In a bid to make vehicles more fuel efficient, many manufacturers are focusing on weight reduction – and it appears that aluminium may hold the key to reducing weight safely.
According to a study by the University of Aachen for the European Aluminium Association, using aluminium in selective components could reduce weight by an additional 40 per cent compared to today’s vehicles.
The study noted that additional aspects would have to be considered such as the performance of the joints or nodes connecting the different parts and the NVH performance. As such, it may not be possible to exploit the weight reduction potential of high strength aluminium alloys.
However, it also noted that similar restrictions may apply to the substitution of ultra high-strength steel grades for conventional steel grades. As such, for many components, stiffness is the decisive criterion.
In addition, the study aims to identify the strength relevance in crash and the stiffness relevance of typical car body components. It found that weight reduction potential using high strength steel was limited to an additional 11 per cent; and if high strength steel were to be used to reduce the weight of these parts their stiffness would actually be reduced and the car’s performance would suffer.
According to the Aluminium Association Transportation Group, the use of aluminium could offer around a 10 per cent improvement in fuel economy compared to a typical car today.
