Journal of Cleaner Production 164 (2017) 115e123

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

Designing a new sustainable approach to the change for lightweight

materials in structural components used in truck industry
Jorge Santos, Ronny M. Gouveia, F.J.G. Silva*

nio Bernardino de Almeida, 431, 4200-072, Porto, Portugal
ISEP e School of Engineering, Polytechnic of Porto, Rua Dr. Anto

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Reducing emissions and improving fuel economy are very important concerns for the heavy-duty
Received 30 January 2017 transportation industry. Removing weight from vehicles increases performance and efficiency; this
Received in revised form consequently lowers produced emissions and improves fuel consumption. For commercial vehicle
18 June 2017
manufacturers, the introduction of cost-competitive lightweight materials provides great potential to
Accepted 19 June 2017
achieve these objectives. Ferrous cast materials, due to their high specific strength per cost ratio and
Available online 20 June 2017
flexibility to be used with casting processes are good alternatives to produce structural components, as
weight savings can be achieved.
Keywords:
Emissions reduction
Numerous parts used in heavy-duty transportation vehicles need to be redesigned to fully take
Fuel efficiency advantage of the increasing developments of metallic alloys. These materials with higher strength allow
High strength materials the reduction of part thickness while maintaining similar mechanical resistance properties. However,
Cast ferrous alloys there are no established procedures that can help designers to reassess their previous projects and aid
Austempered ductile iron them in making new design decisions in order to achieve weight savings on heavy-duty vehicles. Ve-
SiboDur® hicles of such nature are intensively used in ground transportation and are responsible for a considerable
Ausferritic steel amount of emissions.
This work intends to create a novel procedure to help select and change the materials used for
structural components of commercial vehicles, being certainly useful to alert and aid designers in
updating their preexisting designs. Due to the complex geometry of the components utilized on cars,
trucks and similar vehicles and regarding the strength requirements usually demanded by customers,
casting processes assume a relevant status when considering the selection of the material/process combo
to be used. Thus, a flow diagram was created containing relevant questions and answer paths, allowing
the designer to easily re-think about the materials currently in use and bring to the discussion new
materials and manufacturing processes. By introducing lightweight components in a more efficient way
through well-selected materials alongside with contemplation of the manufacturing processes to be
used, design engineers simultaneously enhance weight reduction; promote time savings, decrease en-
ergy consumption and achieve emission gains. As a case study, this work presents lightweight ferrous
cast materials as a good weight reducing alternatives, as well as the procedure for materials selection for
heavy-duty structural components.
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The automotive market is continuously growing, mainly in
developed countries, having in 2012 surpassed over one billion cars
in circulation all over the world, contributing with 27% of the total
of CO2 emissions (WWF, 2013). In the United Kingdom, around ¼ of
the greenhouse gases came from the road transportation industry
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: fgs@isep.ipp.pt (F.J.G. Silva).
(UK Government, 2014). Some steps are being taken forward to
prevent more severe environmental damages, namely by
increasing the use of hybrid and electrical vehicles (Kastensson,
2014). However, these still feature several limitations such as low
range autonomy and eventual environmental impact of batteries at
the end of their life cycle. Indeed, environmental concerns
regarding the impact of CO2 emissions has become one of the most
import issues for the automotive industry, along with safety and
performance factors (Simo~es et al., 2016). However, this concern is
not limited to automotive industry, being a concern as well for

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.06.174
0959-6526/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
116 J. Santos et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 164 (2017) 115e123

