Novelis, an aluminum rolling and recycling company based in Atlanta, debuted a new automotive aluminum alloy, Novelis Advanz 7UHS-s701, the company announced on Feb. 17. The company describes this new material as its “strongest automotive aluminum product to date,” according to the release.
Novelis designed this ultra-high-strength material for safety-critical structural applications in passenger vehicles, including A and B pillar reinforcements and side-impact door beams. In addition to consumer vehicles, the material may be useful for commercial and electric vehicles. The alloy is up to 40% lighter than competing high-strength, hot-formed steel, Novelis says, and should help increase payload and battery range, and meet crash, loading, and overall design requirements. “Aluminum is already the material of choice for lightweighting, and now we are offering a solution that helps automakers design even safer, lighter, and better performing vehicles,” says Philippe Meyer, Novelis’ senior vice president and chief technology officer.
For automotive designers and engineers, the alloy is compatible with hot-stamping processes—a technology that allows ultra-high-strength steels to be formed into complex shapes in a single-step pattern. To better facilitate aluminum adoption, Novelis is working with hot stampers and technology partners, including Telos Global, a Tennessee-based company that specializes in high-quality, press-hardened steel and aluminum stampings. “We have been co-developing targeted hot-formed application solutions using Advanz 7UHS-s701 for some time now, delivering greater economic value through increased levels of mass reduction while meeting critical safety requirements,” says Rick Teague, CEO of Telos Global.
The scrap collected from manufacturing Advanz 7UHS-s701 can then be fed to a closed-loop recycling system, where the material will be reformed into the same products from which it was derived. In this way, Novelis hopes the alloy will help increase product value and lower the environmental impact through reduced carbon dioxide emissions and transportation costs.
Novelis’ Customer Solution Center (CSC) network will work with automotive engineers on the best ways to incorporate the material on new development projects. The alloy is now available commercially to the global automotive industry.
ISRI2021, ISRI’s virtual convention, will feature a spotlight session focusing on the aluminum market on Tuesday, April 27, from 12:45-1:45 p.m. EST. Click here to register for ISRI2021.
Image Credit: Steve Jurvetson. This image was unaltered.
