The specific characteristics of aluminum alloys offer the possibility to design cost-effective lightweight structures with high stiffness and excellent crash energy absorption potential. As a consequence, aluminum is the preferred material to ensure the safety of the vehicle and its occupants fulfilling also related requirements such as pedestrian protection, low repair costs, etc. Applications range from aluminum side impact beams, bumper beams and crash boxes to complete structural modules.
Crashworthy aluminum structures are the result of a total systems approach taking into account the benefits achieved by specifically developed alloy qualities, design concepts and appropriate fabrication methods. Cost-efficient aluminum component production processes include in particular the extrusion technology. Extruded aluminum profiles can be reliably joined by various methods and combined with other aluminum product forms as well as with steel or other materials to form complete structural modules. Because of the low cost of the extrusion tools and the small lead times for tool manufacturing, aluminum crash management solutions are highly flexible and enable fast and simple modifications to adjust for specific crash conditions reducing both development times and costs.
