Grant: Automotive Partnership Canada Project

This Automotive Partnership Canada project will establish a Canadian research capacity for fabrication andperformance testing of light-weight multi-material automotive structures. The research to be conducted will address thecomplex interactions between component manufacturing, joining, corrosion, durability and crashworthiness within thecontext of a magnesium-intensive multi-material light-weight structure. Component-level manufacturing processtechnologies to be addressed include super vacuum die casting and non-isothermal warm sheet forming. Resistancespot welding and adhesive-only joints will be developed and evaluated to join magnesium to aluminum and othermagnesium components. These joining methods will be compared to the rivet/adhesive bonding process, the industrystandard, to identify potential lower-cost joining solutions. The individual components and joining processes will beused to fabricate a multi material light-weight demonstrator structure to be utilized as a test bed to examine keyelements of structural performance, namely corrosion resistance, durability and impact crashworthiness therebyenabling a holistic study of the inter-relationship between manufacturing and in-service performance. The APC proposalalso will see development of key corrosion fatigue and structural crashworthiness testing infrastructure reqUired toevaluate the corrosion protection and joining technologies associated with a multi-material structure. Advancednumerical models of manufacturing and in-service performance will be developed to enable efficient computer-aidedengineering in support offuture vehicle development. A strong team comprising researchers from the University ofWaterloo, McMaster University, the University of Western Ontario, and CANMET, will be led by Canada's major Tier 1automotive manufacturer, Magna-Cosma, along with Huys, Meridian and 3M. This APC project vfill also supportCanadian participation in a major international collaborative program, involving Canada, the Unite,j States and China,known as MFERD (Magnesium Front End Research and Development) which is funded by the United StatesAutomotive Materials Partnership. This APC project will serve to establish a sustainable researcher cluster that willdirectly position the Canadian automotive sector to manufacture competitive, next generation light-weight structures.