Posted on 02 Feb 2016
Aluminium, steel vie for automobile pie
Steel and aluminium are engaged in an
increasingly fierce competition to protect and raise their application
in the transport sector, which is growing at the fastest rate in the
manufacturing sector. Globally, 28 per cent of primary aluminium
production of 58 million tonnes (mt) is used by the transport sector,
including manufacture of automobiles and passenger and fighter aircraft.
Similarly, the automobile industry has traditionally accounted for a
good portion of flat steel consumption. Some varieties of long steel
products such as bright bar and special bar also find wide application
in auto components making.
Leading constituents of aluminium and steel industries continue to
invest heavily in research and development (R&D), both independently
and jointly with automobile groups for weight reduction in the case of
steel and new alloys development for aluminium. ArcelorMittal chairman
Lakshmi Mittal claims steel can provide all the weight reduction that
automakers must achieve to conform to increasingly stringent fuel
efficiency norms. For steel, the essential requirements are to offer a
25 per cent reduction in the weight of body-in-white of automobiles.
Mittal claims "steel can already do this" in a more cost-effective and
environment-friendly manner than any other material.
The world steel industry has the burden of low capacity use of about 65
per cent, thanks mainly to the reported 300 mt surplus capacity in
China. Therefore, compulsion to protect every segment of the market is
so critical that the steel industry must remain in pursuit of offering
innovative high-strength, low weight metal to facilitate making of auto
components that will be lighter and thinner. The lighter a car is, the
lower will be its fuel consumption and carbon emissions. It is precisely
on weight consideration and government glare on pollution that
automobile makers in the US have continued to step up the use of
aluminium every year over four decades. According to a survey of North
American automakers by Ducker Worldwide, aluminium's share of the
average automotive materials mix is likely to double to 16 per cent by
2025. The share of silvery white metal in auto application may, however,
well exceed the projection if the success of Ford Motor in turning one
of its best selling models in America F-150 pickups into an
all-aluminium body encourages others to follow suit.
Seeing steel's success in achieving weight reduction and strength
improvement going hand-in-hand, aluminium industry leader Alcoa of the
US is perfecting a new way of sheet-making for the automobile industry.
The company has discovered money is to be made by developing new alloys
and not in commodity aluminium; so, it is investing heavily in new
plants based on R&D results. Its newest alloy 'Micromill,' which
allows "easy and quick intricate formability" is replacing steel
components in F-150 pickups. Alcoa is readying a system that will allow
casting of molten aluminium on to a conveyor belt for flattening into
coils for use by the auto industry. The system dispenses with one major
step in traditional production process of first turning raw materials
into slabs before rolling. As a result, metal producers will have
greater control of alloy chemistry besides significant energy and water
saving. Hindalco-owned Novelis, the world leader in aluminium rolling
and recycling, commissioned a breakthrough automotive heat treatment
line in Germany's Nachterstedt in November following its automotive
related major expansions in North America and Asia. The company claims
"Novelis remains the only manufacturer of automotive aluminium sheet in
the three major auto-producing regions in the world."
Whether it is a steelmaker or an aluminium producer, the big investment
consideration is identical - offer the automobile industry an improved
version of the metal that is to lower vehicle emissions. In most of
their pursuits to make better alloys, aluminium groups have got
automakers as partners. Novelis works with Britain's largest auto group,
Jaguar Land Rover, and Alcoa is in partnership with Ford to make
next-generation automotive aluminium alloys, which are design friendly
and have greater degrees of formability. New alloys to be rolled out by
Alcoa are supposed to be "30 per cent stronger and 40 per cent more
formable' than mass produced aluminium. The use of new auto steel or
aluminium alloys will raise the cost of vehicles. But, over the lifetime
of vehicles, users will save on fuel cost and that will more than
compensate for higher acquisition price in the first place. Now
competition for both steel and aluminium is slowly but surely emerging
from new material carbon-fibre composites.
