Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Don Whitacre
Alcoa Inc.
This growth is based on aluminum’s ability to improve Why is a reduction in un-sprung weight a benefit to the
fuel efficiency and emissions performance while allowing vehicle’s driver? Newton’s Second Law (Force = Mass x
OEMs to meet consumer demands for well-equipped Acceleration) implies that less un-sprung weight moving
and good-handling vehicles. with respect to the sprung weight, creates less force as
the suspension travels. This translates into less impact
Aluminum is the third most-used material in vehicles, force on the sprung weight when the suspension
behind only steel and iron. Since 1990, the use of reaches its travel limits. (Jounce & Re-bound). If this is
aluminum has doubled in cars and has tripled in the the case, theoretically, a designer could simply increase
lucrative light truck market. Today, the average North the suspension travel so that it never reaches its limits
American vehicle has about 260 pounds of aluminum (creating impact forces), and use only heavy and less
content. More than 75% of these 260 pounds are costly un-sprung weight components like iron and steel.
castings. 7 TP PT
But realistically, increased travel reduces ride quality and
handling performance for on-road vehicles, so this is not
Aluminum casting penetration into the suspension the best option for a great majority of vehicle platforms.
components business is expected to increase to 35% by Increased suspension travel also increases the roll
2006 and 50% by 2009. More specifically, by 2008, center height of the vehicle and reduces its stability at
speed. It should also be noted that it is not practical to
design a suspension that never reaches its travel limits
U U
Lightweight suspension components also reduce the ALCOA EXPERIENCE WITH ALUMINUM
gyroscopic phenomena induced into the front steering CHASSIS & SUSPENSION CONPONENTS
and suspension system. Gyroscopic phenomenon is a
torque that is induced when rotating (e.g. spinning In 1994, Alcoa leveraged its experience with high-
wheel) and turning motion (e.g. steering action) are integrity aluminum castings from the aerospace business
combined. This torque is additive to the normal weight of to quickly enter the aluminum chassis and suspension
the vehicle and high gyroscopic forces mean that the components market. In early 1995, Alcoa upgraded a
vehicle will ride and handle poorer than it should. Less proprietary casting process called Vacuum Riserless /
un-sprung weight reduces this torque action and also Pressure Riserless Casting (VRC/PRC) and adapted it
improves ride and handling. It should also be noted that, to the needs of the automotive chassis and suspension
in order to satisfy the desired natural frequencies for the components market.
sprung weight (1 to 2 Hz) and un-sprung weight (10 to
12 Hz - wheel hop frequencies), the un-sprung weight VRC/PRC is a modified low-pressure, permanent mold
must be low relative to the sprung weight. casting process which uses vacuum and pressure to
“bottom fill” a steel mold from a molten aluminum bath.
Volvo Car Corporation is an example of why designers VRC was developed in 1950’s by the Alcoa Casting &
and engineers opt for aluminum in their chassis and Forging Research Lab and was commercialized in the
suspension systems. Volvo wanted its first high- 1960’s. PRC was added to VRC in 1985 and the
performance sports sedan, the 1999 S80, to have combined process is called VRC/PRC. The VRC/PRC
superior handling and minimal noise, harshness and casting machine consists of a vertical hydraulic press
vibration (NHV) characteristics. The Volvo engineers with a steel mold (upper and lower halves) that is bolted
chose to create an all-aluminum rear axle assembly on to the machine’s lower platen.
made from castings and extrusions. According to their
tests, the new rear axle assembly's greater stiffness The lower platen rests on the crucible furnace and metal
improved vehicle handling over their existing steel-based is transported from the crucible furnace to the mold
axle assembly. In addition, they found that the axle cavity via fill tubes. The surface of the molten metal bath
transmits less road and tire noise to the passenger is within four inches of the mold’s bottom and this short
compartment due to the density of aluminum. 9 distance minimizes the back surging of molten metal into
the crucible furnace, and in-turn, minimizes oxide
It should be noted that, since the modulus of aluminum generation in the crucible furnace. The process features
is lower than that of steel, the greater stiffness had to be a continuous metal delivery to the crucible furnace, via a
achieved by improved geometry of the cast aluminum patented metal pumping system, and minimizes oxide
design. generation during the metal transfer process. No riser is
required since the crucible furnace’s molten metal bath
Each of the leading automakers are either investigating feeds the solidification shrinkage. Since the process
or actively increasing the aluminum content in their does not require extensive gating and risers, net/gross
chassis and suspension systems. Figure three illustrates metal yields as high as 95% can be achieved on some
Audi’s reasons for light weighting their premium vehicles. castings.
