Composite conducts current
The Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Applied Materials Research (IFAM) has developed a conductive plastic composite which it believes will be of benefit to aerospace and automotive manufacturers. As such, it says the composite represents the best of both worlds.
In its composite solution, plastic and metal is combined to create a homogeneous, fine meshed electrically conductive network. According to IFAM, the composite has the desired chemical stability and low weight, as well as the appropriate electrical and thermal conductivity.
It offers headlamp housings on cars as one example of where the composite could be applied. Currently, these housings are made of plastic, with punched metal inserts. If the housings were fitted with circuit boards made of the conductive plastic-metal hybrid, they could be produced more efficiently and at lower cost.
