November_December_2021_AMP_Digital

A D V A N C E D M A T E R I A L S & P R O C E S S E S | N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 1 2 0 new Micromill aluminum on the F-150 on September 14, 2015. Ten days later, Ford unveiled the Super Duty at the State Fair of Texas, one year after the first units of its light duty sibling had passed through the new body shop in Dearborn. The same day, Alcoa officially announced the completion of the Alcoa Tennessee ex- pansion. Three days later, on Septem- ber 27, Alcoa announced it would split into two companies. The first coils from Alcoa Tennes- see arrived on schedule at Kentucky Truck Plant in February 2016. Mean- while, Novelis celebrated the commis- sioning of its third line in Oswego on May 23, 2016, in time to support Ken- tucky Truck. By the end of the year, after 25 months of production, the alu- minum-bodied F-Series production had surpassed the cumulative production of all other aluminum intensive vehicles (AIVs) of the past 25 years. The fourth generation Expedition was unveiled on February 7, 2017, at the Dallas Cowboys training facility, Ford Center in Frisco, Texas, ahead of its Chi- cago Auto Show debut. Its stablemate, the 2018 Lincoln Navigator, followed on April 12 at the 2017 New York Inter- national Auto Show. Production began at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant on Sep- tember 25, 2017, with vehicles arriving at dealerships in November. Ford and its suppliers had completed the larg- est material substitution in automotive history, on track to produce more than one million aluminum-bodied vehicles per year. FORD FACES COMPETITION Ford’s introduction of the F-150 at the 2014 North American Internation- al Auto Show (NAIAS) prompted a lot of speculation regarding the response from archrivals General Motors and Ram Trucks. Within a month, on Febru- ary 20, The Wall Street Journal report- ed that GM was “accelerating efforts to field a largely aluminum-bodied pickup truck by late 2018.” In a briefing on May 7, 2014, regarding future plans for the Ram 1500, Fiat Chrysler’s Sergio Mar- chionne stated, “We can do aluminum in ‘17,” but qualified that statement by adding, “I have better use of aluminum in this house than a pickup truck.” In the end, no competitor has fol- lowed Ford in converting any high-vol- ume vehicle to aluminum ABS. When the next-generation Silverado officially debuted in 2018, it only added alumi- num doors and an aluminum tailgate to its aluminum hood. GM elected to follow a series of safer and more incre- mental weight saving actions, coupled with additional powertrain choices. The company added a four-cylinder turbocharged gasoline engine as well as a small V6 diesel engine to the op- tions list. The 2019 Ram 1500, announced at the 2018 NAIAS, similarly added an alu- minum tailgate to its existing aluminum hood. It also added aluminum parts to the chassis and suspension, but most- ly used high-strength steels to achieve incremental weight savings in the body and chassis. Nissan made no material sub- stitutions for its 2016 Titan, and Toy- ota soldiered on with a refresh of its Tundra. So, during its last year before its first major refresh, the 2020 model year F-150 sat unrivaled as the lightest pickup truck on the market, more than 150 kg (331 lb) lighter than the equiva- lent Silverado, and 170 kg (375 lb) light- er than the lightest equivalent Ram 1500. The Japanese pickups, in the ab- sence of any meaningful diet, remained the heaviest by far with the Toyota Tun- dra tipping the scales at more than 330 kg (728 lb) above an equivalent F-150, and the Nissan Titan carrying at least 480 kg (1058 lb) more than a simi- lar Ford model. While aluminum ABS has been growing in the years since the F-150 launch, only Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) in the U.K. and Nio in China have launched aluminum ABS-based bodies. Others have retreated. After pioneering alu- minum-intensive body design with the 1994 A8, Audi rejoined the other Ger- man luxury carmakers for its fourth generation in 2018, opting for a mixed material solution and taking the resul- tant weight hit. Tesla also went with mixed materials for its higher volume Model 3 and Model Y vehicles. FUTURE PROSPECTS FOR ALUMINUM ABS For the aluminum suppliers, the past five years have seen many trans- formations. Alcoa’s rolling mills now operate as Arconic and a group of inves- tors led by a private equity firm pushed out its CEO over the sale of the surface treatment technology used in the Ford projects. The joint venture between UACJ Corp. and Constellium official- ly inaugurated its heat treat and finish- ing line in Bowling Green, Kentucky, in September 2016, and after a rocky start it now successfully supports a growing list of automotive customers. But joint operation proved difficult, and within two years Constellium had bought out its partner and was completing an am- bitious capacity expansion at its newly acquired facility in Muscle Shoals, Ala- bama. During the same period, it also opened a new modern ABS line at its Neuf-Brisach plant in France. In the U.S., with an eye on alumi- num ABS, Tri-Arrows Aluminum Inc. an- nounced a new cold rolling mill at its Logan, Kentucky, facility in May 2017. The tormented history of Aleris continued. Pursued unsuccessfully for 15 long months by the American arm of a Chinese aluminum concern, Zhong- wang USA, Aleris managed to suc- cessfully launch its new ABS line in Lewisport, Kentucky, in time to support GM’s new 2018 T1 truck platform. This was just as Novelis announced a push to acquire Aleris. By the time the antitrust dust settled in late 2020, Aleris Duffel, in Belgium, was operating as part of the Alvance Aluminium Group. Aleris Lewis- port was back on its own as Common- wealth Rolled Products after being sold WHILE ALUMINUM ABS HAS BEEN GROWING IN THE YEARS SINCE THE F-150 LAUNCH, ONLY JAGUAR LAND ROVER (JLR) IN THE U.K. AND NIO IN CHINA HAVE LAUNCHED ALUMINUM ABS-BASED BODIES. OTHERS HAVE RETREATED.