On August 10th, 2022, the 2021-2022 (15th) international automotive lightweight conference & exhibition was held in Yangzhou. During the conference, Voyah, GONVVAMA and VAMA jointly held a new product release conference, on which the latest result of joint development, hot stamping laser welded H-frame was released, which is a breakthrough solution for the integration of lower car-body featuring cost-effective, safe, green and easy-to-implement. New concept was brought for the development of lower car-body.
Following the "electric", "lightweight", "intelligent", "high-end" and "popular" trend of automobile, automobile manufacturing industry is ushering in a new round of scientific and technological change and industrial restructuring. As the most important structural part of automobile, the body in white has always attracted high attention from OEMs and consumers. To meet the requirements of overall weight reduction and carbon footprint reduction of BIW structure, large-sizing and integration of BIW components have become the trend of development for OEMs.
A new green steel solution is developed by ArcelorMittal to adapt to this trend, that is the Multi Part Integration (MPI). MPI is an integration of several, separate steel solutions into one steel solution which means creating integrated parts with pressed hardened steel (PHS), hot stamping laser welded technology and patches (if required). The typical cases are hot stamping laser welded H-frame.
In 2022, Voyah, GONVVAMA, VAMA and ArcelorMittal EVI team join hands in the research of hot stamping laser welded H-frame, which is of strategic significance to the development of enterprises.
Voyah hot stamping laser welded H-frame turn more than 10 parts into one. With advanced nesting, material utilization is increased by 24%, and the weight of part is reduced by 3.5kg. The weight is only 84% of the original weight.
The Ductibor® used by rear part of the rear rail can absorb more energy while Usibor® 2000 which has higher strength is used for the front part of rear rail can resist intrusion as far as possible.
Comparing with the Giga-casting which is very popular in recent years, laser welded H-frame is cost effective and environmental-friendly. Adopting hot stamping laser welded H-frame, the current supply chain for hot stamping does not need any change. New equipment does not need to be added for every link of the supply chain. Due to the compatibility of H-frame, the same set of forming tooling can be used for the models of different axle distance, which saves big cost for OEMs.
As per figure from World Steel Association, the carbon dioxide discharged during the production of every ton of crude steel is 1.81 ton, while it is 16.1 ton during the production of every ton of primary aluminum as per figure from international aluminum association. Therefore, hot stamping laser welded H-frame is more environmental-friendly.
The materials for this research and prototype were from VAMA. Nesting, blanking, laser welding and etc. were done by GONVVAMA.
As the emerging car maker of China, Voyah is committed to be the leader of China high-end electric vehicle with the innovative business model which is created based on the concept of putting user first.
The successful development of hot stamping laser welded H-frame with the tier one steel maker, ArcerlorMittal, VAMA and the downstream solution provider GONVVAMA, has made the vehicles safer. Together with world leading partner, Voyah will bring the latest technology, proven safe car-body and perfect driving experience to every customer.
