Topics for reports

1. Application of composite materials in automotive research.

2. Aspects of lightweight car design.

3. Advances in car design

4. Composite materials and car performance.

Text 3 b. Uk Specialist Drives Composite Advance

Read text 3 B and render it in English:

1. For some time, the automobile industry has been searching for cost-effective lightweight carbon fiber technologies capable of improving speed and fuel efficiency. In the unique body panels developed by UK advanced composites specialist SP and used on the newly-launched MG X-Power SV sports car, it could just have found what it is looking for. 2. Until now, carbon fiber used in performance vehicles has proved complex and costly to manufacture. Not surprisingly, it has only been used on cars that cost at least £200,000 ($366,600). The demand for customized performance cars at series production costs has, however, fuelled a global drive to develop a solution that will address the two most important requirements: performance and looks. SP has been at the heart of this activity - and has come up with a technique that reduces the average cost of a carbon body shell from more than £40,000 ($73,327) to around £10,000 ($18,331).

3. SP's expertise derives from its involvement in revolutionary changes in boatbuilding techniques in the 1980s. SP has become a leading supplier of advanced composites for the marine, wind energy and automotive markets. It has also built a reputation for the skill with which it combines material science, structural design and process engineering. In the automobile market, its reputation owes much to SPRINT® CBS, a material that weighs 20% that of steel for the equivalent stiffness, and SF95, a surfacing film that matches the car's performance. For mass producing 20,000 cars, steel and aluminum are still likely to be the cheapest option, but for 5 to 2,000 production, carbon fiber could be the answer.

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Notes: SP - a leading supplier of advanced composites for the marine, wind energy and automotive markets.

Unit 4 New words

Nouns

1	axle	ось
2	welding	сварка
3	predecessor	предшественник
4	lubricant	смазка
5	torque	вращающий момент
6	joint	соединение (шов)
7	ribbing	ребристость, неровность
8	distribution	распределение
9	feature	особенность
10	compatibility	совместимость

Verbs

1	weld	сваривать
2	allow	позволять
3	eliminate	сокращать, устранять
4	involve	предусматривать
5	join	соединять
6	incorporate	включать

Adjectives

1	pneumatic	пневматический
2	available	имеющийся
3	rear	задний
4	parasitic	избыточный
5	autogenous	газовый
6	remaining	остающийся
7	sacrificial	присадочный
8	smooth	гладкий
9	stiff	жесткий
10	single	монолитный, единый
11	sliding	скользящий