BIW lightweighting through multi-material approach: the new challenge of electrification English Free Members only

Electrification has become a top priority for the automotive industry. The architectural evolution induces structure adaptation; to overcome these changes, a multi material strategy shows numerous benefits.
Steel remains a strong field for innovation, especially with 4th generation hot stamping, allowing cost saving and new design opportunities. The application of aluminum in BIW components, especially in EV products, is  growing through advanced technologies such as stamping, extrusion and high pressure die casting.
Mastering the joining of these different materials is a key lever. Advanced technologies such as laser softening are developed to answer this issue.
Gestamp BIW R&D has developed a G-Lab family of numerical vehicle prototypes in order to propose a catalog of multi-material solutions comparing weight, cost and performances. The best-chosen technology can then be implemented through co-development early in an OEM project.