Alcoa has used the VRC/PRC casting technology to Product: Rear Knuckle
design and build “single piece flow” automated casting Application: Full size Luxury SUV
and finishing cells. (See figure five below). The cells are
designed to follow the proven principles of the Toyota
Production System and require minimal labor content
from molten metal to x-ray inspected casting.
Control Arms
Figure Six
The VRC/PRC process has been continually upgraded manufacturing processes that affect structural
and refined over the last nine years and has properties, (2) alloy, and (3) part geometry to deliver the
demonstrated a high stability level as measured by best possible part at a competitive cost to the customer.
product mechanical properties. Squeeze casting is well A disciplined approach was applied to optimizing each
know in the aluminum casting industry and is considered facet.
a “premium” casting process. Due to nine years of
VRC/PRC continuous improvement efforts, this process To optimize manufacturing process for delivering the
compares favorably to Squeeze Casting as measured by best properties, Alcoa process engineering, metallurgy
mechanical properties. See figure seven (below) for a and quality assurance people completed a project where
numerical example. all process parameters were studied for their effect on
product tensile strength, yield strength and elongation.
2 The multi-disciplined team developed a series of in-plant
casting trials using Design of Experiment methods to
3 determine critical interactions between the various
process parameters. Several trials and confirmation runs
were completed and the conclusions were implemented
1 to further stabilize the casting process and make
incremental improvement in tensile strength, yield
strength and elongation.
27.5
chassis and suspension systems has not kept pace with
25.0
the penetration in power train, but the market data
Mass Reduction (%)
22.5
shows steady increases in this market segment through
20.0 2008.
17.5
15.0
Increased use of aluminum in chassis and suspension
12.5
systems reduces the overall weight of the vehicle,
10.0
7.5
improves fuel efficiency and emissions performance
5.0
while also improving ride and handling through reduced
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 un-sprung mass. Unfortunately, some existing aluminum
Strength Improvement (%)
chassis and suspension component designs are not
Figure Ten: Tradeoff curves for alloy development from optimized for the attributes of aluminum and do not take
advanced CAE model optimization results full advantage of the weight reductions possible by using
the light metal in these applications.
From these curves, it can be seen that any increase in
target stress beyond 50% would not result in any mass Through a combination of efforts in manufacturing
reduction of the part, so the alloy development was process optimization, high-strength alloy development
targeted at 50% improvement in yield and fatigue stress, and advanced CAE techniques, Alcoa has developed a
while maintaining elongation. systemic means of optimizing chassis and suspension
components to take full advantage of the benefits of
After completion of the tradeoff curves, the advanced aluminum to offer OEMs additional weight reduction and
model was then used to generate an actual product performance enhancement opportunities.
design that could be prototyped using the new alloy with
the new properties. When the properties were known ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
and determined, the advanced optimization model was
run with the target stress set at the new alloy strength. The authors want to thank Dr. Pinhas Barak for his
Geometry recommendations were made, and a CAD insight into the benefits of utilizing aluminum in
model was generated. Refinements of the optimization suspension systems.
parameters were made in key areas, manufacturing
constraints were added, and the CAD-generated The authors would like to acknowledge the contribution
geometry was iterated and finalized. of Dr. Gordon Xu for his contribution to development of
advanced design optimization methods using CAE tools.
REFERENCES
Donald E. Whitacre
Product Development Manager
Alcoa Inc.
Ph: 248 489 8228
E-Mail: don.whitacre@alcoa.com