BASF Best Use of Fiber Reinforced Plastics Award 2013

Why does BASF as The Chemical Company award a prize for the “Best Use of Fiber Reinforced Plastics”?

High performance plastics are a very sophisticated form of chemicals and have a large variety. They can contain different types of fibers, fiber lengths, additives and polymers. By varying all these parameters, high performance plastics can be designed to specifically fulfill the requirements of the target application. In order to do so, BASF develops and produces glass and carbon fiber reinforced plastics and applies elaborate computational methods to design plastic parts with optimum properties. Lowest possible weight, high performance, good acoustics and the option for functional integration are only some of the features distinguishing fiber-reinforced plastics from all other materials in automotive construction. However, the use and design of plastic parts is a complex task and requires a lot of specialized knowledge about the material and its characteristics. That is why BASF works closely together with all renowned car manufacturers world-wide to implement more and more plastic parts in future cars and is thus involved in the design process of a car already in an early stage.

We are very eager to see, how you, the students, use all your skills to show interesting and innovative parts made of fiber reinforced plastics in the Formula Student Germany competition 2013.

The criteria for the award are:

• Selection of parts manufactured from fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP).
• What are the specific benefits to realize these parts in FRP?
• Are the parts specifically designed for the optimum use of FRP (dimensioning, fiber orientation, lay-up, use of calculation or simulation tools, design process)?
• Choice of fiber, polymer and manufacturing process
• Balance of costs, mechanical performance, weight reduction and functional integration
• Are the parts suitable for small series car production (1,000 cars per annum)? How do you realize the series production?

The BASF award is open to all teams participating in Formula Student Germany. Your team can apply for the award by submitting an abstract (max. 2 pages including all figures), which describes the main features of the chosen FRP parts used in your car. Based on your pre-submitted application, up to five teams will be selected for a final explanation during FSG 2013. Here you have to explain your FRP concept based on your application to the judges.

Please upload your application for the competition via the FSG website (=> MyTeam => Events => Deadline) by 12^th July 2013, 12:00 CEST, the latest.
The winning team with the best fiber reinforced plastic parts will be awarded the prize during the Formula Student 2013 event at the Hockenheim Ring.

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