ANALYZING AUTOMOTIVE MANUFACTURING 10 YEARS AGO VS. TODAY
Story by SARAH PERKINS
In the last decade, the landscape of vehicle materials in the automotive industry has remained on a fast track towards automotive advancements. This has continued to shape the foundations of collision repair in a race for service excellence.
For professionals entrenched in the world of repairing and restoring vehicles, keeping pace with material advancements has become not just a necessity, but a fundamental aspect of the craft. From the widespread adoption of lightweight aluminum alloys to the emergence of advanced composite materials, the evolution of vehicle manufacturing presents both challenges and opportunities alike.
Read below to journey across automotive manufacturing from yesterday to tomorrow and see how far repairers have come, and more importantly, how far they’ll have to go in the future.
CHANGES IN MATERIALS
While the visual appearance of vehicles may not look so different from those from 10 years ago, the materials used to create them have seen massive shifts over time. Vehicles of the past may have been made up of predominantly steel-based products, but today, a more diverse range of materials drives current cars forwards.
According to a report released by Mentor Works looking at the “Next Generation of Automotive Manufacturing Materials and Processes,” modern vehicles are transitioning away from steel foundations and towards a variety of alternatives such as aluminum, magnesium, and composite materials. “Vehicle frames, including floors, doors, roofs, body side panels and fenders are typically constructed from steel. As these are the components most responsible for driver safety, they are the most difficult to use other materials for. Materials used for other less-critical components such as a vehicle’s hood, sunroof, bumper, or engine cradle are often experimented with as this offers the opportunity to reduce overall vehicle weight,” the report notes.
Compared to the cars of the past, today’s vehicles are made up of a collection of the following:
MODERN MATERIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
1. Mild steel: Easier to form than traditional steel, mild steel is ideal for cold-stamping and other more traditional manufacturing methods.
2. High strength steel: This form of steel uses traditional steels and removes carbon during the baking cycle. This creates a product that can be more easily formed and baked into harder metals.
3. High strength low alloy (HSLA): HSLAs are carbon manganese steels strengthened with a micro alloying element such as titanium.
4. Ultra high-strength steel (UHSS): As the name implies, structural steel with very high strength levels.
5. Aluminum 5000 and 6000-series: This form of aluminum has non-corrosive properties.
6. Magnesium: A light-weight metal, magnesium has the highest strength-to-weight ratio of all structural metals.
7. Carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP): CFRPs are extremely strong, light plastics which contain carbon fibres to increase strength.
8. Adhesives and Resins: The modern vehicle now contains around 27 pounds of adhesives and this number is expected to continue to increase in the future.
CHANGES IN MANUFACTURING TECHNIQUES
The vehicles of today are also created through a series of new and diverse manufacturing techniques. Because high strength steels are often difficult to shape using traditional manufacturing methods, this has led to a rise in hot forming or hot stamping in which sheets of metal are heated and then pressed into a desired shape and then rapidly cooled to increase strength.
Other novel manufacturing techniques include automotive 3D printing, which allows for the forming of parts that are more complex than possible when using molding, and resin transfer molding in which resin materials are pumped at high pressure into molds and then shaped using a pre-inserted fibre form.
RISE OF TECHNOLOGY
According to a report from the United States National Safety Code’s Highway Loss Data Institute which estimates the future of automotive technology, by 2026, approximately 71 percent of registered vehicles could be equipped with some form of advanced technology such as rear cameras, parking sensors, adaptive headlights and lane centering features.
While a decade ago, things like in-vehicle connectivity was primarily limited to infotainment systems, today’s vehicles are increasingly connected, offering integration with smart devices, cloud-based services and Internet of Things (IOT) devices.
Furthermore, the advent of connected car platforms has enabled features like remote vehicle monitoring, diagnostics and over-the-air software updates. The past decade has also witnessed significant advancements in driver assistance systems (ADAS) aimed at enhancing safety, comfort and convenience as in-sensor technologies, artificial intelligence (A.I.) and vehicle-to-vehicle communication systems have continued to develop.
The push for a more environmentally sustainable future also means that while the vehicles of the past were more than okay with guzzling gas, today’s vehicles are increasingly striving for a greener palette, especially in the form of electric vehicles (EVs).
CHALLENGES IN CHANGING MATERIALS AND PROCESSES
However, the road to progress does not come without its challenges and while often paved with good intentions, it’s not without its potential potholes.
COST CONSIDERATIONS
Modern materials—such as carbon fibre composites—are often considerably more expensive than traditional steel. Additionally, modern manufacturing processes often require specialized equipment and expertise that can be costly to acquire, upskill and maintain.
MANUFACTURING COMPLEXITY
Lightweight materials—such as those used in EVs to compensate for the added battery weight—often require specialized manufacturing processes that differ from those used for traditional materials. For instance, aluminum fabrication involves techniques like stamping. Implementing these techniques can add complexity to the production line, leading to logistical challenges and increased lead times.
INTEGRATION CHALLENGES
Joining lightweight materials like aluminum and plastic often poses significant challenges due to differences in material properties and behaviours. For instance, welding aluminum requires expertise in handling heat-sensitive materials to prevent distortion and metallurgical defects.
Due to these challenges, bonding techniques like adhesive bonding and riveting are typically employed for joining dissimilar materials like aluminum and carbon fibre composites. However, achieving this process requires specific surface preparation and compatibility issues.
PERFORMANCE AND DURABILITY CONCERNS:
While lightweight materials can offer advantages in terms of fuel efficiency and performance, ensuring durability and crashworthiness remains a critical concern. Lightweight materials may exhibit different modes compared to traditional materials, necessitating thorough testing and validation to ensure—-as is the goal of any good automotive part—continued compliance with OEM and industry safety standards.
In this way, while the past 10 years have witnessed a remarkable transformation in the automotive industry, more exciting is the ability to continue looking towards the future where the possibilities for innovation and progress continue to be endless, shaping the way we move and interact with vehicles in the years to come.
