This Alcoa 45mm aluminum wheel for offset trailers is 37 percent lighter than a steel equivalent and has a maximum load per wheel of 5,000kg. (Source: Alcoa)
Ann, thanks for the clarification. So far I didn’t think in that angle, so what I understood is as an effort to minimize the engine load, companies are planning to replace the heavy weight metallic parts with mild weight materials and in continuation to that effort they are using Aluminum wheels instead of steel, am I right.
Thanks, fatherreilly, for that info. Do you happen to know the answer to an earlier question I raised: are OEM steel wheels treated with longer-lasting anti-corrosion coatings?
There is an aluminum hardcoat surface treatment called Akadizing from Lovatt Processes that would resolve many issues I've seen mentioned in various posts. An aluminum part has successfully replaced a steel drive shaft seal assembly for an Indy car by outperforming the steel unit in crash testing. It also has incredible hardness (9.2 - 9.7 on the Mohs scale) and corrosion resistance. They offer to do test parts for interested parties so testing can be done to verify the benefits and have many test reports available.
Yes, I'm affiliated with the company and am trying to spread the word on this incredible metal treatment that has been available for 40 years, but not heavily marketed. Akadized parts are on the space shuttles, stealth aircraft, motorcycle clutches,and numerous other challenging applications. Their web site is www.lovattprocesses.com.
Mydesign, the aluminum wheels are part of lightweighting efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Lighter weight vehicles use less fuel per mile, thus reducing carbon emissions produced per vehicle, per given time period. This is in response to US and European regulations for both consumer and commercial vehicles. Her are a couple of DN articles on US efforts: http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1366&doc_id=249877 http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1392&doc_id=250828
Ann, how the wheels are relating to carbon emissions? Irrespective of wheel type (Steel or Aluminum), majority of carbon emissions are coming from Engine and type of fuels, am I right. In my previous comment I had raised another concern about weight bearing capacity per cubic cm.
My last vehicle with steel wheels was a 1985 Dodge van that I finally donated in 2003. The one time that I had to replace a damaged tire I did not see any rust or corrosion on the wheel except for the lug-bolt holes, which the paint came off when the nuts were torqued down. And I never had any rim leaks on those wheels, even after all of those years.The paint finish still was a good protector. And it probably was cheaper than whatever the aluminum wheels get.
Although there is undoubtedly some sort of anti-corrosion treatment applied to most OEM wheels, "the proof is in the performance." It certainly seems that the treatment is intended to last long enough for the car to be sold, and probably for th first year after that. But the person who gets the year-old trade-in is the one afflicted with the leaks. Of course, one other cause factor is the balance weights that are always installed, with the sharp-edged steel anchor tabs that will cut through any protective coating. Perhaps we need a new method of attaching balance weights to replace a system that came into use in the 1950's? Most other automotive technology has advanced a bit since then, after all.
William, here's a link to the corrosion inhibitor blog we just posted: http://www.designnews.com/document.asp?doc_id=252049 There's already a lively discussion going about corrosion and aluminum wheel coatings.
New versions of BASF's Ecovio line are both compostable and designed for either injection molding or thermoforming. These combinations are becoming more common for the single-use bioplastics used in food service and food packaging applications, but are still not widely available.
The 100-percent solar-powered Solar Impulse plane flies on a piloted, cross-country flight this summer over the US as a prelude to the longer, round-the-world flight by its successor aircraft planned for 2015.
GE Aviation expects to chop off about 25 percent of the total 3D printing time of metallic production components for its LEAP Turbofan engine, using in-process inspection. That's pretty amazing, considering how slow additive manufacturing (AM) build times usually are.
A $1,500, hand-operated, bench-model, plastic injection machine crowdsource-funded via Kickstarter can be used to mold small, quality, plastic parts inexpensively, on demand.
The federal government is launching competitions to kickstart three more manufacturing innovation institutes, including one focused on Lightweight and Modern Metals Manufacturing Innovation.
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For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
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