Comparison of using Carbon Fiber instead of Aluminum Alloys in Automobile paneling

California State University, Channel Islands - EMEC 221

Written By Benjamin Barukh
Under Supervision of Dr. Scarlet Relle
Thursday, May 15, 2022
Table of Contents
Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………………… 1
Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………….. 1
Comparisons ……………………………………………………………………………………. 2
Corrosion & Wear ……………………………………………………………………… 2
Mode of Failure ………………………………………………………………………… 3
Long-term ………………………………………………………………………. 3
Explosive ……………………………………………………………………….. 4
Production ……………………………………………………………………………… 5
Calculations …………………………………………………………………………………….. 7
Conclusions …………………………………………………………………………………….. 8
References ……………………………………………………………………………………… 9

Abstract
A comparison of Carbon Fiber and Aluminum Alloys to see which would be best for use as
paneling in the automobile industry. Examining different specification of 6016 Aluminum alloy
and Twill weave epoxy Carbon Fiber and comparing them to each other in the view of Corrosion
& Wear, Mode of Failure, and production. It was found that the Carbon Fiber has superior yield
strength, corrosion resistance, and density, and the 6016 Aluminum at the better ductility and
production and recycling process. Recommending that the Twill weave epoxy Carbon Fiber be
used for automobile paneling instead of 6016 Aluminum.

Introduction
The lighter a vehicle is the better the fuel efficiency, but problem with some metals if we
go for lighter ones, there are some other drawbacks that come in to play. According to Cote's
Auto Body [7], there are five commonly used metals in automobiles, that being steel, aluminum,
magnesium, iron, and titanium, all of which come with their own pros and cons. Magnesium and
titanium and be quite expressive and hard to come by and are not frequently used. Iron is
becoming less used, and steels are the most predominantly used still but are heavy. So, a good
metal to look at for comparison would be aluminum, its stronger and lighter than steel, and more
rust resistant, but as a drawback it can be harder to work. There is a hand full of aluminum alloys
used during production, but for the comparison I’ll be discussing the alloy used for the paneling
(shown in red, in figure 1), that alloy being Aluminum 6016, which is created by alloying
aluminum with silicon, iron, copper, manganese, magnesium, zinc, chromium, and titanium, the
amounts can vary somewhat, but according to aluminumalloyplate.com [2], it is approximately
97.6 wt% aluminum. What I am going to be
discussing is using a Carbon Fiber composite as
a substitution of for the material used in the
paneling of vehicles in the automotive industry.
Similarly to Aluminum, Carbon Fiber is stronger
than steel and does not rust, but can also be
difficult to work. It is important to copier them
because they are both up and coming material in
the automotive industry that are starting to see
more use, and both could possibly replace steel
to some extent in the future, being stronger,
lighter, and longer lasting than it. Having a
product that is longer lasting and stronger can have an environmental impact of not having it end
up as waste as often so production for replacement does not have to be increased, and possibly
decrease because replacements won’t be needed for those reason. Furthermore, having a vehicle
that is lighter will use up less fuel/chard of electric and combustion vehicles, because less weight
means less work is needed to move the vehicle. They are going to be compared my looking at
how the materials respond to every day conditions experienced in the auto motive industry, such
as corrosion, resistance to temperature, production, and the modes of failure in both the long-
term, and explosively, meaning for example in collisions.

