Aluminium Research for Road Transport Applications

Geoff ScamansInnoval Technology and Brunel University

Six AIV replica British Leyland Metros were built in 1983. The sheet moncoque body structure was built from AA5251 sheet while the closure panels consisted of standard steel components.

BL Metro AIV

Five AIV replica Bertone Fiat X1/9s were built in 1986 using AA5251 sheet for the monocoque and AA6010 for the closure panels.

Bertone Fiat X1/9 AIV

A build of 40 Mercury Sable AIVs was completed in 1993 using AA6111 sheet for closure panels and AA5754 sheet for the monocoque structure. The structure was not redesigned yet a weight saving of 46% was achieved.

Ford Taurus/Sable AIV

Alcan Aluminium Intensive Vehicles (AIVs) 1983 to 1993

Range Rover Sport

Range Rover Sport

Current JLR Aluminium Applications

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Land Rover TD V8

Land Rover TD V6

Petrol

Diesel

Petrol Hybrid

Passenger Vehicle Emissions (ICE) 2012 UK vehicles

EU Aluminium Automotive Sheet Production Growth (kt)

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body structures (20%)closures (80%)

EU Growth in Aluminium Automotive Sheet Continuous Heat Treatment Capacity (kt)

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Novelis Sierre2

AMAG, Ranshofen

Hydro, Grevenbroich

Constellium, Neuf Brisach

Aleris, Duffel

Novelis, Sierre

Novelis, Nachterstedt

Alcoa Heat Treatment and Finishing: Davenport

NA Growth in Aluminium Automotive Sheet Continuous Heat Treatment Capacity (kt)

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TBC

Alcoa, Knoxville

Novelis, Oswego

Alcoa, Davenport

Alcoa, Danville

Novelis, Kingston

Jaguar F-type

Projected Growth for Extrusion in Key Automotive Applications (kt)

This analysis based on the predicted growth in EU27 vehicle production from 17.2 million in 2012 to 30 million in 2025, the increase of aluminium in vehicles from 140kg/vehicle to 220 kg/vehicle and the progressive increase in extrusions in the mix from 10 to 15%. The estimate for body may be high if sheet intensive vehicle construction predominates

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Range Rover Sport Sand Cast Rear Subframe

2005 2008 20092006 2007 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 20182017

Steel & Al

Light Metals

Steel & Ti

Al & Mg

EPSRC funding in the area of light metals

This chart includes funding in the area of light metals, either current or announced, in April 2013. Grants are grouped into categories. The named investigators and institutions are those for the Principal Investigators on the grant and the figures represent EPSRC’s contribution (80% FEC). Some grants will have a complete light metals focus, others (in particular large grants) will have other metals and materials as aspects of their research.

Key: Doctoral Training

Fellowships

Programme Grants

Centre for Innovative Manufacturing

Strategic Partnership

Responsive Funding

Targeted Funding

Ti

DTC in Advanced Metallic Systems - Sheffield/Manchester - £6,364,458

DTP in Structurally Metallic Systems for Gas Turbine Applications - Cambridge/Swansea/Birmingham - £6,819,398

A Centre for Doctoral Training on the Theory and Simulation of Materials – Imperial - £6,414,829

Step change materials efficiency for steel and aluminium -Allwood – Cambridge –- £1,565,446

Light Alloys Towards Environmentally Sustainable Transport LATEST2 – Thompson - Manchester – £5,762,121

Centre for Innovative Manufacturing: Liquid Metal Engineering Brunel/Oxford/Birmingham –- £5,119,391

Rolls-Royce Strategic Partnership Structural Metallic Systems for Gas Turbines– Birmingham/Cambridge/Swansea/Sheffield – £7,521,798

Hybrid through process modelling IMMPETUS – Sheffield – £4,517,374

Reducing Emissions by Exploiting Field-Induced Martensitic Transformations Dye – Imperial –- £1,151,930

SAMULET4: UFG Ti-6Al-4V for DB/SPF and Hot-Die Forging of Titanium – Rosochowski, Ewing, Ion, Quin Strathclyde - £2,342,379

