On materials for lean weight vehicles

摘要

There is a pressing need to reduce vehicle weight to lower fuel consumption, yet safety and environment laws and customer demands for increased comfort and convenience all push it up again. Dick Mann reports on the designs and uses of lighter materials that can square this circle. Traditionally, carbon steel sheet has been used for bodywork. It is cheap, easy to repair, bends and twists without cracks and absorbs crash energy, protecting driver and passengers. Its disadvantage is its weight, hence the interest in high-strength steels, which save nearly a quarter of the weight of carbon steels by using lighter gauges.