Novelis, a New Alloy for Car Bodies

Novelis broadens its Advanz™ range with the new 6HS-s650 alloy, with superior mechanical properties and ideal for replacing high strength steels in some parts of the car body

by Giuseppe Giordano

A new alloy for the automotive industry was recently presented by Novelis, world leader in the aluminium alloy rolled products segment, controlled by the Indian group, Aditya Birla.
The new 6HS-s650 alloy is part of the Advanz™ group of Novelis allys, which includes the main tailor-made solutions offered by the group worldwide. As may be seen in the chemical composition table, the alloy should formally be included in the 5xx family, but its inclination to improve its tensile properties following heat treatment prompted Novelis to define it a 6xxx alloy. Among hardening heat treatments, besides the classical T4 and T6, it is also interesting to mention the thermomechanical treatment consisting in a 2% stretching followed by hot-coating of the car. This treatment allows the alloy to reach ultimate tensile strength and minimum yield strength values not much lower than those reached following T6, with almost twice the percentage elongation.
The alloy responds to the demand for high mechanical properties in the production of different parts of the car body, such as underfloor, tunnels, door safety bars, bumpers, passenger compartment protection bars. The alloy has a good energy absorption capacity in case of collision. Using the new alloy to replace parts in high strength steel may lead to a reduction in weight up to 45%. The most innovative and trendy application is relative to battery enclosure solutions for electric vehicles with larger power packs such as pick-up trucks, sport utility vehicles and crossovers.