InCar - Advanced High Strength Steel Tailored Tube Longitudinal Members 2011-01-1061

The ThyssenKrupp InCar Project is a comprehensive R&D development that gives automotive manufacturers modular solution kits for body, chassis, and powertrain applications. The solution kits developed within this project offer weight reduction, cost savings, or improved functionality. This paper will focus on the front longitudinal members of the body structure. The front longitudinal member is a key safety component responsible for absorbing energy in a frontal crash event. It must also have high local strength, stiffness, and fatigue resistance at the suspension attachment points. Within the InCar project, several different solutions for the front longitudinal members were developed, including stamped AHSS concepts, stamped AHSS tailored blank concepts, and tailored tube concepts using an innovative forming technology for closed section designs, called InForm T³ (Thyssen Tailored Tubes). The tailored tube longitudinal member concepts offered the highest weight and cost savings, which was 27% and 13%, respectively. This paper will provide a detailed description of everything relating to the development of the closed section longitudinal members, including manufacturing and assembly processes, structural and crash performance, materials, and cost estimation.