other types of fuel dependent means of transportations such as the
naval or aviation industry (Huang et al., 2015). Nowadays, the
perception of customers relatively to the achievements and efforts
made by vehicle manufacturers plays an important role in
competitiveness, being sometimes an influent factor on the con-
sumer when making the decision of purchasing an automobile
(Arena et al., 2013; Piccinno et al., 2015; Ko€ hler and Som, 2014). In
the last decade, some governmental actions (Scho €ggl et al., 2017)
have been taken in an effort to motivate consumers to buy more
efficient vehicles. This has been achieved by lowering overall
acquisition cost fees, as well as circulation and fuel taxes, thus
encouraging the customer’s decision towards a more conscientious
choice regarding environmental preservation.
Automobile producers have achieved reduction of pollutant
emissions by utilizing diverse strategies, namely weight reduction
(Mayyas et al., 2013; Raugei et al., 2015; Dhingra and Das, 2014;
Simo ~es et al., 2016). Effectively, there are some papers pointing
out rough rules that take into account the effect of weight reduction
in fuel consumption. Regarding the Swedish Association of Green
Motorists (Swedish Association of Green Motorists, n.d.), a decrease
of 5% fuel consumption can be achieved by each 100 kg of vehicle
weight reduction. On the other hand, Kastensson (2014) refers, as a
rule of thumb, that a fuel reduction of 4e6% is seen when a decrease
of 10% in the vehicle mass is achieved.
Materials selection assumes an important role in the product
definition and implies that Engineers and Designers accurately
establish the main guidelines for the project, making the best
choice in many selection conflicting situations, such as cost vs.
lightweight, weight vs. robustness/durability, functionality vs.
recyclability, among many others (Mayyas et al., 2013). However, if
the materials selection is carried out in an early stage (laboratory),
the costs are significantly lesser than when taken in further stages
€hler and Som, 2014).
(in a plant or initial fabrication stage) (Ko
In the case of smaller vehicles, weight reduction passes almost
obligatorily by body material changes. Regarding commercial ve-
hicles, room for improvement can be found in structural compo-
nents. These parts constitute several devices related to the function
of for instance buses, trucks or any other type of large commercial
vehicles. In commercial vehicles, such as buses and trucks, there are
many different parts used for peripheral functions which can be
redesigned in order to achieve weight reduction.
Regarding specifically the truck market, the application of
lightweight components is a crucial way to improve fuel economy
and increase vehicle load capacity, improving transportation effi-
ciency and consequently reducing emissions and increasing fuel
savings. Topology optimisation and material research for materials
with higher specific strength (higher strength to weight ratio)
should be applied in order to meet mass reduction requirements,
keeping or exceeding performance requirements and durability.
Low-density materials are extensively used in the automobile
industry such as aluminium, magnesium, composite materials
among others, to decrease mass by replacing ferrous alloys (Mayyas
et al., 2016; Beyene et al., 2015). Design options and component
applications may become strongly limited due to the higher cost
and differences in specific modulus values, material strength,
ductility and stiffness of these alloys. A456 T6 aluminium alloy is
used in many applications due to its lowest cost among low-density
alloys and good castability to produce thin wall sections. However,
aluminium alloys are low-strength materials with roughly only
one-third of the strength and young modulus of steel, besides
having limited ductility (William et al., 2011). Material properties
for cast structural components that equip heavy trucks are usually
high tensile strength, high elongation and have the ability to cast
thin wall sections and complex geometries (Hardeman, 2015).
Ferrous alloys provide higher specific strength, young modulus and
ductility with much lower cost per strength when compared with
low-density alloys (William et al., 2011). Ultra-high strength cast
ferrous alloys present a high strength to weight ratio. This char-
acteristic is essential to produce structural components for com-
mercial vehicles allowing the production of parts with thinner wall
sections, decreasing the total weight of the component (Tekkaya
et al., 2014). Fig. 1 shows the weight reduction potential by
increasing the steel strength for the different load cases. For
instance, according to Fig. 1, increasing the yield strength of steel
from 200 to 550 MPa makes possible to have a component weight
reducing up to 62.5% for structural parts.
For accurate comparisons, materials should be evaluated on
performance per cost basis and not by weight per cost basis
(Hardeman, 2015). Topology optimisation is used by the truck in-
dustry to create the exact casting geometry to withstand the service
loads and stress-strain vectors, meaning the addition of material
only in regions under high loads and removal in low stressed re-
gions (Tekkaya et al., 2014). Hence, weight reducing can be ob-
tained (William et al., 2011). Casting process gives the flexibility to
produce complex geometries (Rimmer, 2014) allowing to repro-
duce the most efficient geometries obtained by topology
optimisation.
Casting presents potential benefits regarding lightweight com-
ponents by enabling the ability to produce complex shapes and thin
wall sections (Rimmer, 2014). The design freedom provided by the
casting process allows to reinforce parts in other ways rather than
adding solid mass, like the use of ribbings (Gibbs, 2009). Some
reports have shown the benefits of using the casting process for
weight reduction when compared with forging or steel fabrication
(Rimmer, 2014; Gibbs, 2009; Grede Casting Integrity, 2015).
Therefore, this study was centred on cast ferrous alloys.
One of the goals for this work is to present high strength cast
ferrous materials with weight reducing potential to be applied in
structural components. Another objective is to present a material
selection procedure for structural components of trucks to suc-
cessfully produce lightweight components, enhancing mass
reduction and consequently emissions and energy consumption
decrease.
Fig. 1. Weight saving potential by replacing a 200 MPa yield strength steel with high
strength steels for diverse loading conditions (Mohrbacher, 2013).
 J. Santos et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 164 (2017) 115e123
2. Methods
The complexity of the components used in ground trans-
portation vehicles is continuously increasing and due to environ-
mental concerns the pressure to decrease their overall weight is
very high. However, some parts tend to remain the same as they
were designed years ago, ignoring recently developed materials.
Thus, the following assumptions regarding the design of compo-
nents can be made: (a) the geometry of the parts used in the heavy-
duty ground transportation industry are usually complex; (b) a
large number of non-aesthetic-dependent components remain
from one model iteration to the next; (c) the renewal rate of the
type of materials implemented is relatively low when the previous
model did not bring functional problems.
The ground transportation industry is mostly conservative in
terms of the materials and manufacturing processes that are used
to produce components, which makes innovation a challenging
task. Materials firstly need to be deeply tested to be considered as
viable alternatives to substitute the ones in use. However, due to
the interesting properties that materials have assumed throughout
the course of the last decade, it is more than reasonable to attempt
to explore their great potential. When considering the complexity
of the components utilized in this industry, casting positions itself
as an excellent manufacturing process by allowing a great degree of
design freedom and simultaneously the ability of obtaining parts in
an almost single manufacturing stage. Therefore, newer casting
materials with improved mechanical properties were considered as
the basis of this work, having shown great potential of achieving
weight reduction in components while maintaining similar me-
chanical strength and lowering total production costs.
The sheet metal used in automobile chassis has registered sig-
nificant improvements in terms of mechanical strength and ca-
pacity to absorb mechanical energy (impact) due to the high yield
strength of the materials implemented. However, the same cannot
be observed in cast irons, which have also seen an increase in terms
of mechanical strength but, still presents some well-known
limitations.
In order to develop a new methodology to re-evaluate the ma-
terials and manufacturing processes of designed parts, a well-
known component was chosen and analysed in order to study
possible material improvements: a high strength suspension
bracket. The reasoning developed regarding this case study was
then generalized in order to allow to draw a new procedure able to
be adopted by designers. This procedure promotes the re-
evaluation of the materials and manufacturing processes used,
mainly focusing on materials with higher mechanical strength and
other required properties. The first approach was to establish all the
necessary material requirements to ensure correct and long service
life of a component. A benchmarking analysis was also performed
to evaluate solutions currently implemented by a competitor in the
truck industry. Later, an extensive research was conducted in order
to determine the current trends and developments in lightweight
materials in the automotive industry. The research focus was sol-
emnly on cast ferrous materials mainly due to their superior me-
chanical properties (when compared with standard alloys),
presenting great potential to generate lightweight components
using low-cost manufacturing processes. Seen in Table 1 are a few
examples of common materials used by the automotive industry to
produce suspension arms and brackets (Adamczyk et al., 2014;
Heissing and Ersoy, 2011), as well as some high strength castable
alternatives.
Regarding components for the heavy-duty transportation in-
dustry, material requirements are, in general, high mechanical
strength (high tensile strength), high stiffness (high Young’s
modulus), high strain percentage, small tendency for crack
117
propagation (high fractural toughness - kIC) and the possibility to
promote the longest service life possible (high fatigue limit).
Alongside mechanical properties, a material should also be easy to
process (manufacturing method), which consequently leads to an
overall reduction in terms of production costs and ecological foot
print. Bearing in mind these facts, and returning to Table 1, it is now
easy to perceive that the combined properties of the high strength
material alternatives outperform all others materials shown. Be-
sides having higher mechanical properties, these materials can also
be used in casting processes without the need of any additional
heat treatments, which ultimately lowers production time, cost,
energy and consequently pollution.
Another important aspect to be considered when designing
components is packaging, as the overall dimensions of the final
component can influence assembly, servicing and condition the
design of neighboring components on the vehicle. By selecting
materials with higher mechanical properties, the overall size and
volume of the components can be reduced, enabling more compact
designs that are easier to maneuver, package and transport.
3. Results
3.1. Material requirements
Components are exposed to different mechanical loads and
environments. This puts some challenging requirements to the
Design Engineer concerning material selection, especially when
facing the upcoming Euro 7 vehicle legislation. Thus, a thorough
analysis of the working conditions that a certain part/product will
be subjected to must initially be done. To achieve weight reduction
without risking safety requirements, the selection of materials
should be done bearing in mind all of the necessary material
properties (evaluate strength, fatigue resistance, corrosion resis-
tance, etc.), possible applicable treatments to enhance material
properties and ultimately material processing methods to deter-
mine if it is fit for a specific job.
3.1.1. Suspension bracket
The component under analysis is part of the rear air suspension
system utilized in trucks. The purpose of this suspension system is
to provide a smooth ride quality to the driver and cargo. The sus-
pension is subjected to various types of loads such as bending,
torsional and lateral loading. These loads are all originated due to
vehicle’s mass and carrying-load, irregular roads, cornering, ac-
celeration and braking. These loads occur in combination with both
dynamic and transient effects during a range of different temper-
atures and environmental conditions.
The suspension bracket (shown in Fig. 2) is a structural
component and therefore must be designed to sustain the worst
predictive cyclic load conditions (including a specified safety factor)
without ever reaching failure. In this example, the component is
originally made from ductile cast iron (ref.: EN-GJS-500-7 cast
iron). EN-GJS-500-7 cast iron is a commonly used material for
structural components and is chosen mainly for applications that
need higher tensile and yield strengths while sacrificing toughness.
It has a ferritic-pearlitic matrix and is usually used in the as-cast
state.
Besides the necessity of having excellent mechanical properties
(e.g. high strength and fatigue resistance) and a good performance
to price ratio, the material should exhibit good castability (allowing
to cast thin wall sections and complex shapes) as well as good
machinability.
These material requirements should be translated into
measurable and comparable mechanical properties to aid in the
material selection process. Therefore, for the component in
118 J. Santos et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 164 (2017) 115e123

