Weight reduction is one of the most important challenges for the automotive industry.
This is in order to meet the expected future requirements on emission-reduction from cars. However, lighter cars shall not compromise on either safety or handling characteristics. Damage mechanics, a new approach for predicting plastic deformation and fracture behavior, is showing promising application possibilities for aluminium structures under extreme or accidental loading conditions. In order to ensure the safe and optimized performance of load-carrying components and structures, prediction of such critical events as severe plastic deformation and fracture becomes more and more important. The load-carrying capacity of a welded structure, for example, is often limited by the occurrence of a fracture originating from one or more of the individual welded joints.