Aspects for the Optimization of Car Production Regarding Efficiency, Availability and Sustainability

Nowadays, more than in the recent decades, the design process for the body in white for passenger cars is driven by efficiency. This results in the enhanced usage of large-scale cast components made of aluminum, for the battery compartment, the front or rear body and other components. While the automotive industry is striving towards even larger structures made with so-called "Giga-Casting", challenges in the casting and supply chain processes, but also maintenance and repair processes of these large structures, arise. Other tasks to solve might follow from controlling local microstructures, and thus the strength of the parts, when the flow length of the molten metal increases with component size, especially in relation to an increased fraction of recycled aluminum. Within the Fraunhofer-internal project "FutureCarProduction", focus is directed towards understanding what drives efficiency, availability and sustainability of modern processes for the production of a car body. Moreover, the project addresses questions along the complete product chain of a car body, in terms of optimization of casting and joining, and quality assurance processes and seeks to give solutions for the efficiency and quality of different manufacturing processes. In the present paper, an overview of the project scope itself and the recent findings of "FutureCarProduction" are presented with a focus on the influences of higher fractions of secondary/recycled aluminum on the casting process, the occurring microstructure and defect situation in body in white components. This forms the basis for further investigations on the performance of different manufacturing and design opportunities for automotive components.