Polymer composite materials have been a part of the automotive industry for several decades but economic and technical barriers have constrained their use. To date, these materials have been used for applications with low production volumes because of their shortened lead times and lower investment costs relative to conventional steel fabrication. Although glass fiber-reinforced polymers dominate the composite materials used in automotive applications, other polymer composites, such as carbon fiber-reinforced polymer composites, show great promise. These alternatives are attractive because they offer weight reduction potential twice that of the conventional glass fiber-reinforced thermoset polymers used today. The major thrust of this paper is an examination of the economic viability of polymer composites. The paper also examines how the R&D supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Advanced Automotive Technologies Lightweight Materials Program is responding to the needs of the industry, specifically from an economic viability perspective.
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