Highlights

Three-Country R&D Collaboration Designs a Lighter Automotive Front End

The Magnesium Front End Research and Development (MFERD) project will reduce the weight of automotive front-end structures by almost 40 kilograms.

By Kumar Sadayappan and Douglas Cariou

The U.S.-Canada Clean Energy Dialogue, established in February 2009 by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Barack Obama, recognizes lighter-weight, sustainable materials as a key research area in the development of next-generation vehicles. This was reiterated in Washington, D.C. on September 16, 2009 when Prime Minister Harper and President Obama announced the joint Automotive Clean Energy R&D Initiative.

Lightweight Automotive Materials Improve Vehicle Efficiency

Lightweight materials technologies play a crucial role in worldwide efforts to increase energy efficiency and reduce emissions from automobiles, and Canada is actively involved in lightweight materials research and development. One of the main research challenges is to develop cost-effective, high-strength materials that do not compromise passenger safety.

Magnesium, the lightest of all engineering metals, is one of the materials that can be used for this purpose. In the past decade, its use in automobiles has doubled. But significant challenges remain, including manufacturability, integration with other materials, durability over the lifetime of the vehicle and in-service performance.

Most experts agree that a 10% weight reduction results in a 7% improvement in fuel efficiency for vehicles powered by internal combustion engines and a 3% increase in distance travelled on a single-charge cycle for electric vehicles and hybrids. Weight reduction therefore improves efficiency and performance for all powertrain platforms. For internal combustion engine vehicles, this translates into a 17 to 20 kilogram reduction in carbon dioxide emitted per kilogram of weight reduction over the lifetime of the car.

Canadian MFERD Team Coordinated by CANMET-MTL

MFERD is a multi-task research effort led by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), China’s Ministry of Science and Technology, and the U.S. Department of Energy. The objective of this five-year undertaking is to develop a magnesium-intensive front end for an automobile.

In Canada, MFERD is jointly funded by NRCan’s Program of Energy Research and Development and AUTO21’s Network of Centres of Excellence. NRCan’s CANMET Materials Technology Laboratory (CANMET-MTL) is the coordinating organization and is investigating casting, extrusion and sheet production issues. Cooperation between AUTO21 and CANMET-MTL is supported bythe lab’s Director General, Jennifer Jackman, who is also the Theme Coordinator for AUTO21 Materials and Manufacturing. The Canadian MFERD team also includes Magna International Inc., Meridian Technologies Inc., Centreline Manufacturing Ltd., the University of Waterloo, Ryerson University, the Université de Sherbrooke, the University of Windsor and the University of Western Ontario.

Phase I of the MFERD project, which began in 2007, brought together more than 100 research scientists and engineers from the three countries. A magnesium-intensive front end was designed that is 38 kilograms lighter than a typical front-end steel structure. The lighter front end will provide a more even weight distribution between the front and rear axles, which will improve the drivability of the vehicle. A demonstration front end will be built and tested during Phase II, which began in 2010.

Canada, as one of the world’s leading suppliers of automotive parts, has an important stake in research and development that leads to an increase in the use of magnesium and other lightweight materials in automotive applications. Achieving the objective of this five-year research project will not only help Canadian companies remain internationally competitive, but also contribute to reducing emissions from automobiles.

Dr. Kumar Sadayappan is the Acting Program Manager for Vehicle Structural Materials program at CANMET-MTL. Douglas Cariou is CANMET-MTL’s Communications Officer.