliness and affordability
[2]. These issues can be overcome by the design of Energy Efficient and Safe Vehicles
EESVs which represents a good alternative for conventional vehicles. EESVs embed
engineering research mainly focused on the area low carbon vehicles, electrical and hybrid
vehicles, advanced materials and structures, vehicles safety and crashworthiness, vehicles
dynamics control systems, fuel cells, advanced maintenance, digital engineering
technologies, human factors and manufacturing systems. This engineering strategy known as
Concept-oriented lightweight design results in the combination of light structures and
 Ahmed Elmarakbi, Wiyao Leleng Azoti

multifunctional materials. However, significant hurdles remain with respect to improved

performance, manufacturability, cost, and modelling for such materials [1]. As a
consequence, considerable materials science effort and new discovery need to be developed
to overcome these hurdles. The discovery Graphene with its interesting properties in terms of
tensile strength and elastic modulus, electrical and thermal conductivity, thermal stability, gas
barrier, and flame retardance has opened promising window for designing novel light
composites while improving trade-off between lightweighting and safety issues.
In this work, it is aimed to analyse novel Graphene-based composite materials and their
potential applications on EESVs. To this end, the generalised use of composite materials in
automotive is presented as well as the energy efficiency processing with the trade-off with
safety. The design concepts of novel Graphene/Polymer composite materials for EESVs is
elaborated to enhance both vehicle and occupant safety; yet remain very light with the main
issues related to technological challenges ahead of EESVs. Finally, a focus is made on the
hierarchical material modelling that accounts for the constitutive behaviour of each phase
within the composite by a multiscale strategy.

2 AUTOMOTIVE AND COMPOSITE MATERIALS: CONVENTIONAL

COMPOSITE MATERIALS AND THEIR USE IN AUTOMOTIVE APPLICATION
IN GENERAL
The growing trend to substitute conventional steel and cast irons in vehicles for
lightweight purpose leads to the development of automotive components with lighter
materials. Among them, conventional materials for instance aluminium or magnesium alloy
and ultra high strength steel are used in the engine block, cylinder heads as well as in
transmission, cases, valves bodies and channel plates [4]. Besides these materials, others
categories show most promise for instance fibre-reinforced polymer composites (including
carbon and glass fibres), and advanced polymers (without fibre reinforcement) [1]. Other
materials such as metal matrix composites MMC are also considered with a low-cost
development processing. These latter i.e MMC cover a range of non-metallic particles/fibres
based metallic matrix with a significant improvement of tensile, yield and fatigue strength
over the entire range of temperature. MMCs have also enhanced physical properties such as
higher modulus, lower thermal expansion coefficient, improved tribology characteristics and
higher hardness versus unreinforced Aluminium [4]. An illustration of the use of MMCs in
automotive is within the engine block cylinder liners. Indeed, Cole et al. [4] reported that Al
MMC liners can improve engine operating efficiency by reducing knock since heat transfer
from the cylinder to the water jacket is improved as the result of its increased thermal
conductivity. Another application of MMC is found with the pistons. Indeed, by using low
coefficient of expansion/ low thermal conductivity/high strength MMC insert at piston
combustion face, Toyota produced pistons for diesel engines which could run at higher
temperature leading, therefore, to reduced emissions in gasoline engines [4].

3 ENERGY EFFICIENT AND SAFE VEHICLES: GENERAL ENERGY

EFFICIENCY PROCESSING/SOLUTIONS AND THEIR RELATIONS/TRADE OFF
WITH SAFETY
The energy efficiency is supported by variety of technology among which the weight
reduction through multifunctional materials. They are essential for boosting the fuel economy
of modern automobiles while maintaining safety and performance. Because it takes less
energy to accelerate a lighter object than a heavier one, lightweight materials offer great