Table 1
Properties of commonly used materials in the automotive industry compared to high strength alternatives.

Material Material type Rm a r Ec Ad (%) Specific Specific Specific Hardness K1Ce Fatigue limit Manufacturing
b
(MPa) (g/cm3) (GPa) Strength Elongation Stiffness (HB) (MPa-m½) (MPa @10^5 process
(Rm/r) (A/r) (E/r) cycles)

A356 T6 Aluminium 234 2.67 72.4 3.5 87.6 1.3 27.1 70e105 19.8e26.4 e Casting þ HTf
Al 6061 T6 Aluminium 310 2.7 68.9 17 114.8 6.3 25.5 95 29 e Forged þ HTf
Al 6082 T6 Aluminium 340 2.7 70 10 125.9 3.7 25.9 89 36e43 190 Forged þ HTf
A357 T6 Aluminium 310 2.67 72.4 3 116.1 1.1 27.1 75e105 225 Casting þ HTf
EN-GJS-500-7 Ductile iron 500e720 7.1 169 7 71.4e101.4 1.0 23.8 170e230 22e25 285 Casting
30MnVS6 P Non-alloy 800 7.8 210 14 102.6 1.8 26.9 225 e 410 Forged
special steel
High strength castable alternatives
EN-GJS-1000-5 ADI 1000 min 7.1 160 12 140.8 1.7 22.5 300e360 58 285 Casting
e168 e23.7
®
SiboDur 700- Ferrous cast 700 6.9 176 6e12 101.4 0.9e1.7 25.5 240e290 e 360 Casting
10 iron
DM1300-16 Ausferritic cast 1302 7.1 229 16.4 183.4 2.3 32.3 322 e >400 Casting
steel
a
Ultimate tensile strength.
b
Density.
c
Young’s modulus.
d
Strain.
e
Fractural toughness.
f
Heat treatment.

