A New Wheel Design for Reducing Weight

Abstract:

Reducing weight is one of the most important challenges in the automotive industry. A wheel design which enables to reduce weight from 13.5 kg to 10 kg is presented. This achievement is possible thanks to the use of a wide variety of technical processes. The disc is manufactured by Cobapress^TM, a casting/forging process which combines the advantages of a high design freedom, good mechanical properties and the absence of porosities. The alloy used is an A356 aluminum alloy modified with strontium. The rim is made of an AA6082 aluminum alloy which is extruded and flow-formed with a thickness from 3.3 down to 2.2 mm. Finally, the FSW (Friction Stir Welding) allows us to weld the two parts with a cavity to minimize the weight. With this technique the welding of the two different alloys is possible with good mechanical properties, the fracture happens outside of the weld during tensile tests. The final wheels passed bending and radial fatigue tests as well as radial impact tests with success.

• Periodical: Materials Science Forum (Volumes 794-796)
• Pages: 578-583
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.794-796.578
• Online since: June 2014
• Authors: Frédéric Perrier*, Véronique Bouvier, Lionel Duperray
• Keywords: Cobapress^TM, FSW, Light Weight, Wheel

References

[1] Perrier F. et al., Microstructural and mechanical evolutions during the forging step of the COBAPRESS, a casting/forging process, 13th International Conference on Aluminum Alloys (ICAA13), 2012, pp.1691-1696.

DOI: 10.1002/9781118495292.ch253

[2] Chang F.C. et al., Forging condition for removing porosity in the hybrid casting and forging process of 7075 aluminum alloy casting, Materials Transactions 45 n°6, 2004, pp.1886-1890.

DOI: 10.2320/matertrans.45.1886