Grants and Contributions:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year. (2017-2018 to 2022-2023)

Canada's automotive industry is the strongest manufacturing subsector in the country, and is responsible for 12% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the goods-producing sector. While manufacturing with traditional metals (i.e., steels) is a well-established field, the automotive industry is facing major challenges associated with the design and development of fuel-efficient vehicles for reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). Light metals, such as aluminum and magnesium alloys, are of considerable interest to automobile manufacturers, but their relatively low formability compared to carbon steels presents a significant challenge. While their limited formability prevents them from being used in certain structural parts, advanced alloying and elevated temperature forming processes enable them to be used for outer body applications. The proposed research will combine the latest advancements in the fields of micromechanics, finite element methods, multi-scale modelling, and super computing, towards the ultimate goal of producing aluminum and magnesium alloys with enhanced ductility, that can be used to increase the amount of light metals employed in a vehicle. The constitutive modelling aspects of the proposed research project will mainly focus on developing mechanism driven numerical models at elevated temperatures for Age Hardened Aluminum Alloys (AHAA) and Rare Earth Added Magnesium Alloys (RMg) as well as a micromechanics based formulation for fracture in AHAA. Computational intelligence and finite element analyses will be the main thrust of the proposed research in terms of advanced numerical modelling. Outcomes of the proposed research program will serve as a guide for both material scientists and engineers in the automotive industry by clearly demonstrate the microstructural and mechanical properties necessary in aluminum and magnesium alloys to achieve improved formability.
The outcome of this research will have a significant impact on the automotive industry, which will translate into substantial benefits for Canada, and specifically Ontario; the economies of which depend in large part on a strong automotive sector. Additionally, the impact of lightweight materials on increased fuel efficiency will benefit consumers and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The potential for innovation is high with new approaches to optimizing performance of lightweight materials in vehicle applications through alloying and advanced manufacturing (i.e., elevated temperatures and strain rates) processes.