(c)
(a) (b)

Fig. 2. Air suspension bracket; (a) bracket at assembly line; (b) bracket drawing; (c) assembly drawing of the bracket on the suspension system.

analysis, the most relevant properties are fractural toughness (kIC)
and fatigue resistance due to the nature of the solicitations that the
part will be subjected to.
Fractural toughness measures the ability of a certain material to
resist/contain the propagation of a crack. It is possible to determine
how a crack or imperfection (e.g. inclusion) can exist in a critical
section of a component, without producing a premature brittle
fracture bellow the projected maximum load.
Fatigue resistance demonstrates the ability of a certain material
to withstand cyclic or fluctuating loads that are smaller than the
material’s ultimate tensile strength. Fatigue causes a localised and
permanent structural change to the material and may lead to the
appearance of cracks and consequently fracturing. This phenome-
non occurs due to the cyclic action of tensile and compressive loads
that begin to plastically alter the material’s structure. The allowable
stress that a material may endure, in the form of alternating cyclic
loads for an infinite number of cycles, is called the fatigue limit.
Comparing all of the previously mentioned measurable prop-
erties, a list of elected conventional materials was formulated and
can be seen in Table 2.
Being a component of large dimensions and of a complex shape,
the opportunity of implementing stronger materials can lead to a
part with smaller wall thicknesses and consequently weight
reduction.
However, due to the rapid advance in the material science field,
newer materials are constantly reaching the market with specific or
improved properties, making it somewhat difficult to keep track of
the new trends. Therefore, it is advisable to invite material sup-
pliers to present their newest products, as well as keeping track of
the current trends used by competitor companies to enrichen the
Designer’s material library.
3.2. Benchmark materials analysis
Benchmarking is extremely important to assess in-house per-
formance towards competitors. Analysing market trends and so-
lutions adopted by competitors enables the possibility to
investigate possible new materials, as well as showing where a
company is currently positioned among its competition. As this
study was conducted in a company that is part of the Volkswagen
group, information was gathered from partner companies which
are also part of the VW group.
3.2.1. Lightweight ferrous cast materials e austempered ductile iron
(ADI)
Austempering is defined as the isothermal transformation of a
steel alloy at a temperature between the pearlite and martensite
formation. Austempering steel promotes some potential
 J. Santos et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 164 (2017) 115e123 119

Table 2
High strength cast steels possible to be applied to the suspension bracket.

Name W.nr. Thickness t [mm] Heat treatmenta Tensile strength Yield strength Fatigue limit Elongation Hardness (HB)
Rm [MPa] min Rp0,2 [MPa] min [Mpa] A [%] min

G24Mn6 1.1118 50 þQT1 700e800 550 345 12 204e238

100 þQT2 650e800 500 e 15 190e238
G26CrMo4 1.7221 100 þQT2 700e850 550 310 10 204e252
G28Mn6 1.1165 50 þQT2 700e850 550 310 10 204e252
G34CrMo4 1.7230 100 þQT1 700e850 540 310 12 204e252
100 < t  150 620e770 480 e 10 181e228
100 þQT2 830e980 650 e 10 242e285
G42CrMo4 1.7231 100 þQT2 850e1000 700 427 10 252e295
G30NiCrMo14 1.6771 50 þQT2 1100e1250 1000 510 7 323e390
EN-GJS-500-7 e e e 500e720 320e440 285 7 170e230
a
þ N means: Normalizing, þ QT or þ QT1 or þ QT2 means: Quenching (air or liquid) þ Tempering.

