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This work aims to develop a PA6 nanocomposite with glass fiber (GF) and graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) focusing on automotive parts application. Polyamide 6 is a semi-crystalline polymer that exhibits high fatigue and flexural strength, making it viable for rigorous applications. Along with the improved electrical, mechanical, thermal, and optical performance achieved in PA6 and GF-based nanocomposites, they can fill complex geometries, have great durability, and are widely utilized due to their capacity of reducing the weight of the vehicle besides a cost reduction potential. The glass fiber is a filamentary composite, usually aggregated in polymeric matrices, which aims to amplify the mechanical properties of polymers, mainly the tensile strength in the case of PA6.

In a recent time, which new vehicle lines comes with a huge number of sensors, control units, embedded technologies, and the complexity of these systems (electronics, electrical and electromechanical parts) increases in an exponential way. Considering these events, the expressive generated data amount grows in the same pace, so, consume, transform, and analyze all these data to better understand the modern customer, their needs and how they use the car features becomes necessary. Through that scenario, connected vehicles developed by Ford Motor Company has been generating opportunities to feature’s improvement and cost reduction based on data analysis. This growing quantity of data might be used to optimize feature systems and help engineering teams to understand how the features have been used and enhance the systems engineering design for new or existing features.

Rubber is one of the most used materials currently selected to produce automotive parts, but, for specific applications, some improvement is required in its properties through the addition of some components to the rubber compound formulation. Because of that, mechanical, thermal, and chemical properties are enhanced in order to meet strict requirements of the vast range of application of the rubber compounds. In addition to improving material properties, the combination of different substances, also aims to improve processability and reduce the costs of the final product. Recently, the use of nanofillers has been very explored because of their distinctive properties and characteristics. Among the nanofillers under study, graphene is known for its high-barrier property, thermal and electrical conductivities, and good mechanical properties.

Auto industry has faced constant challenges in the economic, technology and global trend in the recent years. This is changing the corporative mindset to find creative and innovative processes and methods to evolve the product development system to adjust and deliver competitive products that satisfy customers expectations. Integrating the work from different teams in an organization has been moving from simple roles and responsibilities definition with effective communication channels to a new vision where teamwork progresses in harmony and embraces change to satisfy customers as part of the process. The path to evolve work in engineering that relies on several computational tools continues. In this article, it is presented an integration of different tools to manage vehicle program changes using model-based systems engineering, the present work improves the reaction capabilities of the teams and enables to adjust to changes in the development of a vehicle.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are a promising and proven technology for achieving sustainable mobility with zero carbon emissions, very low noise pollution, and reducing the dependency on fossil fuels. Global EV sales have been increasing by ~110 % since 2015, with a significant rise in 2021 (~6.75 mils EV registered) mainly led by China, the US, and Europe, amplifying the EV market share to 8.3% compared to 4.2% in 2020. Future developments aimed at designing better batteries and charging technologies that reduce charging time, reduce initial battery cost, and increased flexibility. In India, EVs are emerging significantly due to stringent Carbon di Oxide (CO2) reduction drives, increasing crude oil prices, and the availability of cheaper renewable energy. Leveraging government promotional policies, evolving the entire ecosystem, globally advantageous manufacturing costs, and competitive engineering skills form the perfect blend for India.

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

This paper presents a method of using CAE to determine the pre-load and torque applied to a U-Bolt rear Spring Seat. In this paper it is review two U-bolt design and the stresses generated by the pre-load torque applied, based in this study a process to determine the minimal preload and the torque is discussed. By this process it is possible to determine the minimum Torque and the correct pre-load in the U-Bolt element and assuring the correct fastening of the components avoiding over stress in the Bar elements.

Most of the applications of magnesium in lightweighting commercial cars and trucks are die castings rather than sheet metal, and automotive applications of magnesium sheet have typically been experimental or low-volume serial production. The overarching objective of this collaborative research project organized by the United States Automotive Materials Partnership (USAMP) was to develop new low-cost magnesium alloys, and demonstrate warm-stamping of magnesium sheet inner and outer door panels for a 2013 MY Ford Fusion at a fully accounted integrated component cost increase over conventional steel stamped components of no more than $2.50/lb. saved ($5.50/kg saved). The project demonstrated the computational design of new magnesium (Mg) alloys from atomistic levels, cast new experimental alloy ingots and explored thermomechanical rolling processes to produce thin Mg sheet of desired textures.

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.

