Page 31 - MetalForming-Oct-2018-issue

Auto Industry’s Efforts to Lighten
Up Create
Lubrication Challenges
The trend toward lightweight vehicle parts drives changes in manufacturing processes and metalworking fluids.
BY DR. NANCY MCGUIRE, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
parts faster and more reliably with less downtime, he says. At the same time, they are working with new materials, new tools and tool coatings, new envi- ronmental regulations, and the latest performance requirements such as cor- porate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards.
Domestic OEMs use different strate- gies for lightweighting to meet CAFE standards, says David Budai, automo- tive industry manager, Americas, for Houghton International, Strongsville, OH. Some are making lighter engines, and some are making lighter structural parts such as body panels to get the
Efforts by automakers to develop lighter, more fuel-efficient vehi- cles continue, as do related ongoing challenges. Lighter materials such as advanced alloys can be more expensive. In addition, manufacturing processes must be adapted to work at higher temperatures, or to work with metals and alloys that oxidize more easily than steel.
As a result, companies adopt various
Nancy McGuire is a freelance writer based in Silver Spring, MD. Contact her at nmcguire@wordchemist.com. This article was reprinted with permission from the November 2017 issue of TLT, the monthly magazine of the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers, an interna- tional not-for-profit professional society headquartered in Park Ridge, IL, www.stle.org.
strategies that often combine new and old technologies, processes and mate- rials. Some companies focus on cost. If they are making vehicles for a mass market, they might be slow to adopt materials that require a change in processes or the purchase of new equipment. Others go for the lightest weight with space-age approaches for their pricier vehicles.
Global Competition
Over the past several years, Ted McClure, technical resources manager for Sea-Land Chemical Co., Westlake, OH, has seen pronounced trends toward global competition, which puts pressure on domestic operations to increase their productivity. McClure deals mainly with clients having met- alforming operations in the automotive industry. Companies must produce
Key Concepts
• Lighter metals and alloys pose new challenges in corrosion prevention and high-temperature processing.
• Metalworking fluids are being reformulated for high-speed processes, downstream compatibility and regulatory compliance.
• Global competition, industry consolidation and customer demand ensure that these trends are likely to continue.
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