Requirements for Automotive Body Materials

Summary of Requirements of Body Materials

1. Performance Factors (strength, stiffness, ductility, toughness, impact properties, density) 2. Manufacturing Factors (ease of formability, joinability and surface finishing, volume of production) 3. Cost Factors (raw materials costs, manufacturing costs, cost of change, in-service costs, end-of-life costs) 4. In-service Factors (ease of repair, availability of repair sites, corrosion resistance, fatigue resistance) 5. Environmental Factors (resource availability, pollution during primary and secondary processing, recyclability, end-of-life disposal) 6. Miscellaneous Factors (legislation, fashion, customer perception, etc.)
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Comparison of Tensile Properties

500 450 450 400 350 300 300 250 200 150 100 50 0
High Strength Steel (HSLA 350) Mild Steel (DC05) Al alloy AA6111 Mg Alloy AZ91 SMC (polyester 25% glass) Polypropylene (PP)

Youngs Modulus, E (GN/m3) Tensile Strength, TS (MN/m3)

300 240

210

210

70 45 12

70 40 1.5

Density, r (g/cm3)
0 1 2.7 1.8 1.8 0.9 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 7.8 9

Mild Steel (DC05)

7.8

HSLA 350

Al alloy AA6111

Comparison of Density

Mg Alloy AZ91

SMC (polyester 25% glass)

Polypropylene (PP)

Comparison of Specific Tensile Properties

140
Specific Modulus (E/ )

130

120
Specific Strength (TS/ )

r
110

100 80 60 60 40 40 20 27 27

40 26 25 7

45

High Strength Steel (HSLA 350)

Mild Steel (DC05)

Al alloy AA6111

Mg Alloy AZ91

SMC (polyester 25% glass)

Polypropylene (PP)

Price (/tonne)
1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500 500 690 810 800 15 3440 3030 1120 1010 3830 2140 1840 0
Mild Steel(DC05) Coated DC05 High Strength Steel Steel Scrap 6XXX Al alloy 5XXX Al alloy Al alloy segregated scrap Al alloy nonsegregated scrap Mg casting alloy SMC (glasspolyester) PP

Approximate Costs of Automotive Body Alloys

100

Relative Corrosion Performance

Approximate Relative Rates of Corrosion in Automotive Metals (Mild Steel = 100)

90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

Mild Steel Hot Dip (DC05) Galvanised DC05

5XXX Al Alloy

6XXX Al Alloy

AZ91C Mg Alloy

AZ91E Mg Alloy (purer)

Materials Trends
80
Contribution to Vehicle Weight (%)

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1975 1980 1985 1990 2000 2005 Steel Elastomers Plastics Aluminium Other

Materials used in German Passenger Cars

Why Steel?
Readily available Relatively cheap Excellent combination of strength, stiffness and ductility Good sheet formability Clear fatigue limit Joining technology is well known Finishing technology is well known Design with steel is well known

Why not Steel?

High density Poor corrosion resistance
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Types of Automotive Steels

Mild Steel: Cold Rolled, Low Carbon Steel Hot Rolled, Low Carbon Steel High Strength Steels: High Strength, Low Alloy (HSLA) or Microalloyed Steel Dent Resistant Steels (Bake Hardening steel, Rephosphorised Steel) Dual Phase (DP) and Complex Phase (CP) Steel Martensitic Steel Transformation-Induced Plasticity (TRIP) Steel

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Properties of Automotive Steels

1200
True Stress, s (MPa) Martensitic Steel (MS 1100) Complex Phase Steel (CP900)

1000 800 600 400 200

TRIP Steel (TRIP 700)

Dual Phase Steel (H 300 X) Microalloyed Steel (H 350 LA) Bake Hardenable (after bake) Steel (H 260 BD) (before bake) High Formability Mild Steel (DC06)
Hot Rolled Mild Steel (DD11)

0.05

0.10

0.15

0.20

0.25

0.30

True Strain, e or 11

Relative Cost (DC05 = 1)

0.2 1 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.2 1.4 1.6 0

HR Mild Steel

DC05

Bake Hardened

Rephosphorised

HSLA

Dual Phase

TRIP

Relative Costs of Automotive Steels

Martensitic

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Elongation (%)

Relationship between Ductility and Strength in Automotive Steels

50 40

Direction of development

30

20

10

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

Tensile Strength (MPa)

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Typical Modern Useage of High Strength Steels

MS MS BH (iso) MS IF BH BH MS MS IF

IF MS MS MS MS MS MS

B256 (New Fiesta) - 45% HSS, 55% MS

14 (MS = Mild Steel, IF = Interstitial-Free Steel, BH = Bake Hardening Steel)

Why Aluminium Alloys?

