Lightweight, recyclable alloys for fuel-efficient future vehicles

The €20m ExoMet project aims to use nanoparticle technology to build new, lightweight types of transport, including space vehicles, planes and cars, with components that are also recyclable.

It brings together 27 companies, universities and research organisations from 11 countries, in a scheme led by the European Space Agency (ESA).

Researchers will investigate the potential for replacing heavy steel in components with strengthened light alloy magnesium or aluminium at less than half the weight, leading to a reduction in fuel and CO₂ emissions, as well as savings in processing costs.

By design, many of the new materials used to build these vehicles will be recyclable, ensuring sustainability of resources for the future.

Using expertise gained in a series of earlier research projects in the metals and minerals processing sector, many of which have been funded by the European Union and EPSRC, the Greenwich team will develop mathematical models of the various processes considered by the ExoMet consortium.