Historically, vehicles have been made from conventional steel. Competition of OEMs and governmental demands for safer, lighter and more fuel economic cars led to the market entry of new materials such as new high-strength steels or aluminium. In this study, conducted by Forschungsgesellschaft Kraftfahrwesen mbH Aachen (fka) on behalf of WorldAutosteel, the potential mass reduction impact of aluminium in comparison to conventional steels as well as to new steels is examined.

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Why aren't lightweight materials, such as aluminium, achieving the massive fuel efficiencies that are touted in the industry today? Roland Wohlecker, fka, aachen, germany, explains the topic of a paper submitted to the Society of Automotive Engineers that illustrates the real potential for making lighter weight vehicles, when comparing aluminium with the new advanced high-strength steels.

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In a presentation titled “Steel and Fuel Economy,” Ron Krupitzer, vice president automotive applications for AISI, discussed innovative ways steel can help the automotive industry to meet new environmental requirements for fuel economy, emissions and recyclability.

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This report, published by the American Iron and Steel Institute's Auto/Steel Partnership, defines and quantifies the mass compounding effect during vehicle design with current mass influence coefficients developed from mass data of 35 contemporary vehicles. Also available is a Mass Compounding Calculator, an Excel Spreadsheet that implements the findings of the mass compounding study into a tool for estimating initial vehicle mass based on conventional vehicle baselines and calculating the additional mass savings possible from an initial mass reduction of a vehicle system(s) or component(s).

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