ARCH (Aluminium Reduced Cost Hybrid Parts)

"ARCH -- **A**luminium **R**educed **C**ost **H**ybrid Parts

The continued drive within the automotive sector to support fuel efficiency regulations with value-added lightweighting has put UK manufacturers under pressure from globalisation to minimise manufacturing costs. This can be met, in part, by the integration of higher specific strength materials but the accepted paradigms of material selection and manufacturing processes need to be challenged.

The ARCH project seeks to develop a novel fabricated-hybrid-chassis structure to replace the state-of-the-art steel chassis structures currently used extensively for the automobile industry. Driven by the concept of ""right materials in the right places"", a mixture of aluminium extruded and cast node parts are incorporated into the design of the fabricated-chassis-hybrid structure to deliver weight savings of over 30% when compared with the equivalent conventional steel systems.

Within the automotive industry, accurate predictive performance analysis using CAE tools is key to eliminating potential failure without the need for multiple testing loops and correlation. As the industry is moving away from producing prototype parts prior to serial production, the predictive design capabilities will be developed within the project, enabling the formulation of reliable digital design tools to accurately predict the performance, durability and failure of fabricated-chassis-hybrid alloy structures in chassis applications

Another critical part of the project is the development of a reliable, robust and cost effective manufacturing process since rapid, repeatable and productive processes are key to accelerating the use of high strength fabricated-chassis-hybrid alloy structures for mass production vehicles.

A candidate for the technology will be developed in multiple design iterations, then optimised and demonstrated with the production of full-size chassis components and the performance of the demonstrator systems will be evaluated against relevant benchmarks. Physical test data will enable the validation of the newly formulated predictive design tools."