Global notebook vendors will be keen to use composite materials such as carbon fiber and fiberglass to make the chassis for their 2018 devices, seeking to better address demand for slim notebooks and environmental concerns in the China market, according to the industry sources.
The trend willl be encouraging news for Taiwan makers of notebook chassis using composite materials, including Catcher Technology, Ju Teng International and Getac Technology, the sources commented.
The sources said carbon fiber used to be adopted by Dell, HP and Lenovo to high-end business-use notebooks, while fiberglass boasts lower cost than aluminum alloy and carbon fiber, and can be used to make thinner chassis. Although the fibers were unable to become mainstream materials in the past, they are showing signs of a comeback in 2018.
Dell, for instance, released XPS 13 and XPS 15 2-in-1 notebook models at the just concluded CES 2018, with the former featuring an aluminum alloy upper cover and a carbon fiber keyboard frame and the latter adopting rose gold cover paired with white fiberglass keyboard case. This marked the first time for Dell to incorporate fiberglass into its notebook models, and the company is expected to boost the adoption ratios for both carbon fiber and fiberglass for its products in 2018, industry sources said, adding that HP and Lenovo are also reportedly to adopt carbon fiber chassis for their new notebook models in the year.
The sources said that carbon fiber and fiberglass can be applied to produce notebook chassis as thin as 0.6mm, compared to a maximum thinness of 0.8mm achievable with aluminum alloy unibody, and can therefore meet the requirement for slim designs by gaming notebooks.
In addition, the production process for the composite materials is environmentally friendlier than unibody, prompting brand vendors to use more such materials for notebooks, especially those produced in China, where increasingly stringent environmental regulations are being enforced.
Nevertheless, aluminum alloy will remain the mainstream material for manufacturing notebook chassis due to its more-mature production process and more abundant supply available to support volume production of consumer electronics products, the sources said.
