The automotive industry is one of the most importanteconomic sectors in the world and is in the process of digital transformation.Vehicles of the future are said to be “eascy” = electrified,autonomous, shared, connected and yearly updated, but not only will vehicleschange, there will also be a digital transformation in manufacturing plants andin their entire value chain.
At this time the sector is in a full-on state of development, regarding new vehicle platforms and components to face this new revolution. They are working on lines of research in which the reduction of vehicle weight, the safety of the passenger compartment, the electric traction systems are key, as well as improvements in the functionality of all its aspects.
If we analyse trends in the mix of materials nowadays, it seems evident that each material seems to find its relevance in the different components of vehicles and, depending on the strategy of each OEM, the percentage weight of the latter varies in a decisive way. Among them, we can highlight:
- Boron steels that are generally formed when hot
- The forming of steels which have a very high elastic limit
- Composites, both thermoplastic and thermostable.
- New steel alloys
- Aluminium
- Hybrid pieces
KONIKER makes available to the automotive sector its knowledge in the development of processes and productive means to work with the new materials that will be part of the vehicle of the future, all aligned with the application of new technologies within the industry 4.0 paradigm
Prominent among KONIKER’s research lines are those which are developed with the raw material manufacturers to evaluate the technical-economic feasibility of their processing, as well as those whose goal is the optimization of the processes and design of new productive means and machinery.
- The forming of high elastic limit steels and aluminium
- The forming of composite, thermostable and thermoplastic materials
- Hot forming
- Profiling
- Automation
- Process control
- Cutting
