The progess made in the development of engineering structures over the last century has been dealt with expertly elsewhere2 and with regard to recent model programmes the significant use and benefits of FEM techniques (basic introduction summarized below) in shortening delivery times is emphatic.
However, as these become more complex, the more need there is for input detail such as material properties. As well as physical properties the need also exists for empirical data regarding material behaviour in diverse engineering situations and it is important that past designs and associated materials performance is analysed and ‘rules’ extracted for future design purposes and use in numerical form when required. In general terms the same developments have been evident on a worldwide scale, although size is a feature of American built vehicles, and the needs of mass production technology, reaching global proportions, have perhaps influenced the Japanese design philosophy (robot access, automation). Therefore although written from a UK perspective, with its foreign ‘transplant’ influences over the years the following content probably mirrors the worldwide trends and requirements for body materials in the future
Materials for Automobile Bodies
Geoff Davies F.I.M., M.Sc. (Oxon)
Butterworth-Heinemann
An imprint of Elsevier
Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP
200 Wheeler Road, Burlington MA 01803
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