FALL 2023

10 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S

10 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK Laurence Claus Laurence Claus is the President of NNi Training and Consulting, Inc. He has 25 years of experience with a medium sized automotive fastener manufacturer, holding positions including Vice President of Engineering, General Manager, Director of Quality, Director of New Business Development and Applications Engineer. In 2012 he formed NNi offering technical and business training courses as well as technical consulting, expert witness and consultation work. He can be reached at 847-867-7363 or by email: Lclaus@NNiTraining.com. You can learn more about NNi at www.NNiTraining.com. DIFFICULT FASTENING APPLICATIONS - PART 3 MIXED MATERIAL JOINTS In the 2015 model year Ford boldly released it is new, all-aluminum body Ford F150. In combination with high-strength steel frame members, this new model shed nearly seven hundred pounds when compared to its predecessor. This solution has proven to be a successful move for Ford and one that many industry experts felt might pave the way for a wholesale exodus from steel to aluminum. However, that has not happened. Although an excellent way to lighten a vehicle, it is also an expensive approach and one that many tighter margin vehicles simply cannot absorb. Therefore, most automotive OEMs have instead adopted a mixed material strategy. Today, newer automobile bodies are a mix of mild steel, aluminum, magnesium, high-strength steel, ultra-high-strength steel, and carbon fiber components. Unfortunately for the OEMs, however, this incorporation of different material types obsoleted many of the traditional fastening methods and has become the genesis of many new and creative fastening elements and techniques. Even with this surge in fastening innovation though, some of these challenges remain today with only one or two viable fastening solutions. Although this article will focus on car body structures, it should not be considered a unique challenge to just the automotive industry. In fact, these challenges can TECHNICAL ARTICLE be generalized across all industrial segments and a tremendous amount can be learned from the adoption of these new technologies in automotive. This segment will conclude the three-part series on challenging fastening applications that all distributors should be aware of. As customers become more dependent on suppliers to provide special expertise, it is important that distributors be aware of the challenges facing their customers and the potential solutions that exist to address them. The Trends Perhaps like no other market segment, automotive has become absorbed in lightweighting. The reasons are quite simple, the lighter their product the better gas mileage or battery range a vehicle gets. Lightweighting is also one of their best investments, with greater returns for each dollar invested than many of the other technologies and innovations being explored to improve gas mileage or range. Thus, the OEMs are motivated to explore any new material or way of combining materials that will accomplish this goal. The result is that automotive bodies today are a mix of new lightweight materials combined to often form more lightweight and rigid structures than vehicles of the past (Figure 1). CONTINUED ON PAGE 116