Light-weight alloy wheels may one day be replaced by even lighter plastic wheels or advanced composite versions. A new testing system has been developed that will allow manufacturers to simulate tests for the wheels in the hope that they’ll one day feature on production cars. The benefits of plastic wheels are their lower costs and lighter mass.
plastic_wheel01.jpgPlastic specialists, who developed the wheels using glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) components some time ago, have never been able to test them to meet industry safety regulations. However, that may change with a new simulation developed by Europe’s Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft research facility.
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