Readily available Low density (2700 kg/m3, cf. 7800kg/m3 for steel) High specific strength (strength:weight ratio) High specific stiffness (when thickness effect taken into account) Corrosion resistant (but.) Recyclable (but.) Finishing technology is well known

Why not Aluminium Alloys?

Expensive (~2000/tonne, cf. ~400/tonne for mild uncoated steel) Limited formability Design with Aluminium is less well understood No fatigue limit Different joining technologies need to be employed
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Principal Aluminium Alloys

Aluminium Association (AA) grades:

1XXX >99%Al
2XXX Al-Cu 3XXX Al-Mn Past use in US, for closures

4XXX Al-Si
5XXX Al-Mg 6XXX Al-Mg-Si 7XXX Al-Zn 8XXX Al-X

Castings (4XX)
Structural sheet & extrusions Skin sheet & extrusions Skin sheet & extrusions

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Design Implications
Body-in White (BIW) options: Monocoque

Spaceframe Hybrid
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COMPOSITES
DEFINITION: A UNIFIED COMBINATION OF TWO OR MORE PHYSICALLY DISTINCT AND MECHANICALLY SEPARABLE MATERIALS PROVIDING A COMBINATION OF PROPERTIES THAT CANNOT BE ACHIEVED IN THE ORIGINAL CONSTITUENTS.

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NOTE THAT THEY WOULD NORMALLY BE USED IN LOWVOLUME CAR PRODUCTION (<2500/ANNUM) OR IN ALMOST HAND-BUILT VEHICLE SITUATIONS (25-50/annum)

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REINFORCED POLYMERS FOR AUTOMOTIVE BODY APPLICATIONS?

VERY LOW DENSITY MAKING CARS FASTER AND FUEL EFFICIENT HIGH STRENGTH AND HIGH STRENGTH TO WEIGHT RATIO CAN BE ACHIEVED LOW-COST MOULDS CAN BE MADE PROCESS SKILLS LEVELS CAN BE LEARNT QUICKLY DIIFFERENT TYPES OF FIBRES ARE AVAILABLE (KEVLAR, CARBON, GLASS) GIVING DIFFERENT PROPERTIES 20

What material properties are important in choosing frame material? First, there are three types of material properties:
Physical - Density, color, electrical conductivity, magnetic permeability, and thermal expansion. Mechanical - Elongation, fatigue limit, hardness, stiffness, shear strength, tensile strength, and toughness. Chemical - Reactivity, corrosion resistance, electrochemical potential, irradiation resistance, resistance to acids, resistance to alkalis, and solubility.

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Chassis Materials
STEEL ALUMINUM

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Titanium
Titanium has an association with space tech, and is regarded by many people as an "ultimate" material. It has a density roughly half that of steel, and also a little over half the stiffness value. It's a similar situation with regards to ultimate and yield strengths. Only alloynot raw

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MAGNESIUM
Magnesium is the lightest metal that's likely to be used in a vehicle chassis, with a density about quarter that of steel. This weight advantage helps to compensate for the fact that it's strength and rigidity is below even aluminium, and with careful design can be used to build a light, stiff structure. Currently, the use of magnesium in vehicles is generally restricted to cast shapes for mounting brackets, braces and so on, though several manufacturers are working on using magnesium sheet and extruded sections where possible.
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fibreglass
Raw plastics do not have anywhere near enough stiffness to be used for structural components in cars. If strands of glass are added to the mixture, though, their properties improve remarkably. This gives you a Glass Fibre Reinforced Plastic (GFRP or GRP), most commonly referred to as fibreglass. Traditionally, fibreglass has been used for specialist applications like sports cars most of all, and is often used in conjunction with a separate chassis or subframes rather than alone. Even if a bodyshell is made to be a stand-alone fibreglass structure, metal inserts are still usually used to spread the load at mounting points etc.

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CARBON FIBRE:
Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic The key to this is that, unlike fibreglass, where the strands are pretty much random, carbon fibre uses a woven matt of fibres - this is what gives it it's distinctive appearance. use of carbon fibre tends to be restricted to large, reasonably flat panels (such as roof panels and bonnets), where the best "bang for buck" weight savings can be found.

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