Ford Wants to Slim Down its Vehicles with Nanotechnology
How can you reduce a vehicle’s curb weight by 250 to 750 pounds while maintaining each material’s original durability, strength and performance? Ford thinks the answer is nanotechnology.
Nanotechnology is a quickly expanding field where scientists are learning how to manipulate a material on the molecular or atomic level to achieve new properties or characteristics. Sound like science fiction? It’s not.
Ford’s lab in Germany has already devised a spray-on coating of nano-particles for the cylinder liners that wears less and cuts friction losses while weighing only a fraction as much as the cast-iron material. By using lighter materials manipulated with nanotechnology Ford thinks it can significantly decrease the mass of a car and therefore raise its fuel efficiency significantly.
The automaker expects that 70% of all materials in a car will be modified this way by the year 2015.
