Lightweight Construction Summit 2017

Lightweight Cast Components Used in Vehicles

Strict exhaust emission limits and e-mobility demand for new lightweight concepts. Components made of cast iron and aluminium materials contribute to this demand without major limitations on strength and stability.

Würzburg/Germany — With the special requirements of drive systems, e-mobility drives the development of today's advanced lightweight construction to a particularly high degree — lightweight construction is already extending across the entire spectrum of vehicle construction. Modules used in the chassis of commercial vehicles are increasingly made of cast components. The casting processes allow for a load-optimized design, as there are hardly any restrictions to geometry, and the use of highly robust cast iron materials or the conventional lightweight material aluminium.

Examples for Practical Applications

At the Lightweight Construction Summit in 2017, two speakers from Franken Guss presented examples for the methods used to develop such concepts. The specialist for cast iron and aluminium uses his manufacturing processes to propose the most favorable application by weighing the advantages of cast iron against those of aluminium materials. The foundry has changed from a service provider to a development partner. Their development expertise lies in the application of simulation techniques — for example to simulate loading conditions — and methods of evaluating material behavior in the operating state or in the event of a crash.

At the "Automotive Industry — Lightweight Construction" summit in Würzburg on March 9 and 10, the practical proof of such concepts was demonstrated by means of available serial parts made of cast iron with nodular graphite or aluminium materials.

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