advantages such as an increase in ductility, toughness and strength
for a given hardness while lowering the probability of part distor-
tion (and consequently scrap metal) as well as creating energy
savings due to the overall short cycle time needed to treat the steel.
It is a one-step reaction where the austenite directly decomposes
into acicular ferrite and carbide (bainite). The austempering pro-
cess consists of heating the material to the austenitization tem-
perature (normally between 790 and 915  C, depending on the
alloy), then quenching it in a constant temperature bath (usually in
the range of 260e400  C) creating conditions for the isothermal
transformation of austenite to occur and ultimately followed by
cooling to room temperature.
In Fig. 3 it is possible to visualise a X-link member from a MAN
truck. This X-link member has the function of ensuring correct axle
location, functional integration in the longitudinal direction and
vertical axle load support. The first generation was produced with
42CrMo4 forged steel (quenched and tempered treated) and has
now been replaced by an ADI cast steel. This change in material
allowed achieving a total weight reduction of 33% (cast part weighs
40.8 kg while the forged design weighed 65 kg (Rimmer, 2014)).
Besides weight reduction, the use of casting methods promoted
savings in tooling costs as forging tools are expensive, while
simultaneously giving a higher process flexibility (ability to pro-
duce a range of different sizes and shapes). Small batches can be
cost-effectively produced and individual solutions for specific
customers can be created (Rimmer, 2014).
Other benefits of using casting processes are: the ability to
create complex shapes with thin sections, the use of rapid proto-
typing and less machining necessities as the parts are very near
their final form. Casting simulation can also be used to optimise the
process and achieve higher-quality standards, ensuring the safety
of critical components (Rimmer, 2014).
The original forged X-Link had a solid profile meaning that four
holes had to be machined in order to accommodate rubber bush-
ings. By casting the part with the use of cores, it is possible to create
a hollowed center component with pre-shaped bushing holes.
These pre-shaped bushing holes, when compared to the previously
forged model, require very minimal machining before bushing as-
sembly. The gain in machining time translates into lower produc-
tion costs, less tool wear and less generated scrap metal. The
flexibility provided by the casting process, added with the me-
chanical properties of the selected ADI steel (superior than the
previous utilized material as seen in Table 3) promotes more
freedom of design, translating into smaller section thickness or
specific design reinforcements. These factors contribute strongly to
weight reduction.
3.2.2. Lightweight ferrous cast materials - SiboDur®
An additional structural component from a truck produced by
MAN was also analysed in order to evaluate the solutions adopted
for cast ferrous materials. A rear suspension bracket was inspected
and showed to have a lighter design (for the same admissible axle
load) when compared to others companies. After research, Sibo-
Dur® 700-10 was found to be the material utilized (GF Automotive,
2015). The SiboDur® component shown in Fig. 4 replaced an orig-
inally steel forged design with a weight reduction of 13% (GF
Automotive, 2015).
SiboDur® is a high strength ductile cast iron that competes
favorably with aluminium when low weight is a requirement. This
material presents several advantages such as lower cost, higher
fatigue life and easier manufacturability when compared with ADI
and forged steels (Enlighten, 2014). The elements added in Sibo-
Dur® are silicon (greater than 2.4%) and boron (at least 60 ppm),
which are relatively inexpensive elements. Even though the cast-
ability of this material may be slightly lower than others ductile
cast irons (due to its higher silicon content), its good mechanical
properties give it great potential for producing strong and light-
weight products (Foundry, 2008).
Besides having good mechanical properties, another advantage
is the fact that this material does not require any heat treatments to
achieve high strength, unlike ADI steels. This promotes large sav-
ings in terms of product cost and consequently lowers overall

Table 3
Mechanical properties of an ADI alloy and a forged steel for thickness higher than
20 mm, EN 10083-3:2006 (Rimmer, 2014).

Material Rm [MPa] Rp0.2 [MPa] A [%]

MAN, M3201 GGG 100B (ADI steel) 1000 min 750 min 6 min
Fig. 3. X-link used on heavy duty MAN TGA truck. It ensures the directional vehicle
42CrMo4 (forged steel) 900 min 650 min 12 min
stability and damping control.
120 J. Santos et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 164 (2017) 115e123
Fig. 4. Spring hanger bracket made of SiboDur® steel (SAE INTERNATIONAL, 2013).
pollutant emissions produced by high energy processes such as
heat treatments. In Fig. 5 it is possible to observe a comparison
between material type/process versus cost per unit of yield
strength. SiboDur® clearly presents better results in terms of cost
per unit of strength when compared to other general ductile cast
irons and much better than lightweight aluminium alloys.
In Table 4 it is possible to view a few mechanical properties
obtained by two different SiboDur® steel grades (450-17 and 700-
10) compared with a common ductile cast iron used in structural
components (cast iron EN-GJS-500-7). These values were obtained
by in-house tests performed at Scania installations.
The main disadvantage of SiboDur® is that fact that it is patented
by Switzerland’s Georg Fischer Automotive Group (GF) and only a
few companies have the license to produce components in this
material.
3.2.3. Lightweight ferrous cast materials - ausferritic cast steel
Ausferritic steels have gained noticeable importance in the
automobile industry. These steels have demonstrated very inter-
esting mechanical properties regarding tensile strength, ductility,
fatigue strength, fracture toughness and impact strength. The
addition of silicon or aluminium (in excess of 2%), permit the
application of austempering heat treatments with no carbide phase
formation during the treatment process (unlike bainitic structures)
(Putatunda, 2003; Putatunda et al., 2009). The obtained micro-
structure is similar to bainite however, carbides are absent. As the
term bainite is used for a microstructure containing carbides, aus-
ferrite describes a microstructure composed of fine plates of acic-
ular ferrite separated by a carbon-enriched region of austenite.
Fig. 6 shows a microstructure scheme found in these types of steels
(Melgarejo, 2007).
This material has shown great potential to be used as a low-cost
option for structural applications. Detroit Materials (DM) is a
company focused on the development and commercialization of
ultra-high-performance materials, possessing patents for high-
Fig. 5. Current market cost/unit strength position for a forged or cast aluminium
process vs. alternative higher-strength alloys when considering yield strength
behaviour (SAE INTERNATIONAL, 2013).
strength low-alloy structural steels and cast irons. In an effort to
help create low weight solutions for the automotive industry,
mainly for drivetrain and suspension components, DM delivery a
series of steels that permit the casting of thin-walled components,
providing unmatched cost with competitive weight savings. Fig. 7
shows the benefits of DM steel compared to other solutions
(Guillen and Moroz, 2014).
The company refers the possibility to cast complex geometries
and thicknesses as low as 3 mm with tensile strength values of over
1300 MPa and 16% elongation. This ease of castability can be
attributed to the high silicon content present in ausferritic steels.
Properties such as high strength and good ductility are traits seen
on carbide free bainitic steels. In Table 5 it is possible to visualise
the properties of two steel grades supplied by DM (Guillen and
Moroz, 2014).
As referred previously, the possibility of casting parts with small
wall thickness and high stiffness (the highest of all materials
referred in this article) make these steels a good alternative for
creating lightweight structural components. The high young
modulus allows thin walled components to have less tendency to
bend when compared with other cast iron materials (Putatunda,
2003), presenting excellent mechanical properties and similar
cost per performance ratios (Guillen and Moroz, 2014). Despite
having a high potential for structural applications, these steels have
a low utilisation at the moment.
3.3. Selection material procedure for lightweight components
The flowchart shown in Fig. 8 exemplifies the necessary steps to
select cast steels and casting processes for truck components.
When either the materials or casting processes do not meet the
requirements (if a negative answer is given to any of the question in
Fig. 8), the selection process returns to initial component design.
This occurs due to the need of interaction between the designer,
material specialist and the manufacturing department. Compo-
nents should not be designed simply regarding their main function
but also contemplating manufacturing needs in order to lower the
occurrence of faulty parts or scrap and increase production effi-
ciency. When functional requirements aren’t met, design changes
can be conducted to achieve better results such as thickness al-
terations or the addition of reinforcing geometries such as ribs.
Manufacturing process requirements must also be contemplated in
the material selection stage due to possible manufacturability
limitations (e.g. for cast components a selection of materials with
good castability and low thermal expansion rates avoids the chance
of defects). All the mentioned requirements should work together
in order to produce components which meet or even exceed the
truck industry increasing demands for weight reduction, fuel effi-
ciency, emissions, safety and others.
3.3.1. Material selection for suspension bracket
Material selection was focused on mechanical properties (frac-
tural toughness and fatigue resistance), new material trends and on
materials used by other truck companies in similar components
with similar service conditions. The first potential material is
G24Mn6 from the list of materials seen in Table 2.
From the benchmark analysis, two additional alloys compete
with currently used cast steel: SiboDur® 700-10 (used in MAN truck
brackets) and the austempered ductile cast iron used on the X-Link
component with similar requirements to those of the suspension
bracket.
G24Mn6 presents a much higher fatigue limit than the currently
used EN-GJS-500-7 cast iron. However, literature recommends that
the minimum part thickness should be of 6e6.5 mm for casting
steel parts with dimensions similar to those of the suspension
 J. Santos et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 164 (2017) 115e123 121

