Lightweight Forging

Innovation Network for Technological Progress in Part, Process and Material Design for Forged Parts in Automotive Technology

Automotive lightweight design as one of the key technologies to reduce fuel consumption and thus CO2 emissions and moreover increasing driving dynamics and comfort is focused primarily on the vehicle body in previous developments and applications. The achievements of lightweight design in the area of the vehicle body however are not met to the same extent in other components of the vehicle, for example in the drivetrain and the chassis where the production of parts is strongly divided between various companies and industries. The Lightweight Forging Initiative, established by the German forging association and the steel association, took up the task in two studies and demonstrated the potential for lightweight construction with forged components in a passenger car and a light commercial vehicle.

The Research Network entitled “Lightweight Forging – Innovation Network for Technological Progress in Part, Process and Material Design for Forged Parts in Automotive Technology” was generated from the idea competition “Leading Technologies for SMEs” of the BMWi and the AiF. Based on the findings of the studies described above and research results from ongoing and completed AiF projects the pre-competitive, industry-wide, and even cross-industrial implementation of innovative lightweight construction concepts will be developed, studied, analyzed and evaluated within a term of 3 years. Integrative approaches are planned use to fully utilize the lightweight potential of demonstrator components of the transmission, the chassis and the power transmission.

The overall project is divided into five sub-projects of which each is supported by project-related committees of the industrial companies. The subprojects SP1 to SP4 connect the concepts of material-lightweight, concept-lightweight and functional-lightweight designs with the relevant fields of technical innovations. In subproject SP5 the results are combined into an overall concept and potential evaluation.

[Foto: Massiver Leichtbau]

 

To evaluate the possible series implementation of lightweight concepts in terms of their cost-effectiveness a holistic analysis of the entire value chain and the associated innovation relations is needed. This includes an energetic and ecological product and process assessment of forged components, which will take the results of other sub-projects into account and will be conducted in close collaboration with the relevant sub-project managers of the research network. This life cycle assessment (LCA) of different lightweight concepts can then analyze and evaluate the overall sustainability on vehicle level. The LCA follows a holistic approach by accounting primary energy consumption and CO2 emissions over the entire life cycle.

In addition, a technological potential analysis supports the implementation of lightweight design and examines the potential impact of the determined weight reduction to improve energy efficiency and driving safety. The focus is placed not only on primary but also on secondary effects of lightweight design.

Lightweight Forging-Logo

Contact

Dr.-Ing. Dinesh Thirunavukkarasu
Manager Research Area
Vehicle Concepts & HMI
+49 241 80 25699
Email

Project duration

05/2015 – 04/2018

Project partner

FZG and UTG TU München, ika and IEHK RWTH Aachen, IFU Universität Stuttgart, IFUM Leibniz-Universität Hannover, ISF and IUL TU Dortmund, IWT Bremen, RWI Essen

Project website

www.massiverleichtbau.de

Supported by

[Logo: BM Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz][Logo: Arbeitsgemeinschaft industrieller Forschungsvereinigungen 'Otto v. Guericke' e.V.]

Address

Institute for Automotive Engineering
RWTH Aachen University
Steinbachstraße 7
52074 Aachen · Germany

office@ika.rwth-aachen.de
+49 241 80 25600

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