Automotive News as blogged by Autoblog reports that GM is sourcing a new material from Quantum Leap Packaging, Inc. called Quantech™ .  The material is a liquid crystal polymer that can be used in the place of metal parts.  The resulting parts have heat expansion characteristics similar to steel, and stiffness and density comparable to magnesium.  So in other words the parts are very light, very strong, and work well to replace steel parts.

Technical claims for quantech:

Quantech™ high performance polymers enable QLP to produce air cavity packages that address critical thermal, stress and reliability issues.

Quantech™ Features:

• High temperature stability (500°C)
• Tailorable CTE (3-21 ppm/°C)
• Excellent adhesion to metal
• Tailorable electrical properties
• Isotropic Properties
• Ultra-low moisture permeability

Quantech™ Benefits:

• Supports high-temperature eutectic die-attach processes for improved thermal performance
• Matches CTE to Cu and Alloy 42 lead frames
• Enables copper and copper alloy heat sink assembly for thermal performance
• Provides low dielectric constant and low electrical loss for excellent performance at high frequencies

Delivers high reliability MSL 1 condition

GM says the new Quantech™ parts could be in new cars within 6 months, although it is application dependent. The good news is that with sky-rocketing costs for steel and magnesium GM and Quantum Leap Packaging are developing new alternatives.