AUTOMOTIVE LIGHTWEIGHT MATERIALS: THE ROLES OF NDE IN BRINGING NEW MATERIALS INTO PRODUCTION

The automotive industry is in the midst of a time of tremendous change. There is an almost perfect storm of changing governmental and market requirements seeking much higher fuel economy, low or no carbon dioxide emissions, and much higher crash and safety performance. Moreover, this occurs in a globe‐spanning market that has more low‐cost manufacturers than ever before. This confluence of factors leads to new vehicles with many new types of powertrains having unprecedented power densities and highly‐engineered body structures with many new materials and joining methods. These are being turned out with shorter lead times, higher quality requirements, and continuous cost pressures. This talk will review the role in NDE in bringing new materials and processes to market, some of the applications in production, and to highlight some of the current NDE needs driven by these forces on the automotive industry.