Automotive Lightweight Material Market Share

The demand for lightweight materials has shot up in the last few years. The players in the automotive industry have been forced by strict laws and customer pressure to make vehicles with low carbon emissions through using lighter materials. Lightweight materials such as aluminum, high-strength steel and composites have become important because their use leads to lighter vehicles which consume less fuel and emit less CO2.
Aluminum is considered as a major player in the global trend of reducing vehicle weight. It is very light but strong and hence preferred for making body panels, chassis among other parts. In addition, electric vehicles require lighter components in order to increase their range. Furthermore, its corrosion resistance makes it suitable for durable design of cars.
High strength steel is another major driver towards the lightweighting trends. Advanced high-strength steels (AHSS) are stronger but lighter than regular steel that allows designing safer cars without compromising on fuel economy. This metal can be used throughout the automobile assembly from structural parts to safety equipment aimed at achieving overall better performance.
Composites of fibers and resins are increasingly being employed in quest of lightness. These materials have good strength to weight ratio thus can be modified accordingly for specific design needs. Carbon fiber reinforced composites tend to be common in luxury and high-performance automobiles due to their great strength-to-weight ratios among others features like lightness that they possess; however, a number of issues including costliness hinder mass adoption by mainstream auto-manufacturing companies.
Other market trends indicate that there is an interest towards new materials and technologies. For example, ongoing efforts are underway on advancing polymers matrix composites, magnesium alloys and hybrid systems as tools to achieve unprecedented reductions in mass with respect to automobile manufacturing techniques. 3-D Printing methods also provide intricate parts with minimal wastage of material weight additive manufacturing processes unlike traditional methods.