Light Weight Body Structure Technologies of Lexus LFA.

摘要

Lexus LFA's CFRP body structure has been developed from the ground level within Toyota. The development team has spent countless hours on technical discussions, especially as most of the member were not experienced at all in CFRP material and manufacturing processes. This was the main reason why we have chosen to take the burden of the learning curve on our own, so that we understand better, the key characteristics of the composite material. In fact, Toyota is one of the few automotive companies who manufacture CFRP body structure entirely in an in-house production site. Difficult enough as it is, we have also chosen to challenge various technologies other than the state of the art prepreg-autoclave moulding, such as braiding, stitching, RTM, etc., to enhance performances and to simplify manufacturing processes.