Vehicle Body Materials

Vehicle Body Materials - Aluminium

Department of Automobile Engineering

T.Veeramahantesh Swamy
Professor & HOD

Material Properties
Sp.
Gravity

Density
kg/ cu.m.

Melting
Point

Mod. of
Elasticity
GPa

Torsional
modulus
GPa

Aluminium 2.69

2699

580-660

69

25

Mild Steel

7.85

8097

1900

207

84

Copper

8.93

9200

1083

120

45

Magnesiu
m

1.75

1803

565

44

17

Glass

2.64

2520

1500

69

--

ABS

1.05

1082

125

1.4-2.7

--

PVC

1.4

1442

95

2.8

--


Aluminium and its alloys for Vehicle

Body Construction

Introduction I

The passenger car of today and, even more so, the car of the future
has to satisfy very high demands. Aside from being a high
performance vehicle, that ensures driving ease, safety and comfort,
it has to comply with strict and necessary environmental demands.

This environmental awareness and the laws endorsing it have
forced the automotive industry to focus on ways to reduce the
vehicle weight. Lighter cars invariably mean lower fuel consumption,
resulting in reduced exhaust CO2 emission, which is a major
atmospheric pollutant.

Incorporating aluminium in the car fulfils this requirement in an
exceptional manner. For example, compared to traditional steels,
aluminium rolled sheet for doors, hoods or wings can amount to a 50
% weight reduction. The tradition of using steel and the cost of
aluminium are challenges for the incorporation of aluminium into the
automotive sector.

Introduction II

Currently, new European cars contain on average 130 kg of
aluminium. This quantity varies significantly depending on the brand
and the class category.

Aluminium can be used for various car parts:

Body-panels (40 % lighter car-body than in steel)

Heat exchangers
Engine block
Shock absorbers
Wheels (up to 35 % lighter than steel wheels)
Suspension parts (30-35 % lighter than steel predecessors)
Interior design & decoration
Plus more

British Standard numbering system

Series

Principal Alloying element

1000

Aluminium with 99.0% minimum purity

2000

Copper

3000

Manganese

4000

Silicon

5000

Magnesium

6000

Magnesium + Silicon

7000

Zinc

8000

Lithium and others

9000

Unallocated

Aluminium Alloys

Two distinct groups are those that can be
heat treated and those that can not be
heat treated.

Heat treatable series are 1000,3000,4000
and 5000.

Non-heat treatable series are 2000, 6000,
7000 and 8000.

Heat Treatment of aluminium alloys

Solution treatment heat and suddenly cool- improves
ductility.

Ageing heat and lowly cool improves hardness.

Heat treatable alloys: These are strengthened by
controlled heating and cooling followed by ageing at
either room temperature or at 100-200 deg.C.

Non-heat treatable alloys: Wrought alloys, including pure
aluminium, gain strength by cold working such as rolling,
pressing, beating and any similar type of process.

Alloys are designated as TB, TE and TF for solution
treated and naturally aged; artificially aged and the
combination respectively.

Design Plan for aluminium alloy build

IDEA

Performance specialization
Material
Selection

Fabrication

Appearance

Mechanical Durability
Properties

Special
Requirements

Machining

Shape

Strength

Atmospheric

Electrical
conductivity

Forming

Surface
finish

Stiffness

Chemical

Unit weight

Joining

Hardness

Unit
Cost

Aluminium alloy availability

Aluminium alloys are
available as

Extrusions with
intricate shapes with
clip fit designs

Castings

Sheet metal

Typical use of
aluminium alloys in a car body

Manufacturing Process

Welding needs more energy because
higher thermal conductivity.

Recent trend of using adhesives in place
of riveting has improved results.

Use of aluminium extrusions has
revolutionized fabrication of vehicle
bodies.

Steel Vs Aluminium

Following few slides present comparison
between steel and aluminium usage in
automotive sector.

Steel vs. Aluminum: The Basic Facts

Elastic modulus
Steel at 210 GPa, has three times the elastic
modulus compared to aluminum's 70 GPa. Steel has
three times the elastic modulus as aluminum. Related to
stamping performance, aluminum will possess higher
springback than mild steels. Even compared to high
strength steels, strength level to strength level, aluminum
will still possess higher springback.
Advantage: Steel

Density
Aluminum is approximately 1/3 the density of steel, 2.72
Mg/m3 versus steel's 7.85 Mg/m3.

Criterion Stiffness Relation Comments

Bending Specific Stiffness of Hollow Sections

Steel with a specific stiffness value of 26.75 vs.
aluminum at 25.64 places steel at a slight advantage for
structures such as front crash rails, b-pillars, etc, or
virtually any hollow section.
Bending Specific Stiffness of flat plates

This relation pertains to surfaces such as hood outer
applications. Aluminum will have an advantage for outer
skin surfaces if only elastic material properties are
considered. When dynamic material effects are taken
into consideration, steel often shows an advantage.

Advantage: Application dependent

Strain rate sensitivity

Steel is strain rate sensitive, many aluminum structural
grades are not. It is well known that steel displays
positive strain rate performance. That is, at the higher
rates of strain typically associated with crash events,
steel has higher strength increases and consequently
higher energy absorption at a given part weight.

Advantage: Steel
Fatigue

Aluminum fatigue performance is less than that of
steel. This is a very important advantage for steel in
terms of vehicle life durability. Automotive steel grades
also possess an endurance limit. From testing, it was
found that structural aluminum grades (5XXX series) will
not reach an endurance limit, but continually degrade at
higher cycles.

Advantage: Steel


Formability
Aluminum's Formability is approximately 2/3 that of
steel (less forming range). This is a very important
advantage for steel for vehicle styling and overall
manufacturing robustness.
Advantage: Steel

Hardness
Aluminum's hardness is lower than steel's. Stone
chips and surface quality are harder to maintain for an
aluminum body over a vehicle's lifecycle.
Advantage: Steel

Damping
Noise, Vibration, and Harshness (NVH). The ability of
any material to attenuate airborne noise is directly
proportional to its mass. Regarding airborne noise, steel
clearly has an advantage in most cases.
Advantage: Steel

Magnetic
Steel is magnetic, aluminum is not; very important in recycling
end of life vehicles. Steel is easily recycled because of its
magnetic properties versus other nonferrous materials such as lead,
copper, zinc, and aluminum. Thus, Steel separates extremely
efficiently, but the nonferous scrap will possess all the unwanted
residual materials as well (polymers, glass, adhesive, ceramics,
etc.).
Advantage: Steel

Galvanic potential
Aluminum's galvanic potential is high, while steel's is low. On
an auto body, when aluminum and steel are in direct contact,
accelerated corrosion is evident. There are barrier technologies
available to help with this condition when mixing metals, but at a
significant cost impact.
Advantage: Steel

Advantages of Aluminium Alloys

Any intricate shape can be extruded and
build up in vehicle body is made very
simple.

Aluminium castings are using Investment
casting process, which has tremendous
advantages like small tolerances, small
wall thicknesses and reduced machining
operations.

Selection of Aluminium

Design engineer needs to optimize the use of
steel or aluminium alloys based

utility,

function,

ease of manufacture,

durability,

safety,

cost effective in manufacture and

reduced pollution for vehicle.