"Brake-ing" Technology: Public-Private Collaboration Yields New Composite Material For Vehicle Brake Components

0n May 19, 2009, President Obama announced a new federal vehicle policy, starting in 2012, that requires automobile and light-truck fleets to scale up to an average fuel economy of 35.5 miles per gallon (mpg) by 2016. In order to meet these new regulations, automobile manufacturers will need to incorporate new technologies, including the use of lightweight, high-performance materials. This is one of the areas of research funded by the Center for Transportation and Materials Engineering (CTME) at Youngstown State University (YSU), a U.S. Department of Transportation Tier II University Transportation Center.

To meet this mandate in 2016, passenger vehicles must attain an average fuel efficiency of 39 mpg and light trucks an average 30 mpg. In contrast, for the current 2009 model year the average fuel efficiency is 25 mpg. More efficient cars mean savings to consumers at the pump, and these new policies are expected to save 1.8 billion barrels of oil from 2012 through 2016.