LIGHTWEIGHTING
Overcoming barriers
to lightweighting
WMG works with
consortium to explore
joining technologies
and develop innovative
lightweight structures in
the automotive industry.
Reducing CO2 emissions
is a core initiative in
the automotive industry
and material light-weighting
is a key technique that can
be implemented to support
this. Original Equipment
Manufacturers (OEMs) in the
automotive industry have set
out an objective to significantly
reduce the weight of vehicle
structures, and composite
materials are central to this
process of weight reduction.
Despite recent material
processing advances, uptake
of composites in the medium
to high volume automotive
manufacturing sector has been
restricted by the challenge of
joining composites to metals in
a body-shop environment.
A consortium of partners
including Far-UK, Gestamp,
Ansys Granta, Jaguar
Land Rover, Nissan Motor
Manufacturing (UK) Ltd.,
Scott Bader, Stadco, TWI and
WMG at the University of
Warwick launched the Innovate
UK-funded LightJoin project
in April 2017. Focusing on
overcoming this challenge of
joining composites to metals,
the consortium explored
joining techniques to enable
multiple materials to be used in
a ‘Body-in White’ structure; the
main structure that sits under
the surfaces of a vehicle.
To help increase the uptake
of lightweight composites
in medium to high-volume
automotive manufacturing
and help the consortium
determine suitable material
and joining combinations,
WMG introduced information
technology expert Ansys
Granta to the project with the
idea of creating an innovative
collaborative database to
help inform the joining of
materials – What is claimed as
a “world first decision support
tool” guiding engineers when
making choices about joining
materials. Darren Hughes,
Associate Professor in Materials
and Manufacturing at WMG
comments: “Having the WMG
centre of excellence for high
volume joining involved in this
project allowed the upskilling
of our staff and encouraged
knowledge transfer directly
into our undergraduate and
postgraduate programmes.”
Donna Dykeman,
Programme Manager at Ansys
Granta added: “An important
aspect of the LightJoin
project was that the supply
chain for polymer composites
in the automotive sector
was represented (material
producers, design/testing/
simulation experts, Tier 1
suppliers, OEMs).”
As part of providing
technical advice and
evaluating joining technologies
under rigorously controlled
conditions, WMG conducted
a detailed analysis of joining
techniques using in excess
of 1,000 individual test
samples and explored joint
performance, durability, lifecycle
and ease of manufacture.
This generated test results that
would populate the majority
of the LightJoin database,
helping identify the most viable
lightweight composite joining
options for large industrial
scale production.
Culminating in June 2019,
the project compared and
tested joining technologies
including adhesives, selfpiercing
rivets and blind rivets.
The LightJoin database and
joining selection tool provides
a robust source of data for use
in the medium/high-volume
automotive manufacturing
supply chain.
WMG
https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/
sci/wmg/
0121 222 3333
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