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potential for increasing vehicle efficiency. Joost [1] reported that 10% reduction in vehicle
weight can result in a 6%-8% fuel economy improvement when vehicle performance
characteristics are maintained. A 10% weight reduction for an electric vehicle can improve
electric range by 13.7% while a 5.1% improvement in fuel economy for a 10% weight
reduction in a hybrid electric vehicle [1].
Replacing cast iron and traditional steel components with lightweight materials such as
high-strength steel, magnesium (Mg) alloys, aluminium (Al) alloys, carbon fibre, and
polymer composites can directly reduce the weight of a vehicle's body and chassis by up to
50 percent. However, significant problems exist regards to safety trade-off. They are
concerned with improved performance, manufacturability, cost, and modelling. Joost [1]
identify the following hurdles regards to advanced materials used in the automotive weight
reduction:
 Advanced high-strength steels AHSS: No identified microstructures for meeting both
strength and ductility requirements of third-generation AHSS; susceptibility to local
failure during forming and crash; difficulty incorporating significant
hardening/softening behaviour associated with forming and joining into processing
and design models;
 Aluminium alloys: Limited formability of automotive grades at room temperature;
relatively high cost of sheet material; difficulty casting complex, high-strength parts;
insufficient strength and/or stiffness for certain structural applications;
 Magnesium alloys: Very low formability of sheet alloys at room temperature;
challenge cost effectively preventing galvanic corrosion; insufficient strength,
ductility, and stiffness for certain structural applications; difficulty incorporating
unique deformation behaviour into processing and design models;
 Fibre-reinforced polymer composites: High cost of carbon fibre; limited weight
reduction potential of glass fibre; long cycle times for many process; difficulty
incorporating structure at many length scales into processing and design models;
 Advanced polymers: Low cure rates associated with ease of mold-filling increases
cycle times; petroleum-based precursors are dependent upon the price of oil while
nonpetroleum precursors are not yet mature; susceptible to deterioration during high-
temperature processing such as in automotive paint ovens.
Overcoming these technical hurdles requires considerable materials science effort and new
discovery. That is the case of Graphene. It has attracted both academic and industrial interest
because it can produce a dramatic improvement in properties at low filler content.

4 NOVEL COMPOSITES SOLUTIONS: GRAPHENE-BASED COMPOSITES

Graphene is expected to have plenty of potential applications and the most immediate
application for Graphene-based products is to be used in composite materials. The particular
example of polymer nano-composites or polymer matrix composites which incorporate
nanoscale filler materials could be highlighted. Indeed, Graphene-based polymers show
substantial property enhancements at much lower loadings than polymer composites with
conventional micron-scale fillers (such as glass or carbon fibres), which ultimately results in
lower component weight and can simplify processing. Moreover, the multifunctional
property enhancements made possible with nano-composites may create new applications of
polymers. It has been found that by dispersing a small amount of Graphene in polymers,
many properties of the resulting composites, such as tensile strength and elastic modulus,
electrical and thermal conductivity, thermal stability, gas barrier, and flame retardance can be

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significantly improved. Based on these multifunctional properties, Graphene/polymer

composites are promising as both structural and functional composites that can be widely
used in various important fields. The previous mentioned properties make Graphene-based
polymers and composites good candidate for structural materials, with integration of
functionalities, within automotive sector. However, to take full advantage of its properties for
applications, integration of individual Graphene in polymer matrices is prime important.
Many challenges, in terms of mechanical and interfacial properties can affect the final
properties and applications of Graphene-based polymer composites

4.1 Concepts
They are based on the Concept-oriented lightweight design that results in the combination
of light structures with novel multifunctional materials. The Graphene Flagship through one
of its comprehensive tasks, the innovative Graphene-based Polymer Composite materials for
Automotive iGCAuto applications, proposes to combine novel materials concepts with the
latest safety design approaches through the development and optimization of advanced ultra-
light Graphene-based polymer materials, efficient fabrication and manufacturing processes,
and life-cycle analysis to reduce the environmental impact of future vehicles. It allows the
utilisation of Graphene-based materials in the fabrication of nanocomposites with different
polymer matrices to be investigated, modelled, and designed, as candidate for structural
applications, to enhance both vehicle and occupant safety; yet remain very light (Figure 1).
This material will provide benefits such as improved strength, dimensional stability and
better thermal behaviour, better flame behaviour (active as flame retardant and for reducing
the emission of smoke), and superior durability.

