But automotive engineering will hit a wall: the American love of weight and power. It isn’t only drivers who have been getting fatter in this country. Average engine horsepower has bulked up by 84 percent since 1981, offsetting the engine’s efficiency gains, while average vehicle weight in the U.S. has risen by more than 20 percent in two decades. One argument the auto industry has used against higher corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards is that such higher standards would require making vehicles lighter, leaving them less safe in collisions. This position puts General Motors, for one, in an awkward spot. Taking the lead among its Detroit brethren in fuel cell research, GM has promised to bring hydrogen- powered vehicles to market by 2010, but it’s unlikely that these vehicles will have adequate range unless and until they are made from lightweight materials.
Thus, I boldly venture this near-term prediction: In the next decade, polymer-composite materials, particularly those reinforced with carbon fiber, will emerge from niche manufacturing to be used widely as a structural material. According to a study by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, carbon-composite body construction could reduce vehicle weight by 40 to 65 percent. The new Ford GT is aluminum through and through and accelerates from 0 to 60 in 3.3 seconds, yet the two-seat sportscar weighs more than 3,400 pounds. Think what it would do if it weighed 1,700 pounds.
Carbon-fiber composites are already used in golf clubs, bicycles and jetliners, but there are technological challenges to employing them in cars, chief among them the slow, costly, labor-intensive process of laying up carbon-fiber composites and curing them piece by piece in autoclaves.
麻烦各位翻译一下哈!!!!
象用翻译软件做出来的。 句子都不通顺。 有没有自己翻译的啊??? 最好不用翻译软件!!!
因而, 我大胆地冒险这个近期预言: 在下十年, 聚合物综合材料, 特别那些被加强与碳纤维, 从适当位置将涌现制造广泛被使用作为结构材料。根据一项研究由橡树岭国家实验室, 碳综合身体建筑能减少车重量由40 到百分之65 。新福特GT 完全地是铝和加速从0 到60 在3.3 秒, 二位子sportscar 称超过3,400 磅。认为什么它会做如果它称了1,700 磅。
碳纤维综合已经被使用在高尔夫俱乐部、自行车和喷气式飞机里, 但有技术挑战对使用他们在汽车, 院长里在他们之中暂停使用碳纤维综合和逐渐治疗他们的缓慢, 昂贵, 劳动密集型的过程在压热器里。