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The Composite Hybrid Automotive Suspension System Innovative Structures (CHASSIS) is a project that developed structural commercial vehicle suspension components in high volume utilising hybrid materials and joining techniques to offer a viable lightweight production alternative to steel. Three components were selected for the project:- Front Subframe Front Lower Control Arm (FLCA) Rear Deadbeam Axle

A cast magnesium subframe was designed and manufactured for a C Class sedan to reduce weight and improve vehicle fuel economy. The magnesium subframe achieved 5 kg (32%) weight reduction from the equivalent steel subframe and met all the required structural performance targets. All the joints of the magnesium subframe were tested for bolt load retention. The tests were conducted with a temperature profile of 100°C to -30°C designed to investigate the creep behavior of the selected magnesium alloy AE44 under high stress.

This study reports the corrosion performance of three different coating strategies tested on an AE44 high performance magnesium strut tower brace used on the 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500. The alloy was selected due to its improved structural performance at higher temperatures over conventional AM60B magnesium die castings. The first coating strategy used no pretreatment, conversion coating, or topcoat to gage the baseline corrosion performance of the uncoated alloy. The second coating strategy used a conventional pretreatment commonly used on AM60B alloy. The third used a ceramic-based conversion coating. A textured (stipple) powder coat was then applied to the two non-baseline parts over the pretreatment. All three coating strategies were then evaluated by comparing the corrosion performance after cyclic corrosion testing for 12 weeks using the Ford L-467 test.

The Composite Hybrid Automotive Suspension System Innovative Structures (CHASSIS) is a project to develop structural commercial vehicle suspension components in high volume utilising hybrid materials and joining techniques to offer a viable lightweight production alternative to steel. Three components are in scope for the project:- Front Subframe Front Lower Control Arm (FLCA) Rear Deadbeam Axle

To evaluate vehicle crash performance in the early design stages, a reliable fracture model is needed in crash simulations to predict material fracture initiation and propagation. In this paper, a generalized incremental stress state dependent damage model (GISSMO) in LS-DYNA® was calibrated and validated for a 780-MPa third generation advanced high strength steels (AHSS), namely 780 XG3TM steel that combines high strength and ductility. The fracture locus of the 780 XG3TM steel was experimentally characterized under various stress states including uniaxial tension, shear, plane strain and equi-biaxial stretch conditions. A process to calibrate the parameters in the GISSMO model was developed and successfully applied to the 780 XG3TM steel using the fracture test data for these stress states.

The usage of Boron steel in the South American automotive industry has been increasing in recent years. Considering its high hardening properties, sheet metal parts can only be manufactured using a hot forming process, as compared to a conventional cold forming process; however, the hot stamping process offers the advantage to stamp a part in a single die vs. multiple dies using a regular cold stamping process. The main objective is to present the advantages of constructing the whole AB ring reinforcement out of Boron steel and made out of a single die, and no welding among the A pillar reinforcement, B Pillar reinforcement and rocker panel. This type of design has helped to achieve crash safety performance goals, enhance the structural characteristics of joints, improve dimensional control, reduce the number of welds, manage BIW overall weight and improve torsion rigidity.

During the assembly process of planetary gears, the pinion shaft is initially pressed in to the planetary carrier and then staking is performed to fix the pinion shaft to the carrier. The main purpose of the staking process is to prevent the movement of the pinion shaft during transmission operation. During assembly there should be minimal distortion of the assembly. The press-in process, pinion shaft and carrier are subjected to extremely high frictional loading due to the interference fit. The staking process permanently deforms the pinion shaft top and bottom ends, forming a protrusion that holds the shaft in position. The pinion shaft needs to sustain operational loads exerted by helical planetary gears, which tend to push the carrier flange out of position during operation. Staking length, staking force and interference between shaft and carrier hole are the critical parameters, which determine the maximum axial force that the pinion shaft can withstand.

