Natural-fibres composites for the automotive industry: challenges, solutions and applications

Ford Motor Company has been researching for natural fibres applications in vehicles since the 1930s. Targeting large volume production, the material supplier AFT has been working to develop composites with focus on injection moulding. To ensure the quality of natural fibres composites, AFT works on controlling the design, the production and the fibres processing. The research on natural fibre material for injection moulding achieved already good results. Material formulations for driven by specific applications requirements. This paper describes the results achieved by AFT and Ford Motor Company in cooperation with a component supplier for a specific application.