Lightweighting

Lightweighting is a idea used in the car industry to make lighter cars and trucks in order to improve vehicle handling, braking, acceleration, pollution, battery range, and fuel use. Also, since the engine isn't hauling extra weight, lighter cars can tow and move heavier loads.  An issue that helps to make more Air pollution from tire and brake wear is a heavy vehicle.

Aluminum is a common material for lightweighting.  Aluminum's use in cars has gone up in order to follow CAFE rules and make performance better.  Aluminum does not lower strength even though it does not weight much.  Aluminum can take twice as much crash energy as steel and has a body frame that is just as strong.  Aluminum's low bending ability can limit its use for lightweighting in better strength grades. In recent years, new forming methods such as roll forming and hot forming (also known as Hot Form Quench) have been made to fix this issue.

 References 

Category:Automotive technologies
Category:Materials science