Towards Affordable, Closed-Loop Recyclable Future Low Carbon Vehicle Structures - TARF-LCVBrunel/Manchester/Imperial/Nottingham/Strathclyde/Exeter/Brookes/Coventry £4,221,482 Al, Mg & PMC

UK Indemand: a National Research Centre for reducing Industrial Energy and Material useAllwood – Cambridge/Bath/Leeds/Trent £6,173,069

Precision guided flexible formingAllwood – Cambridge/Bath/Leeds/Trent £1,707,194

Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Laser-based Production Heriot-Watt/Cambridge/Cranfield/Liverpool/Manchester–- £5,571,751

Grain refiner for high performance light metal castings Babu Nandela – Brunel £121,144

Al

Energy saving in the Foundry IndustryJolly – Cranfield £116,344

Micro- and nano-patterning of titanium surfacesDalby – Glasgow £340,919

Ti

Industrial Doctorate Centre: Micro- and NanoMaterials and Technologies – Surrey - £6,168,139

Industrial Doctorate Centre in Advanced Forming and Manufacture– Strathclyde- £1,231,298

Cavitation Melt Processing: (UltraMelt)Eskin – Brunel £340,919

Cryogenic Machining Systems (CRYOSIS) Newman – Bath £224,159

Ti

2005 2008 20092006 2007 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 20182017

Strategic Affordable Manufacturing in the UK through Leading Environmental Technology (SAMULET)

2005 2008 20092006 2007 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 20182017

Steel & Al

Light Metals

Al & Mg

EPSRC funding for aluminium research

This chart includes funding in the area of light metals, either current or announced, in April 2013. Grants are grouped into categories. The named investigators and institutions are those for the Principal Investigators on the grant and the figures represent EPSRC’s contribution (80% FEC). Some grants will have a complete light metals focus, others (in particular large grants) will have other metals and materials as aspects of their research.

Key: Fellowships

Programme Grants

Centre for Innovative Manufacturing

Responsive Funding

Step change materials efficiency for steel and aluminium

-Allwood – Cambridge –- £1,565,446

Light Alloys Towards Environmentally Sustainable Transport LATEST2

– Thompson - Manchester – £5,762,121

Centre for Innovative Manufacturing: Liquid Metal Engineering

Brunel/Oxford/Birmingham –- £5,119,391

Hybrid through process modelling IMMPETUS – Sheffield – £4,517,374

Towards Affordable, Closed-Loop Recyclable Future Low Carbon Vehicle Structures - TARF-LCV

Brunel/Manchester/Imperial/Nottingham/Strathclyde/Exeter/Brookes/Coventry £4,221,482

Al, Mg & PMCs

UK Indemand: a National Research Centre for reducing Industrial Energy and Material use

Allwood – Cambridge/Bath/Leeds/Trent £6,173,069

Precision guided flexible formingAllwood – Cambridge/Bath/Leeds/Trent £1,707,194

Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Laser-based Production

Heriot-Watt/Cambridge/Cranfield/Liverpool/Manchester–- £5,571,751

Grain refiner for high performance light metal castings Babu Nandela – Brunel £121,144 Al

Energy saving in the Foundry IndustryJolly – Cranfield £116,344

Cavitation Melt Processing: (UltraMelt)Eskin – Brunel £340,919

2005 2008 20092006 2007 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 20182017

Towards Affordable, Closed-Loop Recyclable Future Low Carbon Vehicle Structures:Metallic Materials Group Objectives

BCAST, Brunel University

Geoff Scamans

Research Vision and Ambition

Vehiclemanufacturing Vehicle use ELVs Primary

input materialsRecovered metals

(down graded)

Wastefor land filling

CO2 emission2011

2030Low-carbon input

lightweightmaterials

Low-carbonmanufacturingtechnologies Mass-optimised

design forlow-carbon usage

ELVs (end of life vehicles)

Dismantling ofELVs

Reuse &remanufacture

Closed-looprecycling

Limited input ofprimary materials

Significantlyreduced CO2

Minimal wastefor land filling

Project Objectives

To develop closed-loop recyclable Al-alloys and self-corrosion-resistant Mg-alloysTo develop advanced PMCs using recyclable rGFs, rCFs and recoverable rNFsTo develop novel technologies for liquid metal treatment to enable closed-loop recyclingTo develop advanced technologies for LC manufacturing and effective disassembly of ELVsTo develop mass-optimised vehicle design principlesTo develop specific LCA methodology for future LCV development

