Objective
Objectives and content
To meet environmental requirements the automotive industry has to decrease vehicle emissions. The Objectives of this project are (1) to decrease emissions through reduced fuel consumption by reducing the weight of a car body door, (2) to introduce an industrial application of magnesium - at same or lower component cost than existing steel door concepts, and (3) to reduce production investments. Strength, stiffness and safety requirements of existing steel doors shall be maintained. The estimated weight reduction is 45% of the actual component or more than 20 kg of the complete vehicle. This implies an estimated saving of fuel consumption of 200 litres over the vehicle lifetime. These Objectives will be approached by replacing steel sheet with magnesium shell castings and aluminium sheet and extrusions where applicable, on a car door. The requirements of lower production investments and maintained component costs will be met by integration of functions, modular design and near net shape forming. By manufacturing a large magnesium cast component aimed for high volume production, large scale industrial magnesium applications will be promoted.
The Technical work areas include optimised lightweight car design in a shell structure, material and process selection, testing and selection of magnesium multimetal joining methods, galvanic and atmospheric corrosion prevention and testing, manufacturing of cast magnesium shell structure and Al steel hang on parts, door assembly, complete component evaluation including structural, mechanical, acoustic and safety behaviour. Evaluation references derive from an existing steel door concept. This proposal describes
- The objectives, being reduced emissions through weight reduction by application of magnesium without increase in component cost - partially by reduced production investments
- The state of the art; where structural magnesium components exist in production and door frames exist at a research level.
- The technical programme derived from the technical work areas - The industrial Opportunities, being principally functional integration and modular design
- The exploitation plans of results derived from the industrial opportunities including:
Introduction of light weight structural body components, near net shape design, functional integration and modular assembly design features, reduction of production investments in equipment and production surface, recyclability of magnesium body components.
This project will introduce new materials on a real component and the criteria of pre-competitiveness is fulfilled by studying a component that exists in production. It will imply weight reduction by an industrial application of magnesium. This promotes the use of magnesium for volume production which is necessary for a favourable development of the raw material cost and availability. Vehicle weight reduction by extended use of magnesium is vital for the increase of European competitiveness towards non - European industrialised countries, where magnesium is more extensively used than in Europe today.
The aim of the project is well in accordance with the EUCAR Master Plan of fulfilling the future demands of the European automotive Industry.
Fields of science
- natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistryalkaline earth metals
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringvehicle engineeringautomotive engineering
- natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistrypost-transition metals
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuels
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
405 08 Göteborg
Sweden