Solid, stable and ultra-light

After all, transportation and mobility are buttresses of Germany’s economic strength, while plastics are one of the main end-markets for Evonik’s products worldwide.

Lightweight construction materials are used in airplanes

Lower costs, better environmental profile

Plastics are lightweight. That’s why they are increasingly being used in the automotive and aviation sectors. Reducing weight cuts fuel consumption, which lowers costs and cuts emissions. However, the limitations of plastics are being reached in these industries. For example, poor conductivity hamper their use in aviation engineering because additional components such as lightning conductors are needed. Similarly, conventional plastics have their limitations when its comes to large-scale coating of automotive bodies.

Better than conventional lightweight construction materials

CNT-based materials could eliminate these weaknesses because they are ultra light yet extremely strong and stable. They also have other strengths compared with today’s lightweight plastics. CNT-modified materials will therefore play a key role in the automobile industry as well as in aviation and aerospace in the future. CarboCar is developing new composites for use in airplanes and automobiles. The objective is to develop and evaluate integrated functions in components with class A surfaces and electrical conductivity.