Honda has developed a production manufacturing process that lets them join steel to aluminum skin panels. The first application of this will be on the 2014 Acura RLX, which will have an aluminum door skin joined to a steel door inner. This technique is projected to reduce the weight of the doors by 17%, and improve ride stability by concentrating the weight closer to the vehicle center. This application is a result of three key breakthroughs: development of a 3D Lock Seam structure where the aluminum outer is hemmed twice, development of a process so the adhesive completely fills the gap between the panels, and development of a technique to account for the different thermal characteristics between steel and aluminum.
http://world.honda.com/news/2013/4130218New-Technology-Join-Steel-Aluminum/index.html
Danny Schaeffler
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