Hutchinson constantly innovates through innovative materials custom-developed for its customers. One such material is composite, which offers numerous benefits to make vehicles lighter and thus reduce CO2 emissions.
Composite: a strong material with multiple properties
Composite is a combination of several materials: a carbon or glass fiber reinforcement, a thermosetting or thermoplastic resin, etc. By combining each material’s performances in a targeted way, we obtain greater strength and create a customized material with a very low density. Composite therefore offers a very good alternative to conventional materials such as steel or aluminum, and a significant reduction in the weight of equipment for cars, planes, etc.
Product design: a lever to maximize the benefits of composite
Vehicle weight reduction is essential to comply with new environmental standards which are increasingly demanding in terms of CO2 emissions. Composite is an ideal material to meet this challenge because it can reduce the weight of a part by up to 70 %! Hutchinson manages to reduce this weight significantly not just through the material but also through control of the product’s design: attention paid to design enables parts already made in composite material to be optimized even further.
Incomparable multi-market synergies
Through its multi-market expertise, Hutchinson can enable its aviation and car industry customers to benefit from the technological advances and specific process advantages of each market. The car industry is a concrete example of our capacity to produce composite parts in large volumes and aviation provides relevant details concerning design rules.
Numerous optimizations can be made by capitalizing on the synergies of the various markets, allowing us to envisage zero CO2 emissions vehicles in the future. Composite is therefore an ideal material for building sustainable mobility.