Comparisons
Corrosion & Wear
Looking at the types of corrosions that are experienced in the automotive industry can
help clarify weaknesses and strength in current and possible composite that can be used in the
future. Examples of types of corrosion experience are oxidation, exposure to the sun, to water,
and to wind and particles in the wind. Another key factor in wear is the materials resistance to
temperature, vehicles are expected to a range of climates, so depending on the purpose of the
vehicle the materials that make it up have to be able to withstand the cold and the heat. On top of
external temperatures that the vehicle would be subjected to it would also have to deal with
internal ones as well, that being the running of the AC and heating system and the heat generated
for the engine/motor. With this said analyzing the resistance to temperature and its changes will
be beneficial. In examining corrosion and wear I will be analyzing the materials as if they do not
yet have protective coatings like what would happen if the coting were to where down and
expose the material underneath. That being sad looking at Aluminum, when it comes to
corrosion Ayesha[12] has good corrosion resistance and is found to passivate in moist
conditions. When a metal passivates it creates a layer of metal oxide around the exposed surface
which helps prevent against more corrosion. When it comes to wind and partials, not only will it
have the effect of stripping the protective layers, but exposing more the metal and leading to
more corrosion, that is why hardness is something else that should be looked at, and
MakeItFrom[3] found that 6016 Aluminum as a Brinell Hardness of 55. Also MakeItFrom[3],
found that the alloy has a maximum mechanical temperature of 160°C. Now, looking at Carbon
Fiber corrosion and wear with an epoxy resin, Carbon Fiber Gear[13] under normal atmospheric
conditions the carbon fiber won’t oxidize, but it is susceptible to UV rays such as those emitted
by the sun and cause a decrease of up to 29% of the tensile strength, and when it comes to heat
the carbon fibers themselves can withstand heat but the epoxy matrix, depending on what is used
can with stand between 100°C to 2000°C. In the concern areas of corrosion and wear for both
materials, they can handle what would be considered every day corrosive conditions but with the
carbon fiber the chosen epoxy must be able to handle around 105°C for the components
surrounding the engine as that is how hot it can get.
Mode of failure
Long-term
In the automotive industry the products are expected to run for a
long time, and thus long-term forces must be considered while exploring
the modes of failure. Looking at how the materials experience/respond to
the stress and strain of the is needed to see how it would react to the
internal forces like the weight of the heavier components and added from
things contained within. This being said the best properties to look at and
compare for long-term modes of failure are the materials’ yield strength,
ductility, Modulus of electricity, density, and tensile strength. Something to
note is that the mechanical properties of carbon fiber is also dependent on
the weave, so for comparison I will be looking at carbon fiber with a Twill 2x2Twill weave, P. Latteier [11]
weave because of its balance between flexibility and stiffness. To get good
approximations of the properties I will be pulling data from different sites and averaging them
such as Haomei Aluminum CO. [1], JIMA Aluminum [2],
MakeItFrom[3], Fibre Glast Developments Corp [4], and
DragonPlate[5][6]. To start, we will compare the yield
strengths 6016 Aluminum Alloy which is approximately 115.8
MPa and for the Carbon Fiber, according to DragonPlate [6], it
does not yield it will bend until it hits its maximum tensile
strength then break and will not plasticly deform before that,
and because the tensile strength can also be read as the yield
strength, because that is the point where plastic deformation
start. When it comes to ductility Carbon fiber can be classified
as brittle as it does not plasticly deform but cording to
FibreGlast[4] there is a percent elongation of about 1.85%, and for the Aluminum Alloy there is
about a 25% elongation across the data. According to FibreGlast[4], the Carbon Fiber has a
tensile strength of approximately 4292 MPa and averaging out the sources of the 6016
Aluminum there is a tensile strength of 215.8 Mpa. For the mass found by MakeItFrom [3], the
density of the 6016 Aluminum is 2.7g/cm3 and DragonPlate [5] found that the density of carbon
fiber is 1.5/cm3. According to MakeItFrom[3] and DragonPlate[5], the Aluminum alloy has a
modulus of electricity of GPa and according to FibreGlast[4] the modulus of electricity for Twill
weave Carbon Fiber is about 236.1 MPa. What we can take from this data is that in most cases
the Carbon Fiber surpasses the 6016 Aluminum like in the case of is significantly higher yield
strength while under long-term load such as transporting heavy objects long distances, it can take
more weight and not suffer warping (plastic deformation), when looking at the ratio between the
yield strength and density the Carbon fiber has a 189.1% difference in its favor. But where
Carbon Fiber fails and the Aluminum alloy succeeds is in the ductility and modulus of elasticity,
because of Carbon Fibers relative brittleness that when the stress exerted on it surpasses its
yield/tensile strength it will break suddenly break, and Aluminum is better here because if it does
get to this point it will at least give warning, but soothing of note is that when designing the
paneling or any other parts for the automobiles is best to design for below the yield strength.
Explosive
In the industry accidents are known to happen and there for the materials need to be able
to withstand such forces. Vehicle are designed with crumple zones to increase the time of the
collision to product and reduce the force on the occupants by stretching it out over a longer
period of time. A certain amount of elasticity will be needed because too little and the force will
be unsafe for the occupants and too high and the purpose of having a crunch zone will be
defeated. So, in a collision the material needs a certain amount of ductility, tensile strength,
elasticity, and resilience. For ductility, tensile strength, and modulus of elasticity we can revisit
the results above. Using the results, we have found we can then analyze which material would be
best in a vehicular accident. In vehicles there is something known as the ‘crumple zone’ and the
purpose of this is to increase the time of the impact so that the force experienced by the
occupants is reduced. According to P. Vig[14], a crumple zone needs to be able to absorb a lot of
energy, so the best property to look at for this is the modulus of resilience. For 6016 Aluminum
MakeItFrom[3], found that the modulus of resilience is 82 kJ/m3, and for Carbon Fiber I
calculated a modulus of resilience of about 133487.42 kj/m3. Based off of the values the Carbon
Fiber has the highest modulus of resilience compared to the aluminum and thus would be best
material out of the to make the crumple zone because of the amount of energy it would absorb.
Production
When looking at the production of materials it is important to look at how they are
manufactured, their costs, and how the materials are sourced. Because they are two different
types of materials, they have different production methods. The methos in how the materials are
made effect the cost of production, the time of production. Another thing to consider in
production is the source of the material, with metals sources can include recycled automates and
other recycled materials or prosecting all the way from ore. Another thing to look at in the
production of the Aluminum 6016 alloy is the alloying process. With composites, recyclability is
dependent on the type of binding agent used in the manufacturing process, and the process to
produce the composite is also dependent on the on the type. Starting with the production process,
according to Haomei Aluminum [1], and confirmed by Aluminumalloyplate.com [2] and
MakeItFrom.com [3], for the alloying of aluminum 6016 there is a chemical composition of
approximately 1.25 wt% Si, 0.50 wt% Fe, 0.20 wt% Cu, 0.20 wt% Mn, 0.43 wt% Mg, 0.10 wt%
Cr, 0.20 wt% Zn, and 0.15 Ti. Then, according to Haomei Aluminum [8], the manufacturing
process of making the sheets of the alloying/ smelting is adding grain refiner which works to
make the microstructure of the aluminum finer and spread the impurities more evenly through
the metal so it does not become detrimental to the metal, then sawing and milling to get the sheet
in to shape, then annealing, lastly for making the paneling the meatal gets stamped in to the
desired ship then goes through bake hardening. In between the annealing and during
transportation for stamping the natural aging of the metal will affect the final bake hardness of
the metal. When looking at the sourcing of the Aluminum 6016 can be processed starting from
the ore level and also come from recycled older products or scrap produced from manufacturing.
From scrolling through current pricings, it can be found for around $3,150.00 per metric ton or
about $3.15 per kg. Carbon fiber is a continues, fiber-reinforced, composite, with the dispersed
phase consisting of carbon fibers and the matrix phase consisting of the resin holding it together.
It goes through combination of mechanical and chemical processes. According to
DragonPlate[5], carbon fibers are classified based on their modulus of electricity, and there being
five low modulus (I), standard modulus (II), intermediate modulus (III), high modulus (IV), and
ultrahigh modulus (V). Process for creating the first three tiers of carbon fiber and be found in
the figure below found on Science ABC [10]:

