Automotive Component Manufacturing Research Articles

The use of tailored blanks in the manufacture of construction components

A tailor-welded blank consists of steels of different gauges, strengths and coating types welded together to produce a single blank prior to forming. From its basic inception in the mid 1980s to its present status, the tailor-welded blank process has become an important element of automotive component manufacture, progressing from a simple two-piece floor pan application in the Audi 80 to intricate multi-section side panels in modern motor car assemblies. This evolution was assisted to a great extent through research and development undertaken in the collaborative steel and automotive industry project ULSAB (ultra light steel auto body) to produce weight reduction and increased performance in automotive components. This and other developments have resulted in the technology being adopted by a wide range of car manufacturers worldwide. Despite this progress during the 1990s being concentrated in the automotive sector, the advantages offered could be transferred to a number of manufacturing sectors which use sheet steel in production. The building sector is one such group that could benefit from the advanced blanking process. Focused corrosion resistance, increased resistance to concentrated loading and reduced component weight are a few examples of the potential benefits to be gained from the multi-material blanking process. However, a number of manufacturing difficulties need to be overcome to allow the process to be transferred to building applications. The increase in component size from automotive to construction products presents a number of manufacturing obstacles with extended weld length, accurate section cutting and stable clamping requiring review. The surface finish, issues of cost control and blanking distribution will also need to be addressed. Current research into this manufacturing technology for building applications is centred on the use of tailor-welded blanks in a structural panel with strengthened edge details for use in pre-fabricated buildings. This paper address the manufacturing issues outlined above and helps gauge the feasibility of transferring the manufacturing advances achieved by the automotive industry in the 1990s into the present-day construction market.

In Brief

To compete in a growing marketplace, automotive aftermarket component manufacturers need top-quality, competitively priced seals and sealing systems. They also need access to design assistance and fast, reliable delivery. Parker Hannifin's Seal Group, a leading supplier of O-rings and moulded shapes for more than 30 years, delivers all of these and more. The Irvine, California-based Parker Hannifin Seal Group is well known in the fluid sealing marketplace for its comprehensive range of sealing solutions. Just recently the company has published two new information sources which promise to simplify the selection of seals for automotive, heavy truck and mobile equipment applications.

Engineered sealing solutions for automotive aftermarket applications

To compete in a growing marketplace, automotive aftermarket component manufacturers need top-quality, competitively priced seals and sealing systems. They also need access to design assistance and fast, reliable delivery. Parker Hannifin's Seal Group, a leading supplier of O-rings and moulded shapes for more than 30 years, delivers all of these and more. The Irvine, California-based Parker Hannifin Seal Group is well known in the fluid sealing marketplace for its comprehensive range of sealing solutions. Just recently the company has published two new information sources which promise to simplify the selection of seals for automotive, heavy truck and mobile equipment applications.

Practical Applications of Ergonomic Principles in Automotive Component Manufacturing

Practical Applications of Ergonomic Principles in Automotive Component Manufacturing

Waves, beaches, breakwaters and rip currents – A three‐dimensional view of supply chain dynamics

Describes a two‐ and, later, a three‐dimensional view of supply chain dynamics within a theoretical framework derived from research carried out in the UK automotive industry. However, the authors believe that the models developed have a far wider applicability than this narrow sectoral and geographic focus. The research has been developed within two research programmes. The first programme, called “LEAP” (lean processing programme), involves Corus (formerly British Steel Strip Products), two steel service centres and six major UK‐based automotive component manufacturers, all linked within a common supply chain. The second programme, called “3DayCar”, involves 20 European industrial sponsors including six automotive manufacturers. Both programmes are supported by the UK Government Innovative Manufacturing Initiative (IMI). Conclusions based on the waves analogy will be applied to a real‐life setting in order to suggest appropriate business strategies to achieving a lean value stream.

STATISTICAL OPTIMISATION OF THERMOPLASTIC INJECTION MOULDING PROCESS FOR THE ENCAPSULATION OF ELECTRONIC SUBASSEMBLY

This paper reports work from a major UK research project which seeks to develop a cost effective integrated production technology for the manufacture of plastic automotive components with embedded electronics and power distribution. The said electronics sub-systems are simultaneously packaged within the automotive structural thermoplastic (TP) component during the injection moulding process. Such innovative process and product integration represents an opportunity to significantly reduce component counts and wiring loom overhead for the vehicle. The assembly, weight and cost advantages envisaged from the proposed technology will satisfy the ever-increasing demand for automotive suppliers to manufacture complete, ready-to-assemble, reconfigurable component modules with superior reliability and as such may contribute to the increased incorporation of vehicle telematics.The paper addresses the technological and economic implications of the proposed overmoulding technology, presenting particular aspects of technological hurdles such as thermal, electrical and process requirements in the production of highly integrated polymer encapsulated electronics products. This paper highlights the findings derived from experiments undertaken to explore critical factors in the manufacture of such encapsulated electronics sub-systems, including such variables as electronics interconnection, materials selection and interactions and moulding process parameters.

