How to Reduce Vehicle Weight with Lubricants
As automotive manufacturers face increasing government regulatory requirements and consumer demands for more fuel-efficient, lightweight vehicles, they must find more innovative ways to reduce vehicle weight. The main challenge improving fuel economy and reducing CO₂ emissions without sacrificing performance and safety.
The key to achieving this can be found in the use of high-performance lubricants.
Manufacturers can reduce vehicle weight through the use of new, lightweight materials, downsized components and design innovations. These solutions often require high-performance, environmentally-friendly lubricants in order to be fully adopted into the vehicle design. Without the use of proper lubricants, these solutions can require lead to increased rates of maintenance, re-lubrication and repair, resulting in increased costs and decreased customer satisfaction.
Lightweighting Challenges in Vehicles
In order to reduce the vehicle weight effectively, lubricants must be:
- Capable of withstanding high temperatures and pressures effectively
- Compatible with new materials (aluminium alloys, carbon fibre, high-strength steel, magnesium alloys, and polymer composites)
- Inert when in contact with dissimilar substrates
- Long-lasting, in order to avoid re-lubrication of hard-to-reach components
- Unable to be diluted or contaminated by exhaust gases or corrosive fumes
- Unable to discolour or harm nearby components
- In line with environmental standards
Krytox Lubricants for Lightweighting
High-performance lubricants offered by Krytox can help reduce vehicle weight by offering unique advantages:
- Non-flammability
- Long-lasting lubrication; don’t crack or cake with time
- Full compatibility with plastics, metals, elastomers, coatings, and fabrics
- High-performance under extreme, harsh conditions
- High density; creating a thick lubricating film to separate surfaces under load
- Low evaporation and volatility; leading to no discolouring or harming of nearby substrates
- Meet environmental and safety standards
- Odourless
These benefits allow vehicle manufacturers to reduce weight, improve efficiency, meet CO2 reduction targets and reduce the frequency of re-lubrication. Krytox lubricants are used extensively in the automotive industry, including in the process of tyre moulding, EGR valves, NVH and underhood applications.