Volvo's Next-generation Electric Car Components
Engineers are working on ingenious processes for manufacturing chassis components, and new designs for entire body components and aluminum platforms are starting to attract attention. Does this mean that the next booming of light metals is coming?
Recently, Volvo has invested greatly in its main Swedish plant in Torslanda, announcing it will use an aluminium die-cast process to produce entire body components for its next-generation electric car. This can be seen both as a solid step forward in the development of aluminium by Volvo, and a symbol of its pioneering new fields in lightweight and body structure. Today, Volvo, another heavyweight traditional OEM other than Tesla, will adopt a new approach as an alternative to trying and testing the board-shell.
Volvo's next-generation electric car adopting integrated die-cast rear floor components
A process known as gigacasting in Tesla, Volvo calls it megacasting. This process mainly uses special aluminum alloys to produce entire body parts under high pressure. The purpose is to get rid of the multiple component structures commonly found in steel structures, and to reduce the number of processes and robots used in the body manufacturing process, while reducing the weight of electric vehicles.
Whether this will lead to advantages in business management and weight loss remains unknown. However, as Professor Volker of the Technical University of Munich said in an interview with the magazine "Automotive Production", when it comes to manufacturing car bodies, aluminum die casting can play a good role in some specific greenfield projects. For the first time, aluminum has made great progress in chassis components. Materials such as forged aluminium deformed alloys or ductile die-cast aluminium alloys with low silicon content have been used for some time to reduce the weight of steering knuckles and wheel frames, which are previously made from cast iron or forged steel.
Long cutting in machining aluminum
In the field of machining chassis parts, as precision and cutting tool manufacturer Walter knows, the machining speed of aluminum alloys is completely different from that of traditional cast iron or steels, and different machining strategies are required. According to Fabien Hubine, components and project manager for the transport department at Walther, long chips are a major risk factor in machining aluminium. In addition, a built-up edge quickly forms on the cutting edge of the tool, which quickly becomes difficult to maintain the specified tolerances on fit dimensions and quality of the surface.
Hybrid tools for tapered seat holes used for chassis components
Full holes are particularly challenging according to Hubine. Pre-forged grooves are usually drilled in the hub, but smaller holes such as wishbones are drilled through the material. According to the tool specialist from Tübingen, Germany, it is not only necessary to simply drill holes, but also to apply defined flat surfaces or chamfers. Up to five processing steps are derived from this statement. However, the experts quickly found a solution in the form of a hybrid tool that allows for different machining steps with just one cutter body.
There are strict requirements for the cutting edge for forgeable and thermohardenable deformed aluminium alloys containing magnesium and silicon. In addition, forged aluminum alloys can form long chips or even flowing chips. According to Walter, these chips can seriously jeopardize the smooth running of the machining process. Therefore, the indexable inserts developed for machining aluminium have special geometries and coatings. With the help of the HiPIMS coating (standing for high power pulsed magnetron sputtering), extremely smooth and droplet-free surfaces are provided and build-up edges are prevented. As a successful case, a tooling specialist from Walther said that a customer was able to achieve a cutting speed of over 1300 meters per minute at the rotation of 0.11 mm when drilling a wishbone with a hybrid cutter with a diameter of 50 mm.
Recently, Volvo has invested greatly in its main Swedish plant in Torslanda, announcing it will use an aluminium die-cast process to produce entire body components for its next-generation electric car. This can be seen both as a solid step forward in the development of aluminium by Volvo, and a symbol of its pioneering new fields in lightweight and body structure. Today, Volvo, another heavyweight traditional OEM other than Tesla, will adopt a new approach as an alternative to trying and testing the board-shell.
Volvo's next-generation electric car adopting integrated die-cast rear floor components
A process known as gigacasting in Tesla, Volvo calls it megacasting. This process mainly uses special aluminum alloys to produce entire body parts under high pressure. The purpose is to get rid of the multiple component structures commonly found in steel structures, and to reduce the number of processes and robots used in the body manufacturing process, while reducing the weight of electric vehicles.
Whether this will lead to advantages in business management and weight loss remains unknown. However, as Professor Volker of the Technical University of Munich said in an interview with the magazine "Automotive Production", when it comes to manufacturing car bodies, aluminum die casting can play a good role in some specific greenfield projects. For the first time, aluminum has made great progress in chassis components. Materials such as forged aluminium deformed alloys or ductile die-cast aluminium alloys with low silicon content have been used for some time to reduce the weight of steering knuckles and wheel frames, which are previously made from cast iron or forged steel.
Long cutting in machining aluminum
In the field of machining chassis parts, as precision and cutting tool manufacturer Walter knows, the machining speed of aluminum alloys is completely different from that of traditional cast iron or steels, and different machining strategies are required. According to Fabien Hubine, components and project manager for the transport department at Walther, long chips are a major risk factor in machining aluminium. In addition, a built-up edge quickly forms on the cutting edge of the tool, which quickly becomes difficult to maintain the specified tolerances on fit dimensions and quality of the surface.
Hybrid tools for tapered seat holes used for chassis components
Full holes are particularly challenging according to Hubine. Pre-forged grooves are usually drilled in the hub, but smaller holes such as wishbones are drilled through the material. According to the tool specialist from Tübingen, Germany, it is not only necessary to simply drill holes, but also to apply defined flat surfaces or chamfers. Up to five processing steps are derived from this statement. However, the experts quickly found a solution in the form of a hybrid tool that allows for different machining steps with just one cutter body.
There are strict requirements for the cutting edge for forgeable and thermohardenable deformed aluminium alloys containing magnesium and silicon. In addition, forged aluminum alloys can form long chips or even flowing chips. According to Walter, these chips can seriously jeopardize the smooth running of the machining process. Therefore, the indexable inserts developed for machining aluminium have special geometries and coatings. With the help of the HiPIMS coating (standing for high power pulsed magnetron sputtering), extremely smooth and droplet-free surfaces are provided and build-up edges are prevented. As a successful case, a tooling specialist from Walther said that a customer was able to achieve a cutting speed of over 1300 meters per minute at the rotation of 0.11 mm when drilling a wishbone with a hybrid cutter with a diameter of 50 mm.
