Title: Recent developments in aluminium sheet manufacture for car body panels

Authors: C. Decaillet, P. Millet, E. Saur

Addresses: Swiss Aluminium Ltd., Switzerland. ' Swiss Aluminium Ltd., Switzerland. ' Swiss Aluminium Ltd., Switzerland

Abstract: The formability of the aluminium used in automobile bodies is due not only to the chemical composition, but also to the sheet stock fabrication process. The Valais works of Alusuisse have developed a manufacturing process for Anticorodal-120^® sheets (an age-hardening alloy type AlSi1.2Mg0.4 patented by Alusuisse). This paper describes the influence of the various process steps on the main formability parameters, such as uniform elongation, strain hardening and the ratio UTS/yield. The very slow natural ageing of Anticorodal-120^®, which is a great advantage for the customer, is also presented. Thanks to optimization of composition and processing, Anticorodal-120^® has been chosen by several major automobile manufacturers for new models and especially for difficult parts.

Keywords: Anticorodal-120; precipitation hardening alloys; strain hardening; strain rate sensitivity; aluminium sheet manufacturing; car body panels; formability; vehicle design.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVD.1990.061571

International Journal of Vehicle Design, 1990 Vol.11 No.3, pp.234 - 245

Published online: 26 May 2014 *

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