Benefits of Hydroformed Components for BIW Applications

Strategic aims of the automotive industry are the minimisation of the costs and the optimisation of its product's performances. Looking for alternative production processes to improve weight, parts reduction, strength characteristics and rigidity, hydroforming offers interesting technical and economic potentials. Traditionally used in exhaust and chassis applications, the use of hydroforming is now being rapidly extended to Body in White application, like structural reinforcements or closures frames.

To take benefits both from the material and the process sides, a Spanish components supplier and major steelmaker have developed optimised turn-key solutions using advanced high strength steels combined with hydroforming. Some of these solutions on modules like the front-end module or back-doors and showing interesting performances in terms of weight lightening will be detailed, including description of the manufacturing process and comparative costs estimations.