Table 4
Material properties of two SiboDur® grades compared to cast iron EN-GJS-500-7.

Material Rm [MPa] (Rp0.2) [MPa] A% Fatigue limit [MPa] Fatigue for 105 cycles [MPa]

EN-GJS-500-7 500e720 320e440 7 224 285

SiboDur® 450-17 441 375 24.7 216 292
SiboDur® 700-10 769 627 8.8 264 360

for the same volume is 10% lighter than cast steel due to its graphite
content. However, when compared with ductile iron, SiboDur®
700-10 is about 62% more expensive.
A 20% weight reduction can be achieved just by changing the
material from EN-GJS-500-7 cast iron to SiboDur® 700-10 (from 27
to 22 kg for a suspension bracket). However, as SiboDur® is a
patented material, its utilisation by the foundries is limited and
therefore more expensive. Eventually, upon patent expiration, this
ductile cast iron may fulfil the cost requirements.
ADI’s seems to be a good option as well, however, due to the
necessity of heat treatments, the overall cost may not be compet-
itive when compared with SiboDur®.
Ausferritic cast steels have great potential as a future structural
material as they present high strength, high fracture toughness,
high fatigue resistance, adequate ductility, good castability (3 mm
wall thicknesses are possible) and high stiffness which conse-
quently have an advantage over SiboDur® or other cast iron ma-
terials. However, further research on these steels is necessary.

4. Conclusions
Fig. 6. Schematic illustration of bainitic and ausferritic microstructures (Foundry,
2008). After the development of this study, it is possible to state that

(a) (b)

Fig. 7. DM steels compared with common chassis and drivetrain casting materials; (a) DM cast steel shows the best combination of strength and ductility; (b) DM cast steel shows
the highest specific strength (GF Automotive, 2015).

Table 5
Mechanical properties of DM cast steels (GF Automotive, 2015; Putatunda, 2003).

Material Rm [MPa] Rp0.2 [MPa] A [%] E Modulus [MPa] Fatigue limit [MPa]

DM 800-15 809 469 15 228 e

DM1300-16 1302 1049 16.4 229 >400

bracket (Blair, 1995; Lampman, 2009). This thickness restricts the
manufacturing processes to conventional sand casting and there-
fore G24Mn6 steel does not present any improvements in terms of
weight reduction due to having a similar density. The SiboDur®
bracket on MAN truck was analysed and the component’s average
wall thickness was around 6 mm. It is known that the castability of
ductile cast irons is better than of cast steels. Another relevant
feature with SiboDur® is that it is less expensive than cast steel, and
many improvements can be made to existing part designs in order
to optimise and take advantage of enhanced properties of newer
materials. It is of extreme importance that designers take more
conscious and alternative design decisions in order to favour factors
such as weight reduction and ease of manufacturing. These factors
aid indirectly in creating a more cleaner and eco-friendly industry
by reducing consumed energy and emissions.
Regarding the selection of materials for design, by comparing
122 J. Santos et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 164 (2017) 115e123

