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
 About VIT’s 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
Contents

• History of Automobile Frames

• Structures and Types
• Design Requirements
• Materials and Processes
• Selection, Weight and Cost
• Future Directions
Focal Areas
History of Frames
History of Frames
History of Frames
X Frames
Tubular Frames
Platform Type Frames
Monocoque Frames
Monocoque Frames
 Design
Requirements

Design- Complete information required to produce a

product or to render service

-
Anonymous
 ….. And Tragedy

The Titanic …..

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.
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 (α: bcc)

2. Fine grain size give lower transition temperature

3. High strain rate increase the transition
temperature
4. Notches increase the transition temperature
Charpy Impact Test

ductile

brittle
Design Requirements
• Plot temperature vs. absorbed energy
• Draw a curve through the points
• DBTT is mean of upper and lower shelf
energy
 Ductile-to-Brittle Transition

σy (bcc)
σf

σf

σy < σf
σy > σf σy (fcc)
brittle ductile

TDBTT T T
Design Requirements
Design Requirements
Design Requirements
 Material Property Charts: Modulus - Density
1000

Ceramics

100
Young’s modulus E, (GPa)

Composites

10 Woods

Metals

1
Foams
Polymers

0.1

Elastomers
0.01
0.1 1 10 100
Density (Megagrams/m3)
Design Requirements

Ashby Maps
Design Requirements
-Materials
• Material Index
• Merit Index
• Structural Index
• Shape Factors
• Mechanically Efficient Shapes
• Specific Properties
Design Requirements
 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
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
Materials and Processes
Materials and Processes
Materials and Processes
Materials and Processes
Materials and Processes
Materials and Processes
 Automobile
Engines

Composite Engine Manifold Using

Glass Fibre/PA Matrix Materials

Aluminium Composite Engine

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
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.
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
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 ?
Materials and Processes
Materials and processes

Suspensions can be
made of spring steel
or even GFR Plastic
structures
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.
Materials and Processes

Elastomers
Fibre Reinforced Plastics
 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 world’s first car with an FRP body – courtesy Ford Motors
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
Functional Design with FRPs
• Complex injection moulding through
multiple gating for the instrument panel
with PP, ABS/PC, PPS and PPO blends
Materials and Processes
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
FRP BODY CARS-
Indian Experience
Composites in
Automobiles

Italian automobile with carbon fibre composite chassis

Selection, Weight and Cost
Materials and Processes
Weight Reduction and Cost
 Main Challenge in Body Design
Multi-Material Concepts

Multi
Affordability of weight reduction

Material
Advanced
LM-Spaceframe
Concept
Steel
Spaceframe Advanced
Steel body
Al-Spaceframe Stainless Steel
Spaceframe
Coil-coated
shell

Advanced Design
High strength Steel thin Composites
Steels wall casting (FRP)

Steel Composites
Materials Processes
Unibody

Approach > 2012

Futuristic Directions
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 !
 Ancient Engines
• Sakuna Vimana’ s Ion Mercury
Vortex Engine
- Rg Veda- Baradwaja Vimanika Shastra
Thank you and Questions ?