The initiative of this paper is focused on improving the heat dissipation from the pressure wheel of a laser welding assembly in order to achieve a longer period of use. The work examines the effects of different geometrical designs on the thermal performance of pressure wheel assembly during a period of cooling time. Three disc designs were manufactured for testing: Design 1 – a plain wheel, Design 2 – a pierced wheel, and Design 3 – a wheel with ventilating vanes. All of the wheels were made of carbon steel. The transient thermal reaction were compared. The experimental results indicate that the ventilated wheel cools down faster with the convection in the ventilated channels, while the solid plain wheel continues to possess higher temperatures. A comparison among the three different designs indicates that the Design 3 has the best cooling performance.

Not only well-functioning, but also the way operating everyday items "feel", gauges costumer perception of an automobile robustness. To prevent costumer dissatisfaction with door trim panel movement when operating power windows, deflections must be kept small. Deflections of inner panel are seen through trim panel and are responsible for giving a flimsy idea of the door. In this paper, inner panel movement for a fully stamped door in full glass stall up position is analyzed. Through CAE analyses, inner panel behavior was compared, considering different types of reinforcement for belt region.

Compression molded SMC composed of chopped carbon fiber and resin polymer which balances the mechanical performance and manufacturing cost presents a promising solution for vehicle lightweight strategy. However, the performance of the SMC molded parts highly depends on the compression molding process and local microstructure, which greatly increases the cost for the part level performance testing and elongates the design cycle. ICME (Integrated Computational Material Engineering) approaches are thus necessary tools to reduce the number of experiments required during part design and speed up the deployment of the SMC materials. As the fundamental stage of the ICME workflow, commercial software packages for SMC compression molding exist yet remain not fully validated especially for chopped fiber systems. In the present study, SMC plaques are prepared through compression molding process.

High-strength aluminum alloys such as 7075 can be formed using advanced manufacturing methods such as hot stamping. Hot stamping utilizes an elevated temperature blank and the high pressure stamping contact of the forming die to simultaneously quench and form the sheet. However, changes in the thermal history induced by hot stamping may increase this alloy’s stress corrosion cracking (SCC) susceptibility, a common corrosion concern of 7000 series alloys. This work applied the breaking load method for SCC evaluation of hot stamped AA7075-T6 B-pillar panels that had been artificially aged by two different artificial aging practices (one-step and two-step). The breaking load strength of the specimens provided quantitative data that was used to compare the effects of tensile load, duration, alloy, and heat treatment on SCC behavior.

Ensuring durability is one of the key requirements while developing cooling modules for various powertrains. Typically, road surface induced loads are the main driving force behind mechanical failures. While developing the components, road load accelerations are utilized in CAE simulations to predict the high-stress regions and estimate the fatigue life of the components mounted on the body. In certain scenarios where components are mounted to the body and attached to the engine with hoses, the components can experience additional loads associated with engine vibration. This attachment scheme requires a different analysis methodology to determine fatigue life. In the proposed paper, we look at the effect of engine motion (EM) on the fatigue life of internal transmission oil cooler (ITOC) which is mounted on the body through radiator and is simultaneously connected to the engine using a steel pipe. We propose a new CAE methodology taking into account the engine motion displacements.

The risk of skid lines for Class A panels has to be assessed before releasing the die development for hard tooling. Criteria are needed to predict skid lines in the formability evaluation stage to avoid expensive changes to tooling and process for resolving skid line issue in production. In this study, criteria using three different measured parameters were developed and validated. A draw-stretch-draw (DSD) test procedure was developed to generate skid lines on lab samples for the physical evaluation. This was done using tooling with various die entry radii and different draw beads. The skid line severity of lab samples was rated by specialists in the inspection of automotive outer panel surface quality. The skid line rating was correlated with geometric measurements of the lab samples after the DSD test. The sensitivity of the appearance of skid lines to tooling and process parameter variations was identified.

Automotive manufacturers around the world are pushing towards the goal of better safety from their vehicles without compromising on the fuel economy. One of the very successful efforts in this direction is the hot forming technique that has been around for 30 years since Saab used it for the first time in 1986. Finite element simulations for this technique are of paramount importance to identify and optimize the process; as the steels used in hot stamping are sensitive to certain variables when heated that would otherwise cause very few disturbances in a normal cold forming process. The major contributor to the high strength of the stamped part is the phase transformation that it undergoes during the hot forming process. This paper investigates and identifies critical parameters through Finite Element Analysis (FEA) simulations.