materials through properties such as specific strength and specific

strength per cost, engineers have the possibility to fully compare
the potential of a given material in achieving component weight
reduction as both strength, density and cost are being contem-
plated. The high strength cast ferrous materials presented in this
work provide a superb potential as a cost-competitive lightweight
alternative in commercial vehicles. Nevertheless, low-density ma-
terials are still a good choice when mass density is the main
required property although show several limitations when
strength, stiffness, ductility and cost enter into the equation.
Casting processes provide large flexibility to produce precise
geometries capable of meeting functional requirements and effec-
tively reducing overall part mass by topology optimisation. It is
clear that a synergy between the design and manufacturing de-
partments is essential to effectively produce lightweight compo-
nents. A well-thought design with a well-selected material and
manufacturing process can drastically reduce the overall weight of
components and trucks, the necessary manufacturing processes
needed to create a product (e.g. casting instead of forging), the
necessary time and energy spent to manufacture components (e.g.
as-cast vs heat-treated parts) and ultimately the number of faulty
items, scrap metal and general waste created during production. All
of which contribute directly and indirectly to reduce the ecological
footprint produced by the automotive industry.
Thus, a new methodology of evaluation was drawn, allowing the
designer to re-think the materials and processes used to create
parts, taking advantage of the mechanical strength presented by
some newly developed cast irons (ADI’s and Si-B ductile cast irons).
This leads to the production of strengthen parts with complex
shapes, which can be obtained in most cases just by utilizing
casting and machining processes thus, decreasing simultaneously
the overall weight and global cost of produced components.
However, other approaches can be used combined with the one
developed in this work, considering as well other factors, namely
the risk management (Cucuzzella, 2016), the Design Thinking using
the framework for Strategic Sustainable Development which can
result in a new approach called Sustainable Design Thinking
(Shapira et al., 2017), concepts of sustainable values with risk values
and commonality integration (Kim and Moon, 2017) or the
Checklist for Sustainable Product Development (Scho € ggl et al.,
2017). Regarding the vast field of application of the Sustainable
Design, there are approaches more focused on several families of
products, from the civil construction to the aircraft components,
being easy to find a large set of models. The model developed
through this work intends to be of easy application and is focused
on heavy-duty vehicle components, being motivated mainly to-
wards the reduction of weight and emissions in vehicles, present-
ing a helpful and easy methodology for updating materials and
designs.

Acknowledgements

This work was conducted at Scania CV AB in the scope of the

master degree in Mechanical Engineering e Materials and Pro-
duction Technologies at School of Engineering e Polytechnic of
Porto. The author is thankful to Scania for this project opportunity.
The first author would like to acknowledge Mimmi Ha €rdeman,
Henrik Sieurin and Zhu Baohua from Scania and Francisco Silva,
School of Engineering - Polytechnic of Porto for valuable support
and discussions.

