Ford tests green waters, farm-based ideas with Model U concept - Ford Forums

Stacy94PGT · 02-27-2003, 09:52

By RHODA MIEL | Plastics News

It has been nearly 70 years since Henry Ford took a whack at soybean-based plastics for his cars, and the company now run by his great-grandson still is looking at perfecting the concept.

The Model U concept, rolled out at the Detroit auto show in January, is filled with environmentally friendly ideas, from the hydrogen-fueled engine to a tailgate made of soy resin.

"It's a bundle of new, exciting ideas," says Gerhard Schmidt, vice president of research for Ford Motor Co.

The Model U is intended to test the waters for a variety of new and potential breakthroughs in the industry.

Some of the products, such as a corn filler used to replace carbon black in tires, are in the initial stages of commercial development. Others are further out, but all are worth exploring, Schmidt says.

The composite soy resin already is used on a variety of John Deere agricultural products made by Deere and Co. But with the Model U, the industry is getting its own trial.

"Ford proved that it could be done; we're proving it can be economically viable," says Mike Sykes, senior product manager for Ashland Specialty Chemical Co. of Dublin, Ohio, which supplies the soy composite for Deere and worked with Ford on the Model U project. "It's fun to bring it back to the guys who first started working with it."

Henry Ford first explored the potential of soybeans in the mid-1930s, including at least one incident captured on film when he took a sledgehammer to the rear panel of one car made with a soy composite.

In honor of that image, the development group decided to try out the current-generation composite, marketed by Ashland as Envirez, in the Model U's tailgate - although there were no sledgehammers in sight to provide Henry Ford's ultimate test.

"There was this motivation to have this as a heritage to Henry Ford," Schmidt says. "He was really dedicated to finding solutions out of the box. He was a pioneer in bringing out these thoughts and innovations."

A soy blend also goes into the plastic foam of the seating cushions.

"We can avoid the fossil fuel, which is already a significant step ahead," says Ravi Vijayaraghavan, technical specialist in Ford's scientific research laboratory. "There are also solutions that come from renewable resources."

The team used recyclable and recycled materials for the fabrics in order to avoid the landfill while looking at new manufacturing techniques to streamline production.

Deere & Co. of Moline, Ill., had an exclusive license for Envirez until mid-2002. Ashland executives are introducing it for all automakers, which makes it appealing to accountants as well as environmentalists.

"It's our job to make it commercially attractive to them," Sykes says. "It's got to compete in the marketplace on its own legs."

Most of the technologies arrayed on the Model U are years from commercialization, and others may await just the right opportunity for use, Schmidt says, even if the research takes decades.

Says Schmidt: "Not all of (Henry Ford's) ideas were successful. The technology was not mature enough, but there has been a lot of progress."

Rhoda Miel is on the editorial staff of Plastics News, a sister publication to Automotive News.

(Photo)Model U is intended to test the waters for a variety of new and potential breakthroughs in the industry.