PREFACE Indian auto industry has come of age. Passenger vehicle ...

eduction of an automobile without compromising other stability/safety issues is thus a challenge to
those involved in development of new materials. While aluminium, titanium, magnesium and their
alloys are strong contenders, the steel industry has come up with several new varieties to meet the
industry requirements. While steel continues to dominate, depending on the car models, several auto
components made of alternate materials are in commercial use. For example, even though titanium
and titanium alloys suffer from high cost disadvantage, in certain high end car models and racing
cars, components made of titanium alloys, such as the connecting rods, suspension springs, turbo
charge wheel, brake pad guide pins, wheel rim screws and valve gears are currently available as
standard items (JOM, February 2004, p.40). Considering the growing interest of the R&D community
in the development of advanced materials for the auto industry, we expect to see more papers published
in Trans. IIM on these topics.
The introduction of fuel cell technology will be the next important breakthrough for the auto
industry. With the delivery of the first Honda FCX, the first fuel cell certified car for everyday
commercial use as well as the announcement of substantial investments in hydrogen fuel cell research
in USA (JOM, April 2003, p.9), the future of cleaner automobiles suddenly looks much brighter.
Any discussion on the advances in materials for the automotive applications cannot be complete
with out a section on the related environmental issues. The European Union will require 95% of an
automobile to be recyclable by the year 2015. End-of-life vehicle (ELV) recycling is therefore an
important issue in the European Union. While a series of separation processes enable recovery of
ferrous and non-ferrous metals from the scrapped vehicle, the residue of the shredding process known
as automobile shredder residue (ASR) represents about 20-25% of the ELV weight. It is a combination
of metals, rubber, resins, fabric, paper, wood and urethane foam. Recycling/recovery and/or disposal
of ASR is an