Recent DTI report covers investment in Britain by Japanese automotive component manufacturers

Recent DTI report covers investment in Britain by Japanese automotive component manufacturers

A Tidal Wave for Change

The focus of this paper concerns change in the automotive supply chain,1 industry responses, and policy and strategic implications. Automotive components suppliers are buffeted by global trends and forces, including rising quality standards, environmental issues, and product and process innovation. Although the higher ranks of the supply chain adapt to change continuously, new technologies on the horizon threaten to make many automotive components manufacturers obsolete within some three to ten years. The West Midlands region is particularly vulnerable given its high concentration of automotive suppliers. The potential for related diversification is limited and investment is needed in new manufacturing activities (rather than assembly or sales/distribution) related to environmental, alternative power and electronic technologies. This will position the UK's automotive supply base at the forefront of technological advance against strong and aggressive global players notably from the US, Germany and the Far East. Both the private and public sectors have a strategic and supporting role to play in ensuring that opportunities are maximised. The West Midlands case study has a broader currency for initiatives targeting diversification both in vehicles production and in other manufacturing sectors. Its significance is heightened by the increasing tendency for other sectors—such as food and drink production, and domestic appliances—to adopt automotive practices.

Methodology for service life increase of hot forging tools

Hot forging is widely used in the manufacturing of automotive components. The high production rate induces severe thermomechanical stresses in the tools. The lifetime of dies is commonly driven either by wear or thermal cracking. This paper describes the methodology that has been applied to gain understanding of the thermomechanical stress field in a cemented carbide punch used for the manufacture of airbag container type parts. The stresses are the result of a combination of purely mechanical stresses due to the forging process , and thermomechanical stresses induced by the thermal cycling of the punch surface during successive hot forging and waiting periods. Simulation results have been validated as a result of experimental investigations. The results show that in the critical area subjected to thermal cracking, the thermomechanical stress contribution is as high as 75% of the total stress field. As a consequence, it has been determined that an increased tool life could be expected by a global modification of the nominal hot-forging process parameters, i.e. by the modification of billet temperature and forging rate.

Critical Issues in the Industrial Application of SPF-Process Modeling and Design Practices

With the continued use of superplastic forming (SPF) process in the manufacture of various aerospace and automotive components, there is an imminent need to accurately predict the process parameters for complex 3-D configurations. New SPF products are finding their way into architectural, rail, heavy industry, biomedical, sports and textile sectors apart from the traditional aero- and auto-industries. High fidelity process models in combination with other concurrent design tools (CAD, stress analysis, cost analysis) should be able to provide the platform necessary for the wider use of superplastic (SP) products across a range of industries. The objective of this paper is to first introduce the various industrial applications of SPF products and the design bottlenecks hindering their wider use. Practical considerations in the development of appropriate material constitutive models for superplastic materials and their relevance to numerical simulations are then discussed. Three different models including a micromechanics based model are used to describe the constitutive behavior of a a selected SP material (Aluminum 5083). The performance of the models are then compared with respect to experimental results. The effect of the actual material parameters on the simulated results, and hence the design are outlined. Some of the commercial and other finite element codes used in SPF process modeling are enumerated, and the features of each of the codes with respect to the type of elements, contact/friction algorithms, and pressure-prediction schemes are compared. In closing, other practical considerations in the manufacture of SPF products, e.g., die materials, optimal SPF/DB design, alpha-casing, product thickness control are also discussed.

