Many Car manufacturers are experimenting on the use of aluminum car parts. Some are also extending their research to make it feasible to use aluminum in all other weight-intensive car components. Aluminum Car Parts: Slowly but Surely.

So far, there has been a wide range of car parts made out of aluminum like car engine blocks, car cylinder heads, car manifolds, car wheels, and even car body structures and closures. Car makers are hopeful that soon, car hoods, trunks, and other such heavy parts can also be formed out of aluminum materials. The car body alone accounts for about 25% of the total weight of a vehicle. Using aluminum car parts will significantly reduce the cost and provide huge savings.

According to the Aluminum Association, Inc., the use of aluminum for cars doubled between the years 1991 and 1999. This is expected to double by early 21st century. So far, aluminum has already surpassed plastic use in cars and is now ranking third after iron and steel. Aluminum or plastic?

Average weight of aluminum is estimated to be one-third that of an equivalent volume of steel. There is about 60% weight reduction with the use of aluminum in cars instead of steel and cast iron.

Although there are so many advantages in using aluminum car parts, many engineers in car manufacturing are still yet to be convinced about replacing steel with this metal. They put emphasis on aluminum being difficult to weld and that this metal has a different reaction to stress than steel.

Aluminum auto parts are seeing some use and for sure, as technology advances, there will be more use for aluminum in car manufacturing.

Tags: car parts, Plastic Parts

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 12th, 2009 at 1:44 am and is filed under Auto Parts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.