aluminium exhibition | Chinalco Project Wins Second Prize of Technology by China Society of Automotive Engineering

Recently, at the 2023 China Automotive Industry Science and Technology Award Ceremony, the project "Research and application of high-performance aluminum alloy sheets and key preparation technologies for automotive lightweight", jointly completed by Chinalco Material Institute, Southwest Aluminium, Chinalco Ruimin, Zhejiang Chinalco, and Zhejiang Geely Automobile, was awarded the Second Prize of Science and Technology of the China Society of Automotive Engineers.

The R&D team of the project has carried out research on the correlation of composition, process, organization and performance of high-performance aluminium alloy sheet for automotive lightweighting around the research objectives. After more than ten years of research and development, a series of achievements have been made, which were assessed as internationally advanced level by the expert group organized by the Chinese Society of Automotive Engineering:

Firstly, they have broken through the key technology of high-performance aluminium alloy sheet and preparation for car body covering parts. A new type of 6-series aluminium alloy has been developed, solving the problems of low surface flatness level and poor edge-wrapping performance of aluminium plates for automobile coverings. This has significantly improved the paintbrush line and edge-wrapping performance of aluminium plates for body covering parts.

Secondly, they broke through the key technology of aluminium alloy sheet and preparation for the inner plate of the cover, and developed a new 5-series aluminium alloy with high strength and low flexural strength ratio. It has excellent surface quality and good formability. They have invented a new type of 6-series aluminium alloy with high energy absorption, which is conducive to pedestrian head protection and material recycling.

Thirdly, they invented new surface treatment process technology of aluminium alloy with high gluing strength, which improved the gluing performance of aluminium alloy components. Developed a new type of aluminium alloy components, aluminium plate surface cleaning and passivation continuous treatment process complete sets of technology. This significantly improves the filament corrosion resistance and welding performance of aluminium alloy plates.

The results of this project have been industrialized and applied in many car companies, realizing the independent research and development of aluminium alloy plates with significant economic and social benefits.

According to aluminium exhibition, China Automotive Industry Awards for Science and Technology is China's first registered by the State Science and Technology Award Office approved by the social forces to undertake the award. This is the highest level of science and technology awards in China's automotive industry.