Manufacturer of automotive parts, ThyssenKrupp Tailored Blanks has signed a cooperation deal with the Novelis for developing designed aluminum blanks.
The aluminum blanks will be used by the car makers to join the aluminum sheets of different grades, thicknesses and coatings to make body parts including the doors and hoods, as well as the structural components including cross members and longitudinal members.
ThyssenKrupp Tailored Blanks CEO Rudolf Helldobler said, "The product range of tailored aluminum blanks connects for the first time the extensive potential for lightweight of aluminum with the engineering service of tailoring the body and chassis design on a mass scale."
Novelis Global Automotive vice president Roland Harings said, "Tailored aluminum blanks extend the growing possibilities for advanced and economical lightweight solutions in vehicles."
Materials used in tailored aluminum blanks allow the removal of reinforcements and overlapping joints, which saves material, reduces total weight and cutting cost.
The process efficiency and the decreased vehicle weight will reduce CO2 emissions and enhance fuel economy for automobile manufacturers, while the aluminum blanks can also improve crash performance with the use of high-strength aluminum alloys.