Figure 1: Potential applications of Graphene-based composite in automotive

The initiative also focuses on the development of advanced Graphene-based materials for
vehicles, contributing to an accelerated market introduction of new energy-efficient and safe
vehicles (Figure 2). This initiative is complex and multidisciplinary by nature. In order to
successfully reach the technical objectives of the work, a holistic approach is adapted to
include a wide range of activities spanning from material development and new synthesis to
final products and new joining and fabrication technologies as shown in Figure 3.

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Figure 2: Moving towards Graphene-based composite Car

Figure 3: Approach for Automotive Graphene Composites

4.2 Technological challenges ahead of Graphene-based composites

Though, several technologies are embedded in the next generations of multifunctional
Graphene-based composites, there are still a lot of technological challenges to overcome,
particularly in the area of the type of Graphene used and its intrinsic properties, the
dispersion state of Graphene in the polymer matrix and its interfacial interactions, the amount
of wrinkling in the Graphene, and its network structure in the matrix can affect the final
properties and applications of Graphene-based polymer composites [5]. Hence, the present
challenges for researchers are in the development of lightweight, high-performance, cost-
effective and multi-material solutions:
 Lack of new methods of large scale production of Graphene based products -
mechanical exfoliation is not scalable to an industrial process;
 Lack of new methods of functionalization;

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 Investigation of the exfoliation process of Graphene based material during the

process;
 Expected low ductility of Graphene-based composites structure. Considering
implementation on several vehicle components (i.e. front end), this will lead to high
vehicles’ deceleration, which minimising the vehicle safety;
 Insufficient knowledge on attainable strength/stiffness of Graphene thermosets/
thermoplastic polymer composites;
 No existed materials model on commercial explicit finite element software to model
Graphene based composite materials for high performance structural applications;
 Graphene-based composite material characterisation and modelling still not fully
investigated especially with regard to automotive applications and different loading
conditions;
 Lack of knowledge on Graphene composites for high performance structural
applications and interface properties between the Graphene and polymer matrix under
severe loading condition (i.e. fragmentation and crash);
 Preparation of automotive composites-Lack of knowledge on how to design in
Graphene composites automotive structures that can offer high stiffness, strength and
predictable and safe failure modes;
 Nowadays vehicle and body architectures do not usually take advantage of the
essential qualities of new composite materials;
 Some approaches to joining and bonding of Graphene-based composites parts
insufficiently covered by simulation and modelling tools; no automotive experience
available;
 The joining of dissimilar materials is not covered by an appropriate know-how and
several critical points are not yet solved by the scientific community and researcher;
 Great attentions focused on embedded CO2 in overall LCA within lightweighting
process; however, no solid info on how to evaluate pro’s and con’s inside design
process.
Besides, great efforts will be given to establish and develop a reliable material models and
constitutive laws to investigate the energy absorption characteristics of new developed
Graphene-based polymer composites. New combination of several modelling techniques will
be considered including Molecular Models (i.e. Monte Carlo Simulations); Continuum
Models (i.e. Eshelby Model, Mori-Tanaka, representative volume elements (RVE), and
Halpin-Tsai Model); and then using smooth transition analysis considering combination of
both meso-scale and multi-scale modelling.

5 APPLICATION EXAMPLE ON THE MODELLING OF GRAPHENE

COMPOSITE MATERIALS FOR AUTOMOTIVE APPLICATION
A working modelling example is depicted by Figure 4. It deals with a multiscale
modelling of Graphene/polymer composites for automotive lightweighting or
crashworthiness purposes. The constitutive law of each phase in the composite is accounted
for by a comprehension derivation of the mechanical properties. Indeed, a starting point of
such modelling is the derivation of Graphene Sheets mechanical properties. At the atomistic
scale, the Graphene sheet is considered undergoing non-linear deformations. Therefore, a
Taylor series expansion in powers of strains [6], establishes the expressions of its second
order linear elastic modulus E and third order non-linear elastic modulus D. This enables the
derivation of a non-linear constitutive behaviour and thus based on the Modified Morse

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 Ahmed Elmarakbi, Wiyao Leleng Azoti

potential [7, 8]. For the polymer matrix, a rate-dependent elasto-plastic behaviour is selected
to account for the crashworthiness. Also, it is assumed that the matrix undergoes ductile
damage behaviours with either isotropic or kinematic hardening. The modelling strategy
developed in [9] is used to express the consistent tangent operator of the polymer matrix.

