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Saving CO2 in road traffic

...with technical ceramics from CeramTec

At around 160 million tons, road traffic causes approximately 20% of the total CO2 emissions in Germany. One way to reduce this contribution is to reduce vehicle weight through functional lightweight construction. To achieve this, research is being conducted into joining technologies for aluminium and steel in order to combine their positive properties - lightness and strength.

The Federal Ministry of Economics in Germany (BMWi), or more precisely its Lightweighting Initiative, is therefore funding the "CO2-HyChain" research project with 5.7 million euros, in which the Materials Testing Institute of the University of Stuttgart (MPA) is researching how sheet metal blanks made of aluminium and steel can be joined efficiently and safely by friction stir welding. The process is being further developed under laboratory conditions, scaled up and should then be transferable to industrial practice.

As one of 9 industrial partners - including Audi and Mercedes Benz, who are evaluating and assessing the developed parts - CeramTec is also significantly involved, as we are developing wear-resistant tools with which the welding work will be carried out. The components developed in the Innovation and Technology division are characterised not only by special precision, but also by hardness and wear resistance, and thus already enable a long service life in the test, which is also important later in an industrial production with regard to economic efficiency.

At the end of the three-year project period, the aim is to have a promising process that helps to master economic and ecological challenges. Our technical ceramics will then play an irreplaceable role here as a "hidden champion" in the background.

 

All Project Partners: