Demand for Lightweight Structural Components on development of the Automotive Industry
At present, the automobile industry is undergoing tremendous changes in a century. The development direction of new technologies represented by electrification has been unshakable. The media and practitioners call it the arrival of the automobile industry 2.0 (Auto 2.0). A large number of new energy vehicles and major traditional car manufacturers have announced that they would invest greatly in a new round of fierce competition between electric vehicles and unmanned vehicles, and various platforms as well as car models have emerged. At such a critical moment in the history of the automobile, the design and manufacture of automobile components have also undergone tremendous changes. Most of existing components are facing new designs or may disappear, and the introduction of new drive and control systems brought many brand new parts.
The automobile industry adopts a large number of lightweight structural components and also consumes a great number of lightweight alloy materials. For example, the annual automotive aluminum consumption exceeds 5 million tons in China. Coupled with the surrounding supporting and downstream parts manufacturers, the output value of the related industry chain exceeds more than 100 billion RMB and has a great impact on the national economy. With the rapid transformation of the automobile industry and the further improvement in lightweights, energy saving and emission reduction, development of lightweight alloy structural components has also undergone tremendous changes. The impact of the new development trend of the automotive industry on the structural load-bearing component and its demands are discussed from various key subsystems, different structural materials to forming process types of the automobile in this article.
Demand for lightweight structural components in drive systems
The powertrain system of the traditional internal combustion engine is the main application field of lightweight structural components. Such components have complex structures and functions and are often accompanied by high temperature and high pressure service conditions. Therefore, these parts are particularly suitable for manufacturing by die casting processes. Typical components are engine cylinder blocks and cylinder heads, gearbox housings, pistons, oil pans, etc. Until at least 2025, traditional fuel vehicles will still be the main transportation, so there will still be a great deal of production demand for these lightweight structural components. With the accelerated development of new energy vehicles, traditional car companies have invested a lot of money in new energy vehicle platforms, leading to stagnation or slowing down of the development of traditional internal combustion engine powertrains. Therefore, subsequent internal combustion engine assemblies will only continue the existing platform or be based on improvement of the existing platform, and it will be difficult to launch a new internal combustion engine powertrain platform afterwards.
With the launch of a brand-new electric drive platform, a large number of new components such as the motor housing, battery pack housing and transmission housing will be introduced. These components don't exist in the traditional internal combustion engine power system and need to be newly designed and manufactured. These new lightweight structural components have the characteristics of rapid replacement. The replacement of traditional internal combustion engine power systems may take 5 to 8 years, but replacement of these new energy components may only take 2 to 3 years or even shorter. This poses great challenges to the design, manufacture and quality control of new parts. For example, there are many manufacturing plans such as aluminum alloy extrusion welding, high-strength steel stamping and aluminum alloy die casting for power battery pack shells, and these materials and processes are constantly improving and upgrading in order to meet the continuous upgrade demand for power battery packs.
Demand for lightweight structural components in bodies and cover systems
From the wave of automobile lightweights in the early 21st century, the lightweight of the body and cover has always been the protagonist. Since Audi launched the all aluminum body, the lightweight body has always been synonymous with lightweight cars. As different countries pay more and more attention to energy conservation and emission reduction, the trend of lightweights will continue. With the introduction of new energy and smart driving vehicles, the lightweight of vehicles has risen to a new level, it is especially difficult to solve the self-weight problem of the power battery system in a short time. Therefore, lightweights also take up the difficult task of increasing the cruising range. From the perspective of major new energy car companies, most of the newly launched models have all aluminum bodies, such as Tesla model S and X, Weilai's ES8 and ES6. At least they also have steel aluminum hybrid bodies, and the main reason is that lightweight alloy components make a great contribution to the weight reduction of the body.
From the perspective of body parts, mid and high end models in major auto companies have generally accepted high-pressure casting structural parts as a solution for body parts integration or lightweights. The typical component is the shock-absorbing tower, from traditional stamping and welding to die casting integrated design, the amount of parts has greatly reduced and the lightweight effect is also obvious. In addition, the four doors and two covers systems adopting aluminum alloy stamping and magnesium alloy die casting integrated forming has also been applied on a large scale. With the further advancement of lightweight demand and the increase in the output of related materials and component suppliers, the price bottleneck problem will also be solved.
Covering parts are parts with high appearance requirements, and they are currently mainly formed by steel plates. 6xxx aluminum plates are introduced as car covering parts for the design of the all aluminum body. These products are now mainly used in high-end models, because of the natural aging of aluminum alloys, the difficulty of controlling the springback of stamping, less high-end suppliers and high prices.
Demand for lightweight structural components in chassis and suspension systems
The chassis and suspension system adopts a large number of lightweight alloy components, and the proportion of used lightweight materials is also the highest among the various subsystems of cars. Representative components include wheel hubs, control arms, steering knuckles and subframes. These components have been widely used in the industry for nearly half a century. The design of the chassis system is greatly affected by the direction of new energy, mainly because of the integration of the battery pack, subframe and motor system in the chassis subsystem. At present, the chassis system of the electric vehicle platform adopts a large number of aluminum alloy structural components, which has made a great contribution to the lightweight of the chassis. In the suspension system, the wheel hub and steering knuckle as typical representatives of lightweight components have not changed significantly during the development of electrification and intelligence.
Demand for lightweight structural components in interior and exterior decoration and other systems
In the interior and exterior decoration subsystems of automobiles, because there are not many load-bearing components, the use of traditional lightweight structural materials is relatively small. Representative parts are steering wheel frames, instrument panel frames, seat frames and other bracket components. Interior parts generally have good service and do not have strict corrosion resistance requirements. Magnesium alloy parts have a certain permeability, especially the permeability of the steering wheel skeleton is very great, exceeding 80%. With the development of the lightweight trend, there will be more demand for lightweight materials in these components, which can also provide favorable support for the lightweight of automobiles.
The automobile industry adopts a large number of lightweight structural components and also consumes a great number of lightweight alloy materials. For example, the annual automotive aluminum consumption exceeds 5 million tons in China. Coupled with the surrounding supporting and downstream parts manufacturers, the output value of the related industry chain exceeds more than 100 billion RMB and has a great impact on the national economy. With the rapid transformation of the automobile industry and the further improvement in lightweights, energy saving and emission reduction, development of lightweight alloy structural components has also undergone tremendous changes. The impact of the new development trend of the automotive industry on the structural load-bearing component and its demands are discussed from various key subsystems, different structural materials to forming process types of the automobile in this article.
Demand for lightweight structural components in drive systems
The powertrain system of the traditional internal combustion engine is the main application field of lightweight structural components. Such components have complex structures and functions and are often accompanied by high temperature and high pressure service conditions. Therefore, these parts are particularly suitable for manufacturing by die casting processes. Typical components are engine cylinder blocks and cylinder heads, gearbox housings, pistons, oil pans, etc. Until at least 2025, traditional fuel vehicles will still be the main transportation, so there will still be a great deal of production demand for these lightweight structural components. With the accelerated development of new energy vehicles, traditional car companies have invested a lot of money in new energy vehicle platforms, leading to stagnation or slowing down of the development of traditional internal combustion engine powertrains. Therefore, subsequent internal combustion engine assemblies will only continue the existing platform or be based on improvement of the existing platform, and it will be difficult to launch a new internal combustion engine powertrain platform afterwards.
With the launch of a brand-new electric drive platform, a large number of new components such as the motor housing, battery pack housing and transmission housing will be introduced. These components don't exist in the traditional internal combustion engine power system and need to be newly designed and manufactured. These new lightweight structural components have the characteristics of rapid replacement. The replacement of traditional internal combustion engine power systems may take 5 to 8 years, but replacement of these new energy components may only take 2 to 3 years or even shorter. This poses great challenges to the design, manufacture and quality control of new parts. For example, there are many manufacturing plans such as aluminum alloy extrusion welding, high-strength steel stamping and aluminum alloy die casting for power battery pack shells, and these materials and processes are constantly improving and upgrading in order to meet the continuous upgrade demand for power battery packs.
Demand for lightweight structural components in bodies and cover systems
From the wave of automobile lightweights in the early 21st century, the lightweight of the body and cover has always been the protagonist. Since Audi launched the all aluminum body, the lightweight body has always been synonymous with lightweight cars. As different countries pay more and more attention to energy conservation and emission reduction, the trend of lightweights will continue. With the introduction of new energy and smart driving vehicles, the lightweight of vehicles has risen to a new level, it is especially difficult to solve the self-weight problem of the power battery system in a short time. Therefore, lightweights also take up the difficult task of increasing the cruising range. From the perspective of major new energy car companies, most of the newly launched models have all aluminum bodies, such as Tesla model S and X, Weilai's ES8 and ES6. At least they also have steel aluminum hybrid bodies, and the main reason is that lightweight alloy components make a great contribution to the weight reduction of the body.
From the perspective of body parts, mid and high end models in major auto companies have generally accepted high-pressure casting structural parts as a solution for body parts integration or lightweights. The typical component is the shock-absorbing tower, from traditional stamping and welding to die casting integrated design, the amount of parts has greatly reduced and the lightweight effect is also obvious. In addition, the four doors and two covers systems adopting aluminum alloy stamping and magnesium alloy die casting integrated forming has also been applied on a large scale. With the further advancement of lightweight demand and the increase in the output of related materials and component suppliers, the price bottleneck problem will also be solved.
Covering parts are parts with high appearance requirements, and they are currently mainly formed by steel plates. 6xxx aluminum plates are introduced as car covering parts for the design of the all aluminum body. These products are now mainly used in high-end models, because of the natural aging of aluminum alloys, the difficulty of controlling the springback of stamping, less high-end suppliers and high prices.
Demand for lightweight structural components in chassis and suspension systems
The chassis and suspension system adopts a large number of lightweight alloy components, and the proportion of used lightweight materials is also the highest among the various subsystems of cars. Representative components include wheel hubs, control arms, steering knuckles and subframes. These components have been widely used in the industry for nearly half a century. The design of the chassis system is greatly affected by the direction of new energy, mainly because of the integration of the battery pack, subframe and motor system in the chassis subsystem. At present, the chassis system of the electric vehicle platform adopts a large number of aluminum alloy structural components, which has made a great contribution to the lightweight of the chassis. In the suspension system, the wheel hub and steering knuckle as typical representatives of lightweight components have not changed significantly during the development of electrification and intelligence.
Demand for lightweight structural components in interior and exterior decoration and other systems
In the interior and exterior decoration subsystems of automobiles, because there are not many load-bearing components, the use of traditional lightweight structural materials is relatively small. Representative parts are steering wheel frames, instrument panel frames, seat frames and other bracket components. Interior parts generally have good service and do not have strict corrosion resistance requirements. Magnesium alloy parts have a certain permeability, especially the permeability of the steering wheel skeleton is very great, exceeding 80%. With the development of the lightweight trend, there will be more demand for lightweight materials in these components, which can also provide favorable support for the lightweight of automobiles.
