Despite being a technology with more than half a century, it is now that the automotive industry has discovered all its versatility. The microspheres have been used successfully in the latest model of the legendary Chevrolet Corvette achieving a considerable reduction of weight.
The paternity of the technology is of the North American multinational 3M and it is based on the use of glass beads to build various types of structures such as the bodies of the sports cars.
One of the great successes of this technology has been the latest model that has come on the market of the well-known Chevrolet Corvette. The bodywork, developed in collaboration with Continental Structural Plastics (CSP), is based on a thermosetting compound to which has been added the aforementioned thermosphere.
Another virtue of the body – still so focused on the automotive industry – composed is microspheres based that are insulators due to its low density and high stability. These are very resistant to any chemical component.
In the specific case of Corvette has been that it only has a weight of 1,200 kg, when the previous model was 400 pounds heavier. Microspheres have been used in the construction of doors, side panels and fenders.
The use of microspheres in the 2016 Corvette has also led to a money-saving since about 150,000 vehicles production manufacturing costs are reduced between 50 and 70% product that the bodywork is made based on plastic, not aluminum as previous models.
This reduction in vehicle weight results in reduced fuel consumption and therefore less emission which makes it become a more sustainable vehicle. Including the use of microspheres makes production may have to be used less energy for the construction of the vehicle. More energy saving, fewer particles in the air.