Aluminum usage in automobiles and light trucks has been climbing steadily. Evenmore important, auto manufacturers are beginning to see aluminum the wayaircraft manufacturers do - as the basic structural material for their vehicles.
Increasingly, in the case of carmakers, that thinking begins with an aluminumbody structure such as the spaceframe. It's a new and potentially powerfultrend. As recently as 1990, there were no aluminum-structured passenger cars inproduction anywhere in the world. The closest thing was the HMMV (Hummer), atthat time strictly a military vehicle. As of 1997, there were sevenaluminum-structured passenger cars in production. For three of them - Audi A8,Plymouth Prowler, and GM EV-1 - Alcoa has been the principal partner indesigning, engineering and manufacturing aluminum components, subassemblies, and- in the case of the Prowler - the frame itself.
And that's just the beginning.A concept car with a modular spaceframe in technology reviews held for Ford andChrysler, Alcoa unveiled a vehicle concept embodying ideas for future cars andlight trucks. The design is based on a spaceframe structure comparable to thoseAlcoa has helped to develop for the Audi A8 and Plymouth Prowler. But in theconcept vehicle, the spaceframe is modular, a step toward using such structuresin a broad range of future vehicles.
By changing modules, a carmaker couldproduce a sedan, a sport utility vehicle, and a pickup truck, all from a singleproduction platform. New programs with Daimler-Benz and Chrysler Alcoa isproducing the front energy management structure for the new Mercedes-BenzA-class car (above) now selling in Europe. This 11-piece structure was designedby Alcoa and is robotically assembled at Alcoa's plant in Soest, Germany.Production volume is expected to reach 1,000 units per day. For Chrysler, analuminum rear crossmember designed and manufactured by Alcoa improves thehandling and noise-vibration-harshness performance of the all-new 1998 DodgeIntrepid and Chrysler Concorde as well as the 1999 Chrysler LHS and 300M models.
AAS will manufacture 270,000 units per year at its Northwood, Ohio plant.Something new around the windshield. A key advance incorporated in the 1997Corvette is a first-of-its-kind windshield surround developed in a design andengineering collaboration of General Motors and Alcoa. An effective combinationof aluminum cast and extruded products makes this an extremely stiff structure,helping the new Corvette to earn excellent reviews for its stiffness andsuperior handling. Northwood will produce 25,000 windshield surrounds annually..
Design tools to aid in product development New guidelines for use in designingautomotive components have been installed at AAS operations in Esslingen,Germany; Southfield, Mich; and Alcoa Technical Center (ATC) near Pittsburgh.Developed by AAS and ATC, the guidelines will assist automotive engineers inevaluating product design and fabrication options. Objectives: Improve designquality and cut development time by 30%. Audi A8 is picked as a technologicalwinner In December, the Audi A8 was named one of the top 25 Winning Technologiesby Industry Week (IW) magazine in the U.
S. The editors report: "The 1997Audi A8 with its aluminum spaceframe body technology indicates what is possiblewhen the status quo in materials is challenged in automotive design. The luxurysedan delivers a new standard in weight savings, structural integrity, safety,performance and comfort." IW traces the origins of the Audi spaceframe to"an early 1980s R&D initiative that became a joint-venture with Alcoa.
The spaceframe took 10 years to develop," the editors note, "and isthe result of 40 new patents, seven new aircraft-grade aluminum alloys, andextensive design analysis via supercomputers." Alloy A substance withmetallic properties, composed of two or more chemical elements of which at leastone is a metal. More specifically, aluminum plus one or more other elements,produced to have certain specific, desirable characteristics. Alumina Aluminumoxide produced from bauxite by an intricate chemical process.
It is a whitepowdery material that looks like granulated sugar. Alumina is an intermediatestep in the production of aluminum from bauxite and is also a valuable chemicalon its own. Aluminum Spaceframe An integrated structure of aluminum castings andextruded parts that forms the primary body frame of a new generation ofautomobiles. Bauxite An ore from which alumina is extracted and from whichaluminum is eventually smelted. Bauxite usually contains at least 45% alumina.About four pounds of bauxite are required to produce one pound of aluminum.
Brazing Joining metals by flowing a thin layer of molten, nonferrous fillermetal into the space between them. . Crossmember Component of a vehiclestructure that spans the structure, joining two sides together. Engineeredproduct A basic aluminum fabricated product that has been mechanically alteredto create special properties for specific purposes; forgings and extrusions areexamples of engineered products.
Extrusion The process of shaping material byforcing it to flow through a shaped opening in a die. Fabricate To work amaterial into a finished state by machining, forming or joining. It all startswith dirt. This kind of dirt is called bauxite ore.
If you looked at a four-tontruckload of it and someone asked, "What can you make out of that?" -you would think, "Not much. Maybe the base for a driveway." But fromfour tons of bauxite, it's possible to refine about two tons of alumina - apowdery oxide of aluminum. It's not easy. The technology is complex and theequipment is massive.
But Alcoa has refined the refining process to an art. .And from those two tons of alumina, we can smelt a ton of aluminum. Smeltingaluminum. Smelting aluminum was the invention that launched Alcoa launched Alcoa111 years ago.
A ton of aluminum is enough to make the cans for over 60,000Cokes, Pepsi's or Buds. Enough to make the spaceframes for seven Audi A8 luxurycars. Enough to make40,000 computer memory disks, capable of storing all thebooks ever published. . Aluminum is the most abundant metallic element in theearth's crust and one of the more difficult to extract. It is always foundlocked in combination with other elements such as oxygen or sulfur, as part ofvarious aluminum-bearing minerals notably bauxite.
Once converted into itsmetallic state, aluminum is like no other material on earth. Its future isbright because its combination of useful properties is extraordinary. Aluminumis eminently recyclable. Aluminum pays its own way through the recycling loop.Making aluminum from recycled scrap takes only 5% of the energy it would take tomake new metal from ore. Aluminum is.
.. Light in weight - about a third as heavyas copper or steel. Highly resistant to corrosion.
Strong, and can be made stillstronger by adding small amounts of other metals in alloys. An excellentconductor of heat and electricity. An excellent reflector of heat and light.Nonmagnetic, a valuable property around compasses or sensitive electronics.Nontoxic, thus often chosen to package foods, beverages, and medicines.Outstanding in cryogenic properties - strong, not brittle in intense cold.Highly workable, capable of forming by all known metalworking processes.
