Browse Topic: Lightweighting
Bemis Manufacturing and BASF collaborated to develop a lighter-weight and lower-cost hydraulic tank for compact excavators that was recognized with a lightweighting award traditionally reserved for automotive innovations. Receiving an honorable mention in the Enabling Technology category of this year's Altair Enlighten Awards, the development team leveraged a combination of injection molding and vibration welding techniques to lower costs by approximately 20% and reduce mass by about 5% compared to the traditional roto-molding process. The solution also is more eco-efficient, delivering both environmental savings (reductions in lifecycle CO2 emissions) and reducing lifecycle costs.
Eight arguments for these resins, compounds and composites. Weight reduction in EV battery components is an important factor in optimizing battery energy density, which in turn is critical to extending vehicle range and boosting power and performance. Although traditional metals such as steel and aluminum are widely used in EV batteries, the ongoing push for higher energy density is opening new opportunities for thermoplastic resins, compounds, and composites. The main advantage of these materials vs. metals is their inherent lighter weight - particularly in the case of lower-density polymers. Thermoplastics can be 30-50 percent lighter than metals. They also increase design freedom, which permits further weight-out through part consolidation and thin walls.
Reducing vehicle weight is a key task for automotive engineers to meet future emission, fuel consumption, and performance requirements. Weight reduction of cylinder head and crankcase can make a decisive contribution to achieving these objectives, as they are among the heaviest components of a passenger car powertrain. Modern passenger car cylinder heads and crankcases have greatly been optimized in terms of cost and weight in all-aluminum design using the latest conventional production techniques. However, it is becoming apparent that further significant weight reduction cannot be expected, as processes such as casting have reached their limits for further lightweighting due to manufacturing restrictions. Here, recent developments in the additive manufacturing (AM) of metallic structures is offering a new degree of freedom. As part of the government-funded research project LeiMot [Lightweight Engine (Eng.)] borderline lightweight design potential of a passenger car cylinder head with
This study delves into the microstructural and mechanical characteristics of AlSi10Mg alloy produced through the Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF) method. The investigation identified optimal process parameters for AlSi10Mg alloy based on Volume Energy Density (VED). Manufacturing conditions in the L-PBF process involve factors like laser power, scan speed, hatching distance, and layer thickness. Generally, high laser power may lead to spattering, while low laser power can result in lack-of-fusion areas. Similarly, high scan speeds may cause lack-of-fusion, and low scan speeds can induce spattering. Ensuring the quality of specimens and parts necessitates optimizing these process parameters. To address the low elongation properties in the as-built condition, heat treatment was employed. The initial microstructure of AlSi10Mg alloy in its as-built state comprises a cell structure with α-Al cell walls and eutectic Si. Heat treatment caused the collapse of the eutectic Si cell walls, and a
Most motor mounts, even for EV applications, are made of metal alloys. It makes intuitive sense: It's a vibration-intensive mounting application that demands durability that matches the life of the vehicle itself. But there is another way. Now, a composite nylon-based motor mount on the Cadillac Lyriq has won the Society for Automotive Analysts' Innovation in Lightweighting Award. The mount is a collaboration between GM, anti-vibration parts maker DN Automotive and chemical company Celanese. It is made with Zytel PA NVH Gen 2, a new polyamide (PA 66). The results not only showed up in development data, but in the end product, which has reviewers raving about how quiet the Lyriq's cabin is - “crypt quiet,” according to Automotive News.
