Development of High-strength Aluminum Alloy Section for Automobile and Lightweight Applications

   At present, energy-saving, reducing emissions and improving safety performance have become the development direction of the automotive industry, and automobile lightweight technology is an important measure to solve the problem of energy saving and environmental protection. Lightweight of product can be realized through the optimal design of structure, the application of lightweight materials and the integrated application of various manufacturing technologies. Aluminum alloy is widely used in lightweight automobiles due to its low density, good formability, good energy absorption and good corrosion resistance.

    According to records, automobile manufacturing enterprises began to use aluminum alloy to make crankcase in 1896 and continues to use it until now, aluminum alloy has been used in various parts of vehicle, such as engine and cylinder block, instrument panel and engine bracket, aluminum alloy wheel, suspension system parts, bumper anti-collision beam and energy absorption box, door and heat exchanger, etc., and even all aluminum vehicle body. There are now many all-aluminum body vehicle models on sale internationally, including Honda's supercar NSX, Audi's A2, A8, R8 and Jaguar XJ. Among them, the Jaguar XJ is a vehicle model using aluminum alloy technology and lightweight technology to the extreme, not only the weight of the body has been greatly reduced, but also the total number of body parts has been reduced from 5189 to 2761, and the body rigidity has been increased by 48%. According to the data, the use of aluminum alloy in automobiles has gradually increased from an average of 50kg/vehicle in 1990 to an average of more than 150kg/vehicle at present.