| Abstract Scope |
Improving vehicle fuel economy is an ever-present motivation for lightweighting in the automotive industry. Though great progress has been made by optimization and expanded utilization of aluminum alloys and high-strength steel alloys, further improvements are possible by increased use of magnesium alloys. Though these alloys have made headway as cast parts, the usage of sheet alloys has been greatly hampered by difficulties in producing components that satisfy the target mechanical and corrosion properties at acceptable cost. This talk will present the various ICME-based methodologies used in the U.S. Department of Energy project “USAMP Low-Cost Mg Sheet Component Development and Demonstration.” Several teams at universities and national labs have participated in alloy design and rolling optimization, investigated physical mechanisms affecting formability, and developed enhanced material models that have enabled formability simulations of large automotive panels from Mg alloy sheet. The work encompasses atomistic, microstructure, and continuum scales of model development. The results, as well as challenges and possible gaps, will be discussed. |