Canadian automotive aluminum research and development

Canada is one of the world's largest automotive industry countries. The United States and Japan's world-famous automobile companies have automobile manufacturing plants in Canada, which has effectively promoted the development of the Canadian automobile industry. At the same time, Canada is one of the countries in the world with abundant non-ferrous metal resources. The reserves of bauxite, zinc, magnesium, copper, and nickel are among the top few in the world, and they also have mining, smelting, metallurgy and deep processing companies.

With the rapid development of the global automotive industry and the continuous improvement of the global environmental protection law, the control over energy consumption has intensified. The auto industry is continuously seeking new materials for vehicles that reduce weight, reduce fuel consumption and reduce CO2 emissions. It has become one of the favored raw materials for automotive components and has been receiving attention from the automotive industry.

1 Canadian AuTo21 Project

The AuTo 21 project is a Canadian automotive research and development project. It is a research and development partnership established between universities, research institutes, and private companies. Founded in 2001, it is a well-known automotive research community organization in Canada. The project's annual research funding is approximately 12 million Canadian dollars. It is funded by various Canadian automotive industries. Research areas include materials, processing, health and safety, automotive powertrain components, fuels and emissions, design process technology, and artificial intelligence systems. sensor. There are currently 42 projects. There are 5 projects supported by AuTo 21, with funding support of 3.3 million Canadian dollars. The five projects are focused on automotive aluminum and magnesium. Automotive materials and processing studies account for a large proportion of the AuTo21 project.

2 Research and Development of Automotive Aluminum and Aluminum Foil

As we all know, aluminum alloy castings for automobiles have been popularized in the automotive industry, but aluminum alloy plates for automobiles have great potential for development. Prof. David Wilkinson, professor of materials engineering at McMaster University in Canada, is the aluminum alloy deep-drawing board for automotive aluminum alloys. Because aluminum alloys have excellent strength and light weight, automakers use aluminum alloys as automotive vehicles. Bodyboards are of great interest, but since inclusions in aluminum alloys reduce the formability of aluminum sheets and are difficult to stamp, Wilkinson's team adapted the aluminum alloys by adding rare earth elements to alter the performance of aluminum alloys to meet the requirements of automotive aluminum sheets. , Reduce inclusions and make stamping easier. Once the more promising chemical composition of aluminum alloys has been developed, the research team will try to produce slabs and roll them.

3 Continue to research and develop new processing technologies for aluminum alloy castings

The research team led by Jerry Sokorovski, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Windsor in Canada, focused on the integration of the current casting process technology and the development of new aluminum alloys.

New aluminum alloy development also includes melt processing, casting and heat treatment process technology. Industrial partners and research institutes have identified four key manufacturing processes that will significantly increase the number of aluminum components for automotive use. These aluminum alloy parts for automobiles are wheels, engine blocks, cylinder heads, intake manifolds, and a new generation of pistons. These four processes are melt processing, alloy development, casting technology and heat treatment machine processing.

4 Research and development of aluminum alloy welding and joining technology

The research team led by Mr. Tomnos, professor of materials engineering at the University of Toronto, Canada, focused on the Friction spot welding of aluminum alloy plate materials, abbreviated as FSW. Aluminum alloys are used to process many components in the automotive industry. Torch nozzles Wear is a persistent problem with traditional resistance spot welding. The friction spot welding technology as an alternative to the resistance spot welding technology does not have the torch nozzle wear problem when spot welding the aluminum alloy, the equipment cost saving and the energy consumption reduction are considerable, and the friction does not occur during the spot welding. State aluminum alloy splash phenomenon. North American automakers are evaluating this technology because it is still in research and development, so its application is still limited.

In summary, Canada attaches great importance to research and development of automotive light metal parts. The speed and implementation of its AuTo 21 automotive research and development project is a strong testimony. At present, there are 11 Canadian universities and 2 American universities participating in the AuTo 21 project. There are also 24 companies participating in the AuTo 21 project, including Alcoa, Ford Motor Company, Nemak Canada, Meredith Technology and Timing Company.