With most of the carbon fibers being produced with polyacrylonitrile and the rest with rayon or
petroleum pitch, all of these being organic polymers. The process for making the sheets goes
from the spinning process to form the initial polymers, the next step is stabilizing the fibers
which on the atomic level convert them from linear bonding to ladder bonding by heating the
fibers to around 250°C for 30 minutes to 2 hours, after the fibers are stabilized they go through
the stabilizing process 1000-3000° C for several minutes with a gas mature that does not contain
oxygen. The carbonizing process heats up the fibers, removing all non-carbon atoms leaving
behind a near continues fiber structure of carbon atoms. After carbonizing is treating there
surface by getting oxygen atoms on to their surface for better bonding properties to be used in
the last stage, and the last stage being resizing which is coating the material, usually epoxy, it is
hear during this process that we will cut and shape the carbon fiber in to what we need. From
scrolling through current pricings, it was found that for epoxy carbon fiber the cost is around
$7.50 per kg. So, in comparing the production of the two materials, for the manufacturing both
materials have a multi-stage processing in order to get their based material, the aluminum is
alloyed and the carbon fiber is processed form a couple of different polymers, be for they both go
on to their shaping stages. Their contrast in their shaping stages is that aluminum after it has been
shaped can be adjusted and reformed where carbon fiber cannot, and to keep the integrity of the
material should be careful during its shaping. As for their cost per kg, there is an 81.7%
difference with the carbon fiber being the more expensive one. In comparison to the aluminum
6016 the carbon fiber can be recycled but not as completely and probably cannot go back to the
same purpose it was used be for depending on how it is recycled (Edney [9]).

Calculations
Ductility (%Elongation)
--%EL is used to determine ductility through the change in length.
lengthfinal −lengthinitial
%EL= ∗100
lengthinitial
Modulus Electricity (E)
-- The modulus of electricity is equal to the slope of the linear portion of the graph, starting from
(0,0) to the proportional limit.
σ pl
E=
ε pl
Modulus of Resilience
-- Is used to calculate the amount of energy that is absorbed by a material during elastic
deformation, that is before yielding
2
σy
Ur=
2E
Averaging
n

∑ an
A v g .= i=1
n
Percent Difference

%Diff.=¿ A−B∨ ¿ ∗100 ¿

A +B
2
Conclusions
Based on the analysis of the 6016 Aluminum Alloy and the Carbon Fiber, with a Twill
weave and epoxy resin, the Carbon Fiber would be the best fit for use in paneling (depicted in
ren in figure 1). The Carbon Fibers’ Strength to Weight ratio is better suited for use in this
component of the automobile because its increased strength and corrosion resistance and
decreased density. I think the difficult recyclability is out weight by the light weight that would
increase fuel/energy efficiency.
References
[1] “6016 aluminum alloy for car body,” Haomei Aluminum CO., LTD., n.d.. [Online].
Available: https://www.autoaluminumsheet.com/product/6016-aluminium-alloy-for-car-
body.html. [Accessed: 13-May-2022].
a. Aluminum Alloy Properties
[2] “6016 T4 Aluminum Sheet Metal Automotive is Used for Car Bodywork,” JIMA
Aluminum, 6016 T4 aluminum sheet metal automotive is used for car bodywork, n.d..
[Online]. Available: https://www.aluminumalloyplate.com/sale-26611472-6016-t4-
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%20is%20Used,%20%20Feature%20%20%20Good%20Formability%20. [Accessed: 13-
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a. Aluminum Alloy Properties
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a. Carbon Fiber manufacturing process
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a. Carbon Fiber manufacturing process
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