Figure 4: Multiscale modelling of Graphene/polymer composites

The homogenized properties of the Graphene Polymer Composites are derived by

combining atomistic continuum approaches with micromechanics methods. To this end, a
RVE is selected such as Graphene sheet represents the inclusion phase that will be embedded
in the polymer matrix phase. To resolve the heterogeneous material problem, the kinematic
integral equation of Dederichs and Zeller [10] is used as formal solution of micromechanics
problem leading to the derivation of the global concentration tensors of Graphene and
polymer phases. At this level, the multi-site version of the global concentration tensor is
adopted by accounting for the topological (spatial orientation and distribution of the phases)
and morphological (aspect ratio, volume fraction, mechanical properties) textures. Mean-
fields approaches (Mori-Tanaka [11], Self-Consistent [12-14], Generalized Self-Consistent
[15, 16], Incremental [17] or Differential [18] schemes) can therefore be applied for the

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overall response of the composite. A Double-scale approach combining Graphene Polymer

composite developed above as matrix phase in which are embedded carbon fibres is used to
carry out the effective response of a carbon fibre-reinforced Graphene Polymer composite.
Finally, the proposed constitutive law is proposed to be implemented within a finite
element code as a user defined material subroutine (UMAT). The explicit nonlinear finite
element code LS-DYNA represents an effective tool to numerically simulate the problem and
to predict the effect of the crash load on the proposed composite materials and its
components. This software has the ability to simulate dynamic structural response in several
ways, including pure Lagrangian, and coupled Lagrange–Eulerian methods. This accurate
and reliable numerical simulation does not exist in the market for initial design concept for
automotive applications for such novel Graphene-based composite materials.

6 IMPACT
This initiative will impact on the quality of life: ultra-light vehicles will offer low energy
consumption, and low CO2 impact. The lightweighting of vehicles will accelerate their
uptake in many market segments, and this in turn will have a direct positive impact especially
on the quality of life in environments that today are suffering from excessive amounts of
NOx and other unhealthy greenhouse gases (GHG), combined with excessive concentrations
of diesel particles. The project will result in the development of the world’s first graphene-
based polymer materials to be used in a large scale for vehicle bodies, in order to enhance
their efficiency and safety standards. The results will benefit the automotive companies and
relevant industries with optimised graphene-composite material properties in body parts,
body-in-white, chassis and heavier interior systems. The development of novel materials will
be of huge benefit to the global automotive industry. As the developed material could be used
in several applications, the impact of the research will benefit a wide range of industry.
The main application targeted in this work is the automotive industry. This initiative also
assures its impact in this sector by the inclusion of world-class academic and industrial
partners within both automotive and materials sectors that, though focussing principally on
passenger vehicle applications, will assure spin-off to their industrial vehicles affiliates.
Higher performance composite parts offer a tremendous light-weighting benefit to transport
vehicle sectors, of which automotive is by far the largest. Lightweighting is a top strategic
and competitive priority for all transport vehicle industries, and cost effectiveness as well as
industrialisation are key issues that remain as yet unsolved.

7 CONCLUSION
Lightweighting becomes an important issue for energy efficiency in automotive. It arises
the need for developing a novel generation of materials that will combine both weight
reduction and safety issues. Throughout this work, the applicability of Graphene-based
polymer composite materials is discussed regards to the fulfilment of these requirements. For
such a composite, open challenges concerning Graphene reinforcements need to be
addressed. They are related for instance to interfacial behaviour in the overall response,
crashworthiness optimisation, large-scale applications. From modelling view point, this
initiative presents strategies to overcome the above limitations by developing appropriate
constitutive models to integrate the macro-scale behaviour. These strategies bind
combination of several techniques form Molecular mechanics to Continuum mechanics.
Finally, the developed constitutive is candidate for an implementation within a finite element
code for instance LS-DYNA.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union
Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement no. 604391 Graphene Flagship.

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