Over the past ten years there has been more change in vehicle structure technologies than ever seen before. The growing range of aluminium-intensive vehicles, the use of magnesium alloys, developments in advanced high-strength steel, and the expanded use of carbon fibre and other composites are significant factors in how today’s vehicles are designed and built. In the past, the design focus has been on either a ‘steel’ or an ‘aluminium- intensive’ vehicle – this is likely to change, significantly, over the next several years. Formerly, material manufacturers have competed for applications in future vehicle – but now, even the most fervent supporters of individual materials would concede that the future could lie in multi-material vehicles, a concept that is steadily attracting wider appeal.
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