Toyota and its segment-first IsoDynamic Performance Seat were big winners in this year's Altair Enlighten Awards, honored during an awards ceremony at the 2023 CAR Management Briefing Seminars (MBS) in August. Debuting in the 2024 Tacoma TRD Pro, the performance seat's various lightweight structures took the top spot for both the Enabling Technology and the Module Lightweighting categories. Four other category winners, along with runners-up and honorable mentions, showcased how automotive and commercial-vehicle companies are applying advanced technologies and artificial intelligence to create a more sustainable future for the industry. “They demonstrate exceptional leadership in this area, but more importantly they demonstrate how these innovative solutions can be achieved by collaborating with the supply chain,” Richard Yen, Altair's senior VP for product and strategy, said at the ceremony in Traverse City, Michigan. “We are seeing a lot of companies bring the suppliers together to
Plastics, steel and aluminum technologies that reduce weight and emissions recognized with 2023 Altair Enlighten Awards. Toyota and its segment-first IsoDynamic Performance Seat were big winners in this year's Altair Enlighten Awards, honored during an awards ceremony at the 2023 CAR Management Briefing Seminars (MBS) in August. Debuting in the 2024 Tacoma TRD Pro, the performance seat's various lightweight structures took the top spot for both the Enabling Technology and the Module Lightweighting categories. Four other category winners, along with runners-up and honorable mentions, showcased how automotive and commercial-vehicle companies are applying advanced technologies and artificial intelligence to create a more sustainable future for the industry. “They demonstrate exceptional leadership in this area, but more importantly they demonstrate how these innovative solutions can be achieved by collaborating with the supply chain,” Richard Yen, Altair's senior VP for product and
Aerospace and defense (A&D) components face a range of extreme conditions for prolonged periods. Their lifespan quickly becomes diminished as a result and become susceptible to critical faults. Because of this, vital components have traditionally consisted of heavy alloys due to their tensile/yield strength, high thermal resistance and corrosive protection. Moving into next generation designs, the light-weighting of aircraft design has become a priority to improve fuel efficiency, enhance speed, and provide more available carry weight for vehicles in action.
Aerospace and defense (A&D) components face a range of extreme conditions for prolonged periods. Their lifespan quickly becomes diminished as a result and become susceptible to critical faults. Because of this, vital components have traditionally consisted of heavy alloys due to their tensile/yield strength, high thermal resistance and corrosive protection. Moving into next generation designs, the light-weighting of aircraft design has become a priority to improve fuel efficiency, enhance speed, and provide more available carry weight for vehicles in action. To support the advancement of using lighter metals in A&D designs, metal coating technologies have been developed to protect and extend the lifespan of critical components; especially those facing strenuous conditions. That said, traditional coatings can often fail to provide suitable protection to replace heavy metals, and also produce waste materials that are harmful to the environment.
Outokumpu and collaborators show a possible weight reduction of up to 35% by using high-strength stainless steel in place of carbon steel. The weight of a typical bus could be reduced by up to 35% - more than 1,000 kg (2,205 lbs.) - by using high-strength stainless steel to replace tubular bus-frame elements traditionally manufactured in carbon steel. That is the conclusion of a first-of-its-kind project carried out by stainless-steel manufacturer Outokumpu, together with CAD/CAE solution specialist FCMS, the Munich University of Applied Sciences and RotherCONSULT. Corrosion-resistant stainless steel could offer sustainability combined with reduced maintenance time and costs. In addition, high-strength stainless steel grades have become commercially available that offer significant weight savings. The aim of this project was to examine what that could mean in terms of lower weight and reduced material costs.
Improvements in component/system design is a daily challenge these days, always looking for high performance, reduced mass and low costs. The source for the best fit between these factors, coupled with adequate durability performance, is crucial to the success of a given product and this is what motivates engineering teams around the world. The demand for efficient projects with short deadlines for validation and certification is huge and simulation tools focused on accelerated durability and virtual validation are increasingly being used. When developing a new spring for commercial vehicles, lessons learned from the actual loads applied to the suspension are the “key” to a successful project. The loads/stresses from the ground (vertical loads, lateral loads, longitudinal and braking loads) are quite high and, consequently, relevant to the proper definition of the design of the suspension components. The objective of this work is to describe the main development activities faced during
The ability to predict the durability of a structure depends on the knowledge of operating loads experienced by the structure. Typically, multi-body dynamics (MBD) models are used to cascade measured wheel loads to hard points. However, in this approach, there are many sources by which errors creep into cascaded forces. Any attempt to reduce sources of such errors is time consuming and costly. In typical program development timelines, it is very difficult to accommodate such model calibration efforts. Commercial load cells exist in the industry to give engineers insight into understanding the complex real-world loading of their structures. A significant limitation to the use of load cells is that the structure needs to be modified to accept the load cell, and not all desired loading degrees of freedom (DOFs) can be measured. One of the innovative solutions to calculate operating loads is to convert the structure itself into its own load transducer. The D-optimal algorithm along with
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