Aug 15, 2005
In an exclusive interview with specialist magazine "Automobil Produktion", Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg, head of the Body, Electrics/Electronics Development division at Audi, explained that the car manufacturer is working intensively on multi-material designs.
Audi now uses steel shell construction 80 % of the time. The company can also look back on ten years' experience with aluminium space frame technology, in which a structural framework is planked in aluminium. Audi has succeeded in combining the two procedures. The car manufacturer intends to market a vehicle in which these two technologies are deliberately merged.
In the actual project an aluminium space frame is to be combined with planking of steel and aluminium. The steel and aluminium components will be traditionally joined by means of glue and rivets. In addition to which the Audi engineers have succeeded in thermally joining steel and aluminium under series production conditions. The company makes soldered connections between steel and aluminium, replacing aluminium panels with steel panels. Hackenberg sees the future in this process. He believes this is no longer evolution, but a "real technological leap".
Automobil Produktion, 8/2005 / pp 54-56
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