The Importance of Automoblies in Society

1.0 Introduction

Automobiles have been around for a really long time. The idea of a self-propelling vehicle dates back to the 15th century, with the spring-run car conceived by Leonardo Da Vinci. After that, Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot of France constructed a steam-powered automobile, and soon after, more individuals began to improve on the idea such as Karl Benz and Henry Ford, leading to new innovations (Kowalski 2007, p. 8). It is an ongoing process which is still happening now. Automobiles are constantly being improved time after time as technology advances to meet certain demands as well as curb environmental issues. This report focuses on the analysis of suitable materials and processing techniques for the bonnet and windshield of a normal road automobile as well as sustainability.

2.0 Bonnet

2.1 Brief Description of Bonnet

The bonnet of a vehicle is a hinged lid concealing the engine. It provides access to the engine parts of the vehicle for repair and maintenance purposes, and it also protects the engine. In addition, when it comes to accidents, it is important to design the bonnet in such a way that it will reduce the impulsive force experienced by the car during collision and also decrease the severity of injuries caused to unsuspecting pedestrians. Therefore, in order to select an ideal material for the bonnet, certain properties and aspects are scrutinised, such as cost, ductility, resistance to corrosion, strength, and density.

2.2 Important Properties of Prospective Materials

One of the most important properties of the material used to make the car bonnet is low density. In other words, the material must be lightweight. With the reduced total weight of the car, fuel efficiency of the vehicle can be improved, thus red...

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...souring of raw materials, as well as using cleaner energy sources (PFG n.d.).

4.0 Conclusion

When it comes to material selection, many things need to be considered such as mechanical properties, sustainability and processing techniques. It is essential to evaluate the choices of materials suitable for, in this case, the bonnet and windshield of a normal road automobile and understand the manufacturing processes, product constraints and sustainability issues to know the advantages and disadvantages of the materials in designing those parts. For the bonnet, we conclude that aluminium alloy honeycomb sandwich panel with carbon fibre face sheets be used as the material while for the windshield, tempered-laminated glass is used. Both are quite sustainable as they can be recycled and they reduce the overall weight of the car, thus reducing emission of carbon dioxide.