Kordsa (Istanbul, Turkey) is a global supplier of tire and construction reinforcements and technology for composites that has recently expanded its aerospace capabilities through acquisition of multiple U.S.-based companies (see Jeff Sloan’s blog, “The Kordsa strategy”). The company is also expanding its offerings in automotive and heavy truck, evidenced by its presentation at the Turk Kompozit 2019 Composite Summit (Oct. 10-12, Istanbul) titled, “Kordsa’s Material Development for Composite Leaf Spring Production for Heavy Commercial Vehicles.” This presentation discussed technology developed jointly Kordsa and Ford Otosan, which lightens the heavy truck chassis systems for Ford Trucks and includes structural health monitoring systems for process optimization, part qualification and online health monitoring.

Weight percentage of chassis per heavy duty vehicle

Kordsa explains that chassis components are a unique opportunity for? composites because they comprise the largest single percentage of the vehicle weight, yet they are structural parts under repetitive dynamic loads.

The goal for Kordsa and Ford Otosan is to reduce CO2 emissions and enable increased fuel efficiency and payload by producing a composite leaf spring to reduce weight 75% versus steel. This would also reduce the vehicle’s unsprung weight mass for follow-on weight reduction in other systems and improved comfort via reduced noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) levels.