This article article was obtained from Swedish Ny Teknik’s (New Technology) web service.
Published on 5 December, 2007.
Text: Monica Westman, Ny Teknik
Between 40 and 66% lighter vehicle components. These are the results of a recently completed three-year research project. Smart lightweight solutions can provide 600 new jobs and significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
A truck door would be slightly more than 42% lighter if sheet-metal and press-cast components were combined with aluminium profiles. A car seat built of press-cast magnesium combined with high-tensile steel would be 49% lighter. When a front end structure is built using an aluminium profile and castings, joined to form a steel body, there is a 64% reduction in weight. A truck with underrun protection bars of aluminium profiles combined with castings would be 48% lighter.
The four examples mentioned above are all results of a three-year research project called Vilmer, which in Swedish stands for weight-efficient light metal structures. The project had a budget of SEK 26 million and was financed on a 50-50 basis by Vinnova and the participating industries.
A large number of companies and institutions from all parts of the production chain participated in the project.
However, it was the major vehicle manufacturers that chose the components to be studied. Volvo Trucks, Finnveden, Volvo Cars and Scania are behind the examples above.
The objective was to reduce weight by 40%, an aim that was subsequently surpassed.
“This was an entirely new and interesting way of working within research. Industries can now go directly into product-development phases,” says Arne Melander, Project Manager at Kimab.
“Sweden is an international leader within lightweight technology and hopefully the components will be manufactured here. Sapa is a world leader in aluminium profiles and Finnveden in magnesium casting,” says Arne Melander.
He has also calculated that putting the four components that were studied within Vilmer into full-scale production would mean 600 job opportunities. A reduction in fuel consumption would also cut carbon dioxide by 90,000 tonnes annually.
“It is naturally not easy introducing new smart solutions in production, but there is considerable pressure from particularly the automotive industry to reduce weight. In the cases we have calculated, the end customer will earn the increase within a couple of years in terms of reduced fuel costs,” says Arne Melander.
Facts:
VILMER, Weight-efficient light metal structures
Three-year Research and Development project, completed in 2007.
Budget: SEK 26 million.
Project Manager: Professor Arne Melander, Corrosion and Metals Research Institute, Kimab.
Participants and financiers: Vinnova, IRO, Volvo Trucks, Volvo Cars, Scania, Esab, Scandria, Strömsholmen, Finnveden Metal Structures, Mönsterås Metall, EBÖ, Sapa, Profilgruppen, Stena Aluminium, Kimab, Swecast, School of Engineering Jönköping University, Linköping University and IVF Industrial Research and Development Corporation.