The effects of strain rate and hardness on the material constants of nitrile rubbers

Design optimisation and greatly reduced development times have resulted from the implementation of finite element analysis in automotive component manufacture. Rubber component design has remained an exception to this trend due to poor material models inadequately representing hyperelastic and viscoelastic behaviour. However, with a clear understanding of working environment and an appropriate choice of material constants we have the ability to sensibly predict elastomeric deformation and thus make well designed rubber products economically. This paper compares the results from plane strain indentation tests on hydrogenated acrylonitrile butadiene rubbers (HNBRs) of different hardness with finite element analyses employing a variety of material models having material constants derived from tests conducted over a range of feed rates. The influence of indentor surface finish, lubrication, stress relaxation and adhesion between indentor and rubber has also been examined and these results await publication. The plane strain test-pieces were deformed by indentors having half-cylinder edge profiles allowing their finite element representation as rigid continua. Video microscopy was used to observe both the indentation and stress relaxation phase of each test. Because there were combinations of surface finishes, feed rates and hardness, mechanical conditioning (scragging) of the test-pieces was not feasible. However, the standard tests employed to provide data for finding material constants used unconditioned samples, so comparisons are valid. Regression analysis to determine material models from standard tests, improved finite element analysis and an evaluation of competing strain energy density functions are discussed. However, the principal focus of this text is an evaluation of the choice of material constants when nitrile rubbers and metal surfaces are brought into contact. It is shown that, despite the variation in material constants with different feed rates and the competing claims of alternative strain energy functions, design engineers can define material models that allow confidence in hyperelastic finite element analysis.

Expert systems adoption. An analytical study of managerial issues and concerns

The experience of introducing expert systems technology into six automotive component manufacturing organizations in the mid-western United States is described. The domain of expert system application as well as the procedural and organizational hurdles that were encountered are also documented. An overview of relevant literature shows the shortage of studies of this kind. A synthesis is provided of the study observations and implications for better management of expert systems adoption in manufacturing.

Factors Affecting Worker Exposures to Metal-Working Fluids During Automotive Component Manufacturing

Abstract A two-stage personal impactor was used to collect fullshift exposure measurements of metal-working fluid exposures from workers in three automotive component manufacturing facilities. The 403 workers exposed to metal-working fluid in machining and grinding operations had an average total particulate exposure of 706 μg/m3 (standard error = 21 μg/m3). For a subset of 309 workers, information on factors that might influence the exposure level was also collected. This information included the metal-working fluid type, the machine type, the presence of local exhaust, the degree of machine enclosure, the age of the machine, the distance of the worker from the machine, and the indoor and outdoor temperature and humidity. Statistical analysis was used to investigate which factors contribute most significantly to the variability in exposures to large (> 9.8 μm aerodynamic diameter) and small (<3.5 μm) particles. For large particles, the factors of greatest importance in a stepwise analysis of covariance (...

The Application of Failure Mode and Effects Analysis at an Automotive Components Manufacturer

Research carried out to develop and advance the application of design and process failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) at Garrett Automotive Ltd, Skelmersdale, is described. The work has been undertaken under the umbrella of the UMIST Total Quality Management Multi‐company Teaching Programme. From an analysis of the present methods of preparing and using FMEAs, procedural changes have been made which have resulted in more effective use of the technique. The findings include the reluctance of product engineering and manufacturing engineering personnel to take a leading role in the preparation of design and process FMEAs, respectively. The main reasons for this relate to a perceived lack of time or lack of understanding of the technique′s potential. It is also pointed out that, in the past, FMEAs have mainly been used to satisfy the demands of major customers and it takes some considerable effort to ensure that FMEAs are prepared and used in the correct manner.

Radlite: powder to parts manufacture of automotive components

A fundamental modification to the papermaking process allows the production of a thermoplastic sheet, reinforced with long, discrete fibres having quite remarkable dispersion. It is available in a multitude of polymers and fibres. The material, supplied in reel form or as rigid sheets, is easily heated and moulded, retaining characteristic uniform reinforcement throughout the finished article. The whole process can be highly automated and is ideally suited to the mass production of thermoplastic composites.

The customer/supplier relationship—the Nissan way

The methods employed by Nissan's (UK) plant for developing a relationship with automotive component manufacturers are discussed.

Integrated CADCAM and Automotive Die and Mould Manufacture

Many automotive components are produced in very large quantities using manufacturing processes such as casting, moulding and forging. These processes require tooling which usually has geometrical complexities such as doubly curved surfaces, fillet curves, split lines and draft angles. Traditionally the component design is conveyed to the toolmaker for manufacture of the tooling, using conventional engineering drawings. The paper shows how tooling and component problems can arise due to the inability of conventional two-dimensional engineering drawings to unambiguously define complex three-dimensional shapes. Modern fully integrated computer aided design and computer aided manufacturing (CADCAM) systems may be used to overcome these problems. This is achieved by producing numerically controlled machining information to manufacture the tooling directly from the computer generated component design, thus eliminating the ambiguities associated with conventional engineering drawings. The use of a fully integrated CADCAM system for the design and manufacture of automotive components and tooling is described, and the technical and economic advantages gained from its use are detailed.