Environmentally friendly and cost-reducing: fiber-reinforced composites are setting trends in lightweight design for the trucking industry – Part1
April 30th, 2010 | By Frank in Allgemein, Automotive Industry, Construction Industry, Exhibitors, Innovation, Trucks | No Comments »Sustainability and energy efficiency: What does the future look like for international freight traffic? What new approach can freight forwarders and logistics specialists adopt, so that they are able to transport their clients’ large loads under favorable conditions? How can such an approach ensure high environmental standards? The solution lies in lightweight design for trucks and freight containers, where fuel consumption and transport costs are reduced, CO2 emissions are lowered and climate friendliness is increased.









Despite the increase in production capacities, the demand for carbon fibres continues to be far greater than the supply. This is evident from the annual market survey by the AVK – Industrievereinigung Verstärkte Kunststoffe e.V. The worldwide capacity in 2007 is estimated to have been 55,000 tons. The applications are multifarious and consist primarily of the sports sector, wind energy, the oil industry, the automobile and transport sector as well as civil engineering. By 2010, an annual increase in the demand for CRP is predicted to be between 14 and 16 per cent. This is due to the development of new applications over and above the previous use. Current new developments can be found, e.g. with hydrogen tanks, although the main application continues to be aviation. Experts think that even though fibre production will experience a double-digit increase as expected, there will continue to be bottlenecks at least in the medium-term.