Automotive Structural Assemblies

This research activity area groups projects that focus on the development of advanced structural materials that are incorporated into vehicle assemblies. The key enabling technologies to reduce vehicle weight are alloy and composite material development and advanced design. The technical goals are based on improving the specific strength of a material through alloy design, processing and system integration. Consideration of specific issues such as corrosion, formability, joining, noise/vibration/harshness (NVH), casting integrity, crashworthiness and life cycle analysis are central to the research and development of these new materials for primarily automotive applications. The major technical objective is to develop new alloys and enabling technologies in order to design and build prototype sub-assemblies that meet current safety and reliability standards for automobiles. The technical emphasis is on developing higher (specific) strength materials, while meeting design requirements.