References
Fig. 8. Cast steels and casting processes selection scheme.
Adamczyk, D., Fischer, M., Schüller, K., 2014. Suspension Arms, Steel versus
Aluminum, where Are the Benefits? Encyclopedia of Automotive Engineering.
 J. Santos et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 164 (2017) 115e123
John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781118354179.auto002
Arena, M., Azzone, G., Conte, A., 2013. A streamlined LCA framework to support
early decision making in vehicle development. J. Clean. Prod. 41, 105e113.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.09.031.
Beyene, A.T., Koricho, E.G., Belingardi, G., Martorana, B., 2015. Design and
manufacturing issues in the development of lightweight solution for a vehicle
frontal bumper. Procedia Eng. 18, 77e84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
j.proeng.2014.11.129.
Blair, T. L. S. Malcolm, 1995. Supplement 1-design rules and data. In: Steel Castings
Handbook, Steel Founders Society of America.
Cucuzzella, C., 2016. Creativity, sustainable design and risk management. J. Clean.
Prod. 135, 1548e1558. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.12.076.
Dhingra, R., Das, S., 2014. Life cycle energy and environmental evaluation of
downsized vs. lightweight material automotive engines. J. Clean. Prod. 85,
347e358. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.04.109.
Enlighten, Altair, 2014. The World Leading Knowledge Source for Product Weight
Reduction, Grede Producing Lightweight Castings for Truck Applications [On-
line]. Available: http://altairenlighten.com/2014/07/grede-producing-
lightweight-castings-for-truck-applications/ (Accessed 22 April 2015).
Foundry Managment & Technology, 2008. An Extra Dose of Chemistry for Iron
That’s Hard and Ductile [Online]. Available: http://foundrymag.com/feature/
extra-dose-chemistry-iron-thats-hard-and-ductile (Accessed 21 October 2016).
GF Automotive, 2015. Commercial Vehicles. GF Automotive [Online]. Available:
http://www.gfau.com/content/gfau/com/en/products-and-solutions/
commercial-vehicle.html (Accessed 20 October 2016).
Gibbs, S., 2009. Lost Foam Casting Eases [Online]. Available. http://www.grede.com/
news/moderncasting-dec09.pdf (Accessed 24 October 2016).
Grede Casting Integrity, 2015. Lightweighting: Lost Foam [Online]. Available: http://
www.grede.com/capabilities/lightweighting-lost-foam.aspx (Accessed 24
October 2016).
Guillen, P., Moroz, N., 2014. Light Weighting with Advanced High Strength Steel
Castings [Online]. Available: http://www.autoharvest.org/images/members/
detroit_materials/light_weighting_w_cast_AHSS.pdf (Accessed 24 October
2016).
Hardeman, M., 2015. Feasibility Study for a Cast Steel Guideline (Master Science
thesis). KTH Industrial Engineering and Management, Stockholm, Sweden.
Heissing, B., Ersoy, M., 2011. In: Heißing, B., Ersoy, M. (Eds.), Chassis Handbook e
Fundamentals, Driving Dynamics, Components, Mechatronics, Perspectives.
Springer Fachmedien Wiesbadem GmbH. ISBN: 978-3-8348-0994-0.
Huang, R., Riddle, M., Graziano, D., Warren, J., Das, S., Nimbalkar, S., Cresko, J.,
Masanet, E., 2015. Energy and emissions saving potential of additive
manufacturing: the case of lightweight aircraft components. J. Clean. Prod. 135,
1159e1170. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.04.109.
Kastensson, A., 2014. Developing lightweight concepts in the automotive industry:
taking on the environmental challenge with the SåNa €tt project. J. Clean. Prod.
66, 337e346. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.11.007.
Kim, S., Moon, S.K., 2017. Sustainable platform identification for product family
design. J. Clean. Prod. 143, 567e581. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
j.jclepro.2016.12.073.
€hler, A.R., Som, C., 2014. Risk preventative innovation strategies for emerging
Ko
technologies the cases of nano-textiles and smart textiles. Technovation 34,
420e430. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2013.07.002.
Lampman, S., 2009. Casting Design and Performance, ASM International - the
Materials Information Society, p. 45, 175.
Mayyas, A.T., Qattawi, A., Mayyas, A.R., Omar, M., 2013. Quantifiable measures of
sustainability: a case study of materials selection for eco-lightweight auto-bodies.
123
J. Clean. Prod. 40, 177e189. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.08.039.
Mayyas, A.T., Mayyas, A.R., Omar, M., 2016. Sustainable Lightweight Vehicle Design:
a Case Study in Eco-material Selection for Body-in-white, pp. 267e302. http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-1-78242-325-6.00011-6. Lightweight Composite
Structures in Transport, Design, Manufacturing, Analysis and Performance.
Melgarejo, D.H.P., 2007. Surface Hardening and Wear Performance of Ausferritic
Silicon Steels. Master Thesis. Luleå University of Technology, Luleå. ISSN 1653-
0187/ISRN LTU-PB-EXe07/036eSE/NR 2007:036.
Mohrbacher, H., 2013. Reverse metallurgical engineering towards sustainable
manufacturing of vehicles using Nb and Mo alloyed high performance steels.
Adv. Manuf. 1, 28e41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40436-013-0002-9.
Piccinno, F., Hischier, R., Saba, A., Mitrano, D., Seeger, S., Som, C., 2015. Multi-
perspective application selection: a method to identify sustainable applications
for new materials using the example of cellulose nanofiber reinforced com-
posites. J. Clean. Prod. 112, 1199e1210. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
j.jclepro.2015.06.105.
Putatunda, S.K., 2003. Influence of austempering temperature on microstructure
and fracture toughness of a high-carbon, high silicon and high manganese cast
steel. Mater. Des. 24, 435e443. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0261-3069(03)
00090-6.
Putatunda, S.K., Singar, A.V., Tackett, R., Lawes, G., 2009. Development of a high
strength high toughness ausferritic steel. Mater. Sci. Eng. A 513e514, 329e339.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2009.02.013.
Raugei, M., Morrey, D., Hutchinson, A., Winfield, P., 2015. A coherent life cycle
assessment of a range of lightweighting strategies for compact vehicles. J. Clean.
Prod. 108, 1168e1176. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.05.100.
Rimmer, A., Muratore, E., Yong, X., Veneri, E., 2014. ADI Solutions in Europe [Online].
Available. http://www.foundrytradejournal.com/pdf/archive/July-Aug%2009%
20-%20ADI%20p184-189.pdf (Accessed 02 February 2015).
SAE INTERNATIONAL, 2013. Lightweighting with iron - applications for commercial
vehicles. Automot. Eng. Int. 121 (8), 24e27. ISSN 1543e849X.
Scho€ggl, J.-P., Baumgartner, R.J., Hofer, D., 2017. Improving sustainability perfor-
mance in early phases of product design: a checklist for sustainable product
development tested in the automotive industry. J. Clean. Prod. 140 (Part 3),
1602e1617. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.09.195.
Shapira, H., Ketchie, A., Nehe, M., 2017. The integration of design thinking and
strategic sustainable development. J. Clean. Prod. 140 (1), 277e287. http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.10.092.
Simo~ es, C.L., Figueire ^do de Sa
, R., Ribeiro, C.J., Bernardo, P., Pontes, A.J.,
Bernardo, C.A., 2016. Environmental and economic performance of a car
component: assessing new materials, processes and designs. J. Clean. Prod.,
Accept. Publ. 118, 105e117. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.12.101.
Swedish Association of Green Motorists. Translated from the Swedish Name Gro €na
Bilister (n. d.). (Accessed 2015-12-11) from http://www.gronabilister.se/Fakta-
bilmiljo/Du-avgor-bilens-bransleforbrukning/Viktigast-om-
bransleforbrukningen.
Tekkaya, A.E., Khalifa, N.B., Grzancic, G., Ho€lker, R., 2014. Forming of lightweight
metal components: need for new technologies. Procedia Eng. 81, 28e37. http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2014.09.125.
UK Government, 2014. Official Statistics: Provisional UK Greenhouse Gas Emissions.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/provisional-uk-
emissionsestimates (Accessed on 27 December 2014).
William, G., Shoukry, M., Prucz, J., 2011. Analysis of Lightweighting Design Alter-
natives for Automotive Components. http://dx.doi.org/10.4271/2011-01-2287.
SAE Technical Paper 2011-01-2287.
WWF, 2013. http://www.wwf.se/ (Accessed 23 October 2016).