1. Automotive Materials-Current Trends and Futuristic
Perspectives Dr. K. Padmanabhan Professor Manufacturing Division
School of MBS and Asst Director, CENC VIT-University Vellore 632014
August, 2010
2. About VITs Initiatives The School of Mechanical and Building
Sciences with a faculty strength of over 120 has taken initiatives
in Automotive and Manufacturing Research. The Automotive Research
Centre and the Manufacturing Programme have been established under
two separate Funds for Infrastructure Development of Science and
Technology (FIST) Programmes funded by DST. Established a
collaborative learning centre with ARAI, Pune. In addition to
research projects, the Centre also executes consultancy projects
for the automotive and allied industries. Our partners include
ARAI, Pune; Turbo-Energy Limited, Sholinghur; KEMM, Bangalore; and
CVRDE, Ahmed Nagar A TIFAC-CORE Centre in Automotive Infotronics
and some projects with our own TBI are operational
3. Contents History of Automobile Frames Structures and Types
Design Requirements Materials and Processes Selection, Weight and
Cost Future Directions
4. Focal Areas
5. History of Frames
6. History of Frames
7. History of Frames
8. X Frames
9. Tubular Frames
10. Platform Type Frames
11. Monocoque Frames
12. Monocoque Frames
13. Design Requirements Design- Complete information required
to produce a product or to render service - Anonymous
14. The Titanic .. .. And Tragedy
15. Liberty Ships : The first all-welded pre-fabricated cargo
ships mass produced in the United States. 2,751 Liberty Ships were
built between 1941 and 1945. Only two now remain afloat. Many of
the remaining were destroyed by cracking of the type shown.
16. Ductile-to-Brittle Transition 1. FCC materials do not show
DBT Good for cryogenic applications Stainless steel (austenite:
fcc) containers for Liq O2 rocket fuel mild steel not good (: bcc)
2. Fine grain size give lower transition temperature 3. High strain
rate increase the transition temperature 4. Notches increase the
transition temperature
17. Charpy Impact Test ductile brittle
18. Plot temperature vs. absorbed energy Draw a curve through
the points DBTT is mean of upper and lower shelf energy Design
Requirements
19. Ductile-to-Brittle Transition y (bcc) TTDBTT y (fcc) T f f
y < f ductilebrittle y > f
20. Design Requirements
21. Design Requirements
22. Design Requirements
23. Material Property Charts: Modulus - Density 0.1 10 1 100
Metals Polymers Elastomers Ceramics Woods Composites Foams 0.01
1000 1000.1 1 10 Density (Megagrams/m3 ) YoungsmodulusE,(GPa)
24. Design Requirements Ashby Maps
25. Design Requirements -Materials Material Index Merit Index
Structural Index Shape Factors Mechanically Efficient Shapes
Specific Properties
26. Design Requirements
27. Design Requirements - FRP Composites Specific Stiffness and
Strength Fracture Toughness Dynamic Fracture Toughness Damage
Tolerance Hygrothermal Durability Overall Reliability ( Hot Wet
Fatigue) Disposability and Safety Recycleability, Recoverability
and Reuse Plastics Waste to Fuel Conversion
28. General Design Requirements Plastic Strain Modularity and
Flexibility Multi Functionality Crumple Zones Collapsibility
Ductility Crashworthiness Dynamic Fracture Energy Impact Toughness
Fatigue ( Esp. Suspension, Stabilizer bars) Vehicle dynamics Noise
Vibrations and Harshness
36. Engine Materials Grey Cast Irons Compacted Graphitic Cast
Iron Al-alloys, Ni-resist Iron Nodular Cast Iron White (Chilled)
Cast Iron Cr and Mo Steels
37. Engine Materials Magnesium alloys are in their research
stage For a 1.5 L engine, the peak firing pressure is about 160
bars CGI can withstand 235 Bars Mg Alloys can withstand only 120
bars of PFP.
38. Engine Materials Austenitic SS for gaskets (304) Valves-Ti
Alloys Exhaust manifolds: Ceramic bonded or painted cast irons or
SS. Cr coating on piston rings to wear against cast iron. Liner
materials: CI or Aluminium Connecting rods: forged CT or forged SS,
They are drop or powder forged or die cast using C70 S6 Steel or
Micro-alloyed steel
39. Engine Materials Crankshaft: Forged steel alloy, 38MnVS6
Micro-alloyed forged steel Bearing Materials: Babbit metal and
Al-Si alloy Turbochargers: Max pressure ratio now is 4 , Uses
Ductile Iron, Si-Mo Alloy or 440 C SS Compressor: Titanium blades
An All Reinforced Ultra-light Efficient Plastic Engine ?
40. Materials and Processes
41. Materials and processes Suspensions can be made of spring
steel or even GFR Plastic structures
42. Materials and Processes Stabilizer bars must have good
fatigue life and design must take care of DBT. Suitable steels
starting from PCS are used. Tubular structures fare better.
43. Materials and Processes Elastomers
44. Fibre Reinforced Plastics
45. Ford Soybean FRP Car Picture shows Henry Ford I trying to
break The Soybean with a sledgehammer, rather unsuccessfully.
Soybean was made of steel tubular frame and 14 panels containing
phenolic resin. It was worlds first car with an FRP body courtesy
Ford Motors
46. Materials and Processes BMC Composite Bumper and SMC
underbody panels, Glass Mat Thermoplastics (GMT) are also
favourites. The condenser lens assembly is made from acrylics or
high impact resistance PC
47. Functional Design with FRPs Complex injection moulding
through multiple gating for the instrument panel with PP, ABS/PC,
PPS and PPO blends
48. Materials and Processes
49. Europe is ahead of North America in its use of natural
fibre composite automotive applications by approximately 5 years.
The global vision of the bio-economy foresees an annual revenue
growth for biofuels of 15%, biochemicals 12%and biomaterials 14%
for the year 2010,and by 2030 biomaterials projected growth was
25%. Mercedes-Benz automobiles have more than 30 parts made of
natural fibres
50. FRP BODY CARS- Indian Experience
51. Composites in Automobiles Italian automobile with carbon
fibre composite chassis
52. Selection, Weight and Cost
53. Materials and Processes
54. Weight Reduction and Cost
55. Main Challenge in Body Design Multi-Material Concepts
Advanced Composites (FRP) Steel Spaceframe MultiMulti
MaterialMaterial ConceptConcept Composites Advanced Steel body
Coil-coated shell Steel thin wall casting High strength Steels
Al-Spaceframe SteelSteel UnibodyUnibody Stainless Steel Spaceframe
Affordabilityofweightreduction Design Materials Processes Approach
Advanced LM-Spaceframe > 2012
56. Futuristic Directions
57. Waste to Fuel Car Back to the Future II Drive to an organic
waste dust bin and fill your car with waste fuel and drive away !
It is not pulp fiction or celluloid dream anymore !
58. Ancient Engines Sakuna Vimana s Ion Mercury Vortex Engine -
Rg Veda- Baradwaja Vimanika Shastra