Recyclable Aluminium BIW

• Magnesium content is not an issue• AlSi casting alloys result in a high silicon level in

the remelted BIW alloy• AlMg casting alloys are a promising alternative

(RASCAL TSB project)• Tolerance of iron is important for casting, sheet

and extrusion alloys (RecycAL FP7 project)• Recycled alloys should be used for both the

closure panel and structure

Development of the rheo-diecasting process for lightweight automotive components (RDC)Innoval, Brunel University, Ford Jaguar, JVM Castings, Meridian, NAMTEC £1,673,893

Direct Chill RheoCasting of High Performance Aluminium Alloys (DCRC) Innoval, Alcan, Novelis, Brunel, Luxfer Gas Cylinders, Zyomax £2,012,562

Structural Adhesive Bonding of thick Components for Advanced Design (SABCAD)Airbus, BAE Systems, Imperial, Surrey £693,255

Upcycling of Light Alloys by Rheoforming Scrap (ULARS) Innoval, Meridian, Norton Aluminium, Zyomax and Brunel £1,614,996

Recyclable Ultra Light Mixed material Automotive Platform (RULMAP) Innoval, IQuad, Atlas Composites, Boal and Oxford £768,317

Lower Cost, Light Weight Vehicles by Increasing the Use of Post Consumer Aluminium Scrap (REALCAR) JLR, Novelis, Norton Aluminium, Zyomax, Innoval, Brunel £1,908,711

Limo GreenJaguar, Caparo, Lotus, MIRA £4,104,789

CAE reliability tools and design methods for structures with hybrid bonded joints (BONDEDCAR) JLR, Coventry, nCode, Stoke Golding, Novelis, Dow, Innoval, and Henrob £1,218,135

Replacement of Copper by Aluminium in Electrical Heating Cables (HEATAL) Heat Trace, Innoval, 3M, Whatlow and Manchester £2,356,354

Warm Aluminium Forming Technology (WAFT) JLR, Dutton, Innoval, Novelis, Stadco, Whiston, Fuchs and Imperial £2,842,974

Plastic Net-Forming of Metal (PLANET) Innoval, JLR, Corus, Plastic Omnium, Sabic and Warwick £496,098

Key 2004 - 2010:

Advanced Materials

Environmental Sustainability

High Value Manufacturing

TSB funding in the area of light metals (aluminium and magnesium)

This chart includes collaborative R&D projects with a significant light metal content that have been funded from competitions from 2004 to 2013. The figures represent the total value of the project. TSB typically provides 50% of the funding support inline with state aid rules.

Grain refiner for lightweight aluminium automotive castings Innoval, Grainger & Worrall, ESI-Group, LSM and JLR £705,418

Recyclable aluminium structural casting alloy (RASCAL)JLR, Innoval, JVM, Norton, Brunel University £885,099

Recycled tolerant aluminium alloy utilising post consumer waste (REALCAR2)

JLR, Innoval, Novelis, Aleris and Warwick University £980,708

Novel Aluminium Dross/Salt Slag Press Technology

Altek £626,622

High quality surface finished aluminium rollers for mass replication (REPLICAL)

Innoval, Macdermid, Stockfield £413,970

Magnesium Intensive BIW Structures for the Premium Automotive Sector

Morgan, Penso, MEL, Coventry University, Luxfer £1,415,154

Hi-TINAL: Advanced High-Tin Aluminium Plain Bearing Alloys

Rolls Royce, Brunel, KC Engineering £542,682

Aluminium Matrix Composite Materials for vehicle Weight Reduction

JLR, Composite Metal Technolgy, Antich £2,115,281

Innovative Microstructural Design for Advanced Al Alloys (IDEAL)Rolls-Royce, Aeromet, University of Birmingham £569,453

On-line control of Friction Stir Welding processes using ultrasonic testingThompson Friction, TWI, Theta, GKN £870,696

