An Ultra-Light Thin Sliding Door Design - A Multi-Product Multi-Material Solution

Sliding door designs are applied to rear side doors on vans and other large vehicles with a trend towards dual sliding doors with power operation. It is beneficial for the vehicle user to reduce the weight of and space occupied by these doors.

Alcoa, in conjunction with Ford, has developed a multi-product, multi-material-based solution, which significantly reduces the cost of an aluminum sliding door and provides both consumer delight and stamping-assembly plant benefits. The design was successfully demonstrated through a concept readiness/technology demonstration program.

The key findings of the joint effort demonstrated:

• Reduced system cost through parts reduction/consolidation and associated reduction of stamping and joining/assembly operations, gauge reduction and optimized material utilization
• Reduced thickness of the door by over 60mm and weight reduction by over 11kg,
• Equivalent functional performance to the current steel door
• Manufacturability using robust processes at desired quality and reliability levels.
• Improved quality and reliability of assembling the door hardware, which significantly improved serviceability over traditional designs.

The basic door design concept is also applicable to other types of doors.