Page 45 - MetalForming Magazine February 2023 - Metal Forming for the Automotive Industry

The Scaling Up
of Automotive
Aluminum
The use of aluminum in automotive manufacturing promises to continue expanding, particularly among EVs. As such, technology transfer around forming and joining aluminum sheet products becomes critical. We spoke with the team at
Alumobility to learn how it’s taking an active communication and education role.
BY BRAD F. KUVIN, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
The average amount of aluminum • Existing manufacturing plants are the number of parts and joints, leading
to significant weight savings while meeting or exceeding performance attributes for various load cases.”
Also investigated: the ability to marry the aluminum top hat to a steel under- body, “ensuring that we account for any added complexity and cost,” Greco says, “and understanding the real value created from the total solution.”
Dramatically Reduced Sheet Metal Gauge/Grade Combos
Commenting on the top-hat study, Alumobility technical director Mark White, who worked for nearly 30 yr. in body design at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and with expertise in lightweight-vehi- cle technology and advanced body development, says:
“We compared a typical aluminum body to typical steel and mixed-mate- rial bodies and find that steel bodies have grown in complexity, combining a myriad of grades and coatings. In the end, a typical steel car has between 60 and 70 gauge/grade combinations. With a mixed-material design—one that includes aluminum and carbon fiber, for example—that complexity increases to perhaps 80 to 90 different gauge/grade combinations.
“With aluminum-intensive vehicles,
used in vehicle manufacturing
has more than tripled in just over a decade, according to recent estimates, and experts project this trend undoubt- edly continuing. For example, CAR, based on its 2022 survey of automotive OEMs, predicts that the percentage of aluminum use in the body in white (BIW ) and closures subsystem will dou- ble by 2035.
From the CAR report:
• Doors and other bolt-on compo- nents will continue to be an opportu- nity for aluminum.
• Aluminum producers are working on new 6xxx and 7xxx grades (Gen2 and Gen3).
• Continuous casting potentially can reduce the conversion cost of alu- minum sheet products.
• Traditionally, premium brands such as Audi and Jaguar already use aluminum, but other mainstream OEMs have begun to adopt aluminum as well.
That conversion, though, comes with some challenges. Namely, says CAR:
• A significant increase in battery density and a shift of investment to advanced driver-assist systems can limit the focus on lightweighting ini- tiatives.
disrupted by aluminum alloys and the subsequent use of structural adhesives, although this impact is much less for new facilities and OEMs.
To the aid of automotive OEMs and companies in their supply chains seek- ing aluminum-intensive BIW solutions comes the Alumobility association (Zurich, Switzerland) and its founding members—Constellium, Novelis and Speira. An association founded on the directive to work to support automo- tive manufacturers in their efforts to create light, safe, smart and sustainable vehicles, Alumobility performs tech- nical studies to advance the adoption of aluminum automotive body sheet, and address those industry challenges noted in the CAR report. For example, the organization recently completed a study demonstrating the weight sav- ings in a vehicle top-hat structure (upper body structures including the roof, bodyside outer panels, A and B pillars, and rocker assemblies) lever- aging a variety of aluminum alloys.
“The aluminum top hat developed for the study utilizes the latest forming and joining technology,” says Alumo- bility secretary general Mario Greco, who also serves as director of strategy, global automotive at Novelis, “to reduce
42 MetalForming/February 2023
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