We describe an optimization model developed by Ford Motor Company to reallocate stamped parts between facilities when business conditions change. How can the business meet new targets when demand starts to exceed existing capacity? Likewise, how can it respond when demand is lower than expected? Sometimes the business can reduce costs by transferring production to a different location or by outsourcing parts. We describe in this paper how mathematical optimization can identify solutions that balance both logistical and outsourcing costs. We explain the algorithm and demonstrate with a small example how it recommends sourcing plans that minimize cost.

While Advanced High Strength Steels (AHSS) and the next generation AHSS grades offer improved crash safety and reduced weight for vehicles, the global stiffness and NVH performance are often compromised due to reduced material thickness. This paper discusses an advanced method of evaluating the joint effectiveness on contribution to global stiffness and NVH performance of vehicles. A stiffness contribution ratio is proposed initiatively in this research, which evaluates the current contribution of the joints to the global stiffness and NVH performance of vehicles. Another parameter, joint effectiveness factor, has been used to study the potential of each joint on enhancing the global stiffness. The critical joints to enhance the vehicle stiffness and NVH performance can be identified based on above two parameters, and design changes be made to those critical joints to improve the vehicle performance.

This paper describes the basic principles of extensional rheometry, and the successful application to a variety of automotive fluids, including gear lubricants, paints, and forming lubricants. These fluids are used under very complex flow fields containing strong extensional (elongational) components. While exact derivation of extensional viscosities involves sophisticated theories, the measurement of liquid filament break-up time can provide fruitful information. Gear lubes showed different break-up time according to the kinematic viscosities. Addition of viscosity modifier (acrylic copolymer) significantly increased the breakup time, whereas surfactants had little effect. Clearcoat paint sample increased the breakup time, perhaps due to the deterioration. The waxy stamping lubricant showed remarkable change in the extensional properties as the temperature is raised.

Automobile body panels made from advanced high strength steel (AHSS) provide high strength-to-mass ratio and thus AHSS are important for automotive light-weighting strategy. However, in order to increase their use, the significant wear damage that AHSS sheets cause to the trim dies should be reduced. The wear of dies has undesirable consequences including deterioration of trimmed parts' edges. In this research, die wear measurement techniques that consisted of white-light optical interferometry methods supported by large depth-of-field optical microscopy were developed. 1.4 mm-thick DP980-type AHSS sheets were trimmed using dies made from AISI D2 steel. A clearance of 10% of the thickness of the sheets was maintained between the upper and lower dies. The wear of the upper and lower dies was evaluated and material abrasion and chipping were identified as the main damage features at the trim edges.

Automotive industries are emphasizing more and more on occupant safety these days, due to an increase in awareness and demand to achieve high safety standards. They are dependent on simulation tools to predict the performance of subsystems more accurately. The challenges being encountered are designs which are getting more complex and limitations in incorporating all real-life scenarios, such as to include all manufacturing considerations like forming and welding effects. Latest versions of solvers are slowly introducing new options to include these actual scenarios. Ls-Dyna is one of the explicit solvers to introduce these possibilities. The process of including stamping details into crash simulation is already being performed in the automotive industry. However, for seatbelt pull analysis, this has not been explored much.

This paper will discuss a compliance demonstration methodology for UN38.3, an international regulation which includes a series of tests that, when successfully met, ensure that lithium metal and lithium ion batteries can be safely transported. Many battery safety regulations, such as FMVSS and ECE, include post-crash criteria that are clearly defined. UN38.3 is unique in that the severity of the tests drove changes to battery design and function. Another unique aspect of UN38.3 is that the regulatory language can lead to different interpretations on how to run the tests and apply pass/fail criteria; there is enough ambiguity that the tests could be run very differently yet all meet the actual wording of the regulation. A process was created detailing exactly how to run the tests to improve consistency among test engineers. As part of this exercise, several tools were created which assist in generating a test plan that complies with the UN38.3 regulation.