Light weight 7.5 - 12 tonne Future Truck Chassis Concept

Leyland Trucks, Sapa, MI Technology £1,252,530

Aluminium Lattice Structures via Additive Manufacturing

Econolyst, Alcon, Axon, Delcam, Delphi, Loughborough U, NottinghamU, Renishaw £1,066,769

Resource Efficiency

Technology Inspired Innovation

Manufacturing

Low Carbon Vehicles

Key 2010 - 2015:

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

A20X High Value Large Structure Casting

Aeromet, LSM, JLR, JVM, University of Birmingham £830,300

HITEA: REACH Compliant Hexavalent Chrome Replacement Rolls Royce, GE, BAe Systems, Goodrich, Aeroengine Controls £2,200,000

Highly Innovative Technology Enablers In Aerospace

Ultra-light Car Bodies (UlCab) PAB, Impression Technologies, Lotus,Innoval, Imperial College £1,117,026

TSB active projects (aluminium)

This chart includes collaborative R&D projects with a aluminium and automotive content that have been funded from competitions from 2010 to 2014. The figures represent the total value of the project. TSB typically provides 50% of the funding support inline with state aid rules.

Grain refiner for lightweight aluminium automotive castings

Innoval, Grainger & Worrall,ESI-Group, AMG and JLR

£705,418

Recyclable aluminium structural casting alloy (RASCAL)

JLR, Innoval, JVM, Norton, Brunel University

£885,099

Recycled tolerant aluminium alloy utilising post consumer waste (REALCAR2)

JLR, Innoval, Novelis, Aleris and Warwick University £980,708

Hi-TINAL: Advanced High-Tin Aluminium Plain Bearing Alloys

Rolls Royce, Brunel, KC Engineering £542,682

Aluminium Matrix Composite Materials for vehicle Weight Reduction

JLR, Composite Metal Technology, Antich £2,115,281

On-line control of Friction Stir Welding processes using ultrasonic testing

Thompson Friction, TWI, Theta, GKN £870,696

Light weight 7.5 - 12 tonne Future Truck Chassis Concept

Leyland Trucks, Sapa, MI Technology £1,252,530

Aluminium Lattice Structures via Additive Manufacturing

Econolyst, Alcon, Axon, Delcam, Delphi, Loughborough U, NottinghamU, Renishaw

£1,066,769

Resource Efficiency

Technology Inspired Innovation

Manufacturing

Low Carbon Vehicles

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

A20X High Value Large Structure Casting Aeromet, LSM, JLR, JVM, U of Birmingham

£830,300

Ultra-light Car Bodies (UlCab) PAB, Impression Technologies, Lotus,

Innoval, Imperial College £1,117,026

REALCAR 2

Aluminium RSIs

Mechanical Biological

Treatment (MBT)

Aluminium from MBT EMR Shredder EMR Media

Separation

Aluminium Melting

DC castingCoil rolling

Consortium Partners

Advanced Light Metals Processing Research Centre

•Brunel University has been granted £3.9M from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) for the creation of a national scale-up facility for automotive light metals research initially in collaboration with Jaguar Land Rover and Constellium. Brunel University will supplement this grant with a further £5.5M for a dedicated building and support resource at their site in Uxbridge

•The goal of the “Advanced Light Metals Processing Research Centre” will be to bridge the gap between fundamental research and industrial applications, allowing rapid exploitation of innovations developed at the laboratory scale

•The Centre aims to provide high-performance light alloys, resource-efficient casting technologies, extrusion processing technologies and component innovations to meet the mid- and long-term needs of the automotive industry

•Of strategic importance will be a fully integrated DC casting and extrusion facility, which is planned to include a full-size 1600 ton extrusion press complete with support facilities and full automation, and commercial scale high pressure and low pressure die casting machines

Operational Q3 2014: 1300m2 approx

Advanced Light Metals Processing Research Centre

Summary

EPSRC support for aluminium and magnesium is concentrated within LiME, LATEST2, TARF-LCV. These programmes support a large number of RAs and PhDs

The Advanced Metallics DTC supports a small number of aluminium PhD projects

The support for aluminium research is broadly similar to that of titanium but much lower than the support for PMCs

TSB funding to date has supported about 20 aluminium projects to date with a total project value of over £50m

Most of the support is for automotive and aerospace related applications