Will car bodies be made of wood again in the future?

Today, car bodies are made of metal. However, wood is considered a lighter, more climate-friendly option. The research group led by Lothar Kallien, head of the foundry laboratory at Aalen University, has now developed a new type of casting process. Here, wooden components are encapsulated with a thin layer of light metal. The composite material has optimal properties for industrial applications - such as vehicle construction.

While cars used to be largely made of wood, today wooden components are only used in the interior for aesthetic reasons. The research group led by Lothar Kallien from Aalen University wants to revive the natural material with its physical advantages and low carbon footprint. The scientist sees the process as the future of car body construction: "More wood will be used in cars," Kallien is certain.

Die-casting process combines wood and metal

The team is working on hybrid wooden structures using the die-casting process, combining wooden structures with lightweight die-cast alloys made of aluminium and magnesium. The research group first had to overcome one challenge: During the die-casting process, high temperatures act on the wood, which runs the risk of burning.

The aim is to avoid the thermal damage to the wood core using a special technique: very thin-walled moulding. In principle, this is possible with the die-casting process. However, further research is needed for this application. This would leave the wood intact and stabilise the component from the inside. The research approach arose from the results of the S-martPro project in the field of lightweight construction, which was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

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Daniel Schwarz checking the quality — Daniel Schwarz checks the quality of moulded lightweight components using a computer tomograph.

"Back to the roots"

"By combining wood and metal, we obtain a lightweight material that significantly improves the rigidity of the component and is also very light," says Daniel Schwarz, a scientist from the research team. "And that's exactly why neither of us want to go back to the natural material - simply because it has so many physical advantages and significantly improves the carbon footprint of vehicle construction."

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The fact that the material is both light and very stable means that even very large, complex components can be created. Car manufacturers such as Tesla are already working on car bodies that consist of a single part. This saves a number of work steps and specialised robots in production.
The pressure-moulded wooden inserts are therefore lighter, more stable and more environmentally friendly - but are the components also of the right quality? Kallien's team checks this with the help of a computer tomograph. This allows them to examine the new component for defects using X-rays without damaging it.

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