STRUCTURAL REQUIREMENTS IN MATERIAL SUBDIVISION FOR CAR-WEIGHT REDUCTION

The structural characteristics for particular automotive structural components are systematically related to representative, typical structural design criteria and design constraints for a production vehicle. Based on these relationships, we establish the structural design requirements to be satisfied when a substitute material is used in an automotive structure. A simplified method is developed for evaluating the desirability of directly substituting materials to reduce the weight of automotive structures. This is done by explicitly relating the change in weight to the corresponding changes in structural characteristics, when a specific mild steel structure is "replaced" by one differing only in material and gage. By means of this method, material trade-offs can be directly evaluated by engineers and designers early in the design stage. Examples are given for aluminum and high-strength steel as candidate substitutes for mild steel.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Conference of the Automotive Engineering Congress and Exposition, 23-27 February 1976, Detroit, Michigan.
• Corporate Authors:

  Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)

  400 Commonwealth Drive
  Warrendale, PA  United States  15096
• Authors:
  • Chang, D C
  • Justusson, J W
• Publication Date: 1976

Media Info

• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: 13 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aluminum; Gross vehicle weight; High strength steel; Structural materials; Vehicle components; Vehicle design; Weight
• Old TRIS Terms: Weight control
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00132050
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Highway Safety Research Institute
• Report/Paper Numbers: SAE 760023
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 5 1976 12:00AM