Because of aluminum’s intrinsic characteristics and properties, both the passenger and commercial vehicle industries extensively utilize this metal. Why? Above all, aluminum is a lightweight material. When used in automobiles, it can significantly enhance performance and improve fuel economy. Not only that, but aluminum is strong. It is because of the strength-to-weight ratio that aluminum is so valuable in the transportation industry
With the increasing demand for energy saving and consumption reduction in the society, the lightweight of automobiles is the development direction of the current automotive industry.
For the use of aluminum metal in the automobile manufacturing industry, it is currently mainly used in four aspects: car body, wheel hub, engine and air conditioning in the car.
The core technologies for aluminum automotive body sheet panels production are continuous annealing heat treatment and surface treatment, heating furnaces, hot rolling mills, coilers, cold rolling mills and air-cushion continuous heat treatment furnaces. Modern hot-rolling mills typically consist of a reversing bloomer and a high-speed finishing train followed by a single-stand reversible mill. The smelting, hot rolling and cold rolling processes are not significantly different from the conventional aluminum plate production process, so there are no special requirements for the corresponding equipment.
While aluminium has been able to largely conquer the drive train and heat exchanger areas of vehicle build, the chassis, body and general equipment and fittings must be regarded as areas for further potential development in lightweight construction using aluminium
