L.D.

COLLEGE OF
ENGINEERING
SUBJECT : AUTOMOBILE CHASSIS AND BODY
ENGINEERING
AUTOMOBILE MATERIALS

PREPARED BY : VIVEK DHAMELIYA

140280711005

Some Background...
Cars at first were built entirely of wood, and
later of wood frames with steel body panels.
In the early 1900s, the idea of a body-onframe design came about.
These vehicles had
a load-bearing chassis
that supported all the
mechanical parts
and a body usual made
of steel.
Ford Model T

Courtesy Car Body Design

http://www.carbodydesign.com/articles/2005-04-13-chassis-history/2005-04-13-chassis-history.p

Moving Forward...

Honda Civic Frame

http://automobiles.honda.com/images/2009/civic-sedan/safety/safety-header.jpg

Today, most smaller

vehicles such as small
SUVs and sedans use a
unibody (or monocoque)
construction.
Heavy-duty vehicles like trucks and busses still
use the idea of body-on-frame.
Regardless of the construction technique, steel is
still the predominant material used in automotive
frames.

A Quick Comparison

Typical Ladder Frame

Monocoques

What its all About

Today, the new revolution in car design is the

use of new materials in the vehicle structure.
As fuel economy restrictions become tighter,
manufacturers must find new ways to meet
them.
This has led them away from using so much
steel in the vehicles, and more and more are
moving towards aluminum.
The central theme of our project was to
compare these new lightweight aluminum cars
to their steel predecessors and see if anything
is being sacrificed and/or gained.

A Basic Comparison
Two common alloys used in car manufacturing:
For Aluminum: AA 5182
For Steel: AISI 1020
Steel

Al

Yield
Strength
(MPa)

294.8

395

UTS (MPa)

394.7

420

Hardness
(HB500)

104

58

Data Courtesy efunda

http://www.efunda.com/materials/alloys/carbon_steels/show_carbon.cfm?ID=AISI_1020&prop=all&Page_Title=AISI%201020
http://www.efunda.com/materials/alloys/aluminum/show_aluminum.cfm?ID=AA_5182&show_prop=all&Page_Title=AA%205182

Properties
Density of Steel: 7.88 g/cm3
Density of Aluminum: 2.7 g/cm3
Aluminum is about 3 times lighter than steel
per unit volume, but can be made just as
strong using certain alloys/shapes/bonding
methods.
Because of this, AL parts can be thicker, and
thus stronger, than their steel counterparts, all
while weighing less.

The Cost Issue

While Al may seem like a miracle metal for car
production, there is a reason not all cars are
made from Al... It costs a lot more than Steel.

The Move to Aluminum

The first production vehicle to move to an Al frame
was the Audi A8 in 1994.
This allowed Audi to make their full-size car lighter
than the competitions (BMW, Mercedes,Lexus...),
thus giving them the edge in performance &
handling.
This comes at a price premium though, for instance
compared to a Lexus LS460 (Steel framed) which
costs around $65,000. The A8 starts at $75,000

Audi A8
Lexus LS460

An Increasing Trend

http://www2.prnewswire.com/mnr/duckerworldwide/37515/

Cars Utilizing Al Frames

Weight
The most obvious advantage to using aluminum in
place of steel in cars is aluminum weighs less.

Cars with Mostly Al

Space Frames

Safety
Not too many safety tests have been performed on
Al framed vehicles due to their usually higher price.
However, the Audi A2 is an inexpensive compact
car that has been tested, and received overall
favorable reviews compared to its steel bodies
counterparts.

Some other
advantages...
There are some manufacturing

methods that can only be done

with aluminum, such as
extrusions.
These extrusions allows the Al
Space Frame to have about half
the amount of parts as a
traditional steel monocoque.
Because of all this, Al is already a
cheaper material to use for low
volume production cars (under
100,000 units a year or so).

A Few Other Facts...

Today, the average car contains about 200
pounds of aluminum parts.
Aluminum space frames (like that from Audi),
contain fewer parts and fewer connection
nodes, which helps keep production costs
lower.

In The Future

http://andrewbeard.wordpress.com/2009/05/11/technology-carbon-fiber-monocoque-c
hassis/

While Aluminum may be the wave of the future for

now, some exotic car companies are already
looking ahead to composite materials.
Take for example Porsche Carrera GT, which used a
completely Carbon-Fiber monocoque construction
in addition to Carbon-Fiber body panels.
Because of this, the curb weight of the car was
only 3000 lbs., even with a 5.7L V-10 engine
powering it.

Porsche Carrera GT

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Porsche_Carrera_GT_-_Goodwood_Breakfast_Club_
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Porsche_Carrera_GT_-_Goodwood_Breakfast_Club
%28July_2008%29.jpg/800px-Porsche_Carrera_GT_-_Goodwood_Breakfast_Club_%28July_2008%29.jpg

References
Building an aluminum car

http://www.allbusiness.com/professional-scientific/scientific-researchdevelopment/443897-1.html

History of Automobile Body and Chassis

http://www.carbodydesign.com/articles/2005-04-13-chassis-history/2005-04-13-chassishistory.php

Automobile Bodies: Can Aluminum Be an Economical Alternative

to Steel?
http://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/JOM/0108/Kelkar-0108.html

Different Types of Chassis

http://www.autozine.org/technical_school/chassis/tech_chassis2.htm

Aluminum Versus Steel

http://www.travistrailer.com/public/pag16.aspx