Seat strength has increased over the past four decades which includes a transition to dual recliners. There are seat collision performance issues with stiff ABTS and very strong seats in rear impacts with different occupant sizes, seating positions and physical conditions. In this study, eight rear sled tests were conducted in four series: 1) ABTS in a 56 km/h (35 mph) test with a 50th Hybrid III ATD at MGA, 2) dual-recliner ABTS and F-150 in a 56 km/h (35 mph) test with a 5th female Hybrid III ATD at Ford, 3) dual-recliner ABTS in a 48 km/h (30 mph) test with a 95th Hybrid III ATD leaning inboard at CAPE and 4) dual-recliner ABTS and Escape in 40 km/h (25 mph) in-position and out-of-position tests with a 50th Hybrid III ATD at Ford. The sled tests showed that single-recliner ABTS seats twist in severe rear impacts with the pivot side deformed more rearward than the stanchion side.

Innovations in mobility are built upon a management of complex interactions between sub-systems and components. A need for CAE tools that are capable of system simulations is well recognized, as evidenced by a growing number of commercial packages. However impressive they are, the predictability of such simulations still rests on the representation of the base components. Among them, a wet clutch actuator continues to play a critical role in the next generation propulsion systems. It converts hydraulic pressure to mechanical force to control torque transmitted through a clutch pack. The actuator is typically modeled as a hydraulic piston opposed by a mechanical spring. Because the piston slides over a seal, some models have a framework to account for seal friction. However, there are few contributions to the literature that describe the effects of seals on clutch actuator behaviors.

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.

Weld lines can significantly reduce ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and fracture strain of talc filled polypropylene (PP). In this paper, two different injection molding tests were completed. First, an injection mold with triangular inserts was built to study the influence of meeting angles on material properties at the weld line region. Tensile samples were cut at different locations along the weld line on the injection molded plaques. The test results showed that both UTS and fracture strain increase when the sample locations are away from the insert. This trend is attributed to different meeting angles. Second, standard ISO tensile bars with and without weld line were injection molded to identify the size of the weld line affected zone. A FEA model was built in ABAQUS, where the tensile sample was divided into two different regions, the solid region and the weld line affected region.

As an alternative lightweight material, chopped carbon fiber reinforced Sheet Molding Compound (SMC) composites, formed by compression molding, provide a new material for automotive applications. In the present study, the monotonic and fatigue behavior of chopped carbon fiber reinforced SMC is investigated. Tensile tests were conducted on coupons with three different gauge length, and size effect was observed on the fracture strength. Since the fiber bundle is randomly distributed in the SMC plaques, a digital image correlation (DIC) system was used to obtain the local modulus distribution along the gauge section for each coupon. It was found that there is a relationship between the local modulus distribution and the final fracture location under tensile loading. The fatigue behavior under tension-tension (R=0.1) and tension-compression (R=-1) has also been evaluated.

Recently, graphene has attracted both academic and industrial interest because it can produce a dramatic improvement in properties at very low filler content. This review will focus on the latest studies and recent progress in the swelling resistance of rubber compounds due to the addition of graphene and its derivatives. This work will present the state-of-the-art in this subject area and will highlight the advantages and current limitations of the use of graphene for potential future researches.

Previously fuel consumption on a drive cycle has been shown to be proportional to traction work, with an offset for powertrain losses. This model had different transfer functions for different drive cycles, performance levels, and applied powertrain technologies. Following Soltic it is shown that if fuel usage and traction work are both expressed in terms of cycle average power, a wide range of drive cycles collapse to a single transfer function, where cycle average traction power captures the drive cycle and the vehicle size. If this transfer function is then normalized by weight, i.e. by working in cycle average power/weight (P/W), a linear model is obtained where the offset is mainly a function of rated performance and applied technology. A final normalization by rated power/weight as the primary performance metric further collapses the data to express the cycle average fuel power/rated power ratio as a function of cycle average traction power/rated power ratio.

The brake pedal is the brake system component that the driver fundamentally has contact and through its action wait the response of the whole system. Each OEM defines during vehicle conceptualization the behavior of brake pedal that characterizes the pedal feel that in general reflects not only the characteristic from that vehicle but also from the entire brand. Technically, the term known as Pedal Feel means the relation between the force applied on the pedal, the pedal travel and the deceleration achieved by the vehicle. Such relation curves are also analyzed in conjunction with objective analysis sheets where the vehicle brake behavior is analyzed in test track considering different deceleration conditions, force and pedal travel. On technical literature, it is possible to find some data and studies considering the hydraulic brakes behavior.

Nowadays, develop and launch a new product in the market is hard to every company. When we talk about a launch new vehicle to the customers, this task could be considered more difficult than other products whether imagine how fast the technology should be integrated to vehicle. There are main pillars to be considered in this scenario: low cost, design, innovation, competitiveness and safety. Whereas Brazilian economic scenario, all OEM has to be aware to opportunity to make the product profitable and keep acceptable quality. This combination between low cost and quality could be broken or not distributed equally between the pillars. Based on that, in some cases could have a quality broken that will affect directly the customer. This paper will focus on project to define of the new ignition switch, when the main challenge to achieve the cost reduction target was defined to change a material to electrical terminals.