Automotive application manufacturing process

Chemical reactions enhanced by catalysts or enzymes are an integral part of the manufacturing processes for the majority of chemical products. The total market for catalysts and enzymes amounts to 11.5 billion (2005), of which catalysts account for about 80%. It consists of four main applications environment (e.g., automotive catalysts), 31% polymers (e.g., polyethylene and polypropylene), 24% petroleum processing (e.g., cracking and reforming), 23% and chemicals, 22%. Within the latter, particularly the catalysts and enzymes for chiral synthesis are noteworthy. Within catalysts, BINAPs [i.e., derivatives of 2,2 -bis(diphenylphosphino) -1, l -bis-l,l -binaphthyl) have made a great foray into chiral synthesis. Within enzymes, apart from bread-and-butter products, like lipases, nitrilases, acylases, lactamases, and esterases, there are products tailored for specific processes. These specialty enzymes improve the volumetric productivity 100-fold and more. Fine-chemical companies, which have an important captive use of enzymes, are offering them to third parties. Two examples are described here ... 

Acceleration sensors for automotive applications are manufactured in high volume using the described process flow [26]. The basic working design is illustrated in Figure 5.3.12. 

Magnetic-field sensors are widely used in automotive applications because of their robust design, their non-contacting and thus wear-free operation and their low manufacturing costs, in particular for solid-state sensors, which can be fabricated using batch processes. Their main fields of application in automobiles are speed and position sensing. In total, about one third of today s automotive sensors are based on the magnetic principle [1],... 

As an extension to the considerable amount of research undertaken on processing and properties of natural filler composites, in this last decade, a number of researchers have explored the concept of namral filler-reinforced PLA composites. An outstanding one is the project FAlR-CT-98-3919 (New ftmctional biopolymer-natural fiber composites from agriculture resources) by European Union, in which one of the key objectives was to manufacture demonstration parts on a pre-competitive level with the automotive industry as the main potential market. Within this project, Lanzillotta et al. [21] prepared biocomposites with flax fibers and PLA as the biopolymer matrix. The research focused on the idea of converting biocomposites into products for real automotive applications. 

Today, FRCs are in use in a variety of structures, ranging from spacecraft and aircraft to buildings and bridges. FRCs find applications in construction industries, decking, window and door frames, sports equipment such as bicycle frames, baseball bats, exercise equipment, etc. They are also suited for many automotive applications. This wide use of composites has been facilitated by the introduction of new materials, improvements in manufacturing processes and developments of new analytical and testing methods. 

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