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Dow & Clemson University to make new lightweight vehicle

13 Aug '15

2 min read

Dow Automotive Systems, a leading global provider of collaborative solutions and advanced materials for original equipment manufacturers, tier suppliers, aftermarket customers, and commercial transportation manufacturers, is collaborating on advanced technology and application ideas with students at Clemson University's International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR).

Each year, the CU-ICAR students work with an automotive manufacturer to develop a concept vehicle that achieves futuristic goals. This year's version, the Deep Orange 5 vehicle, is focused on achieving personal urban mobility for so-called mega-cities in 2020. CU-ICAR students specified Dow Automotive Systems BETAFORCE and BETAMATE structural adhesives as part of the Deep Orange 5 vehicle joining strategy, with the goal of successfully bonding aluminium and carbon fibre composite for body panels and the vehicle structure.

Epoxy resins from Dow Automotive Systems were also specified for the upper body structures that were produced via a resin transfer moulding on a carbon fibre pre-form. The carbon fibre and epoxy materials enabled weight savings and helped create a lower center of gravity for the vehicle, according to a company release.

Allan James, composite structures marketing manager at Dow Automotive Systems said, “To help the Deep Orange development team achieve their lightweighting goals, Dow Automotive Systems created a customized formulation of a VORAFORCE epoxy resin matrix system. This enabled the VORAFORCE to offer an adjusted cure time to work with the Deep Orange development system. It's exactly like the collaborative work we do with customers. Once we understand their production goals and systems, we can formulate products that meet specific needs.”

Dr. Paul Venhovens, BMW Endowed Chair in Systems integration at CU-ICAR said, “Working with the experienced team and proven materials from Dow Automotive Systems gave us great insight and helped us achieve some of our most important goals. We were pleased to successfully bond dissimilar substrates and get an epoxy system for the carbon fibre structures that would support our production capabilities. We look forward to working with Dow Automotive Systems again on the Deep Orange 6 vehicle.”

CU-ICAR is a 250-acre advanced-technology research campus where university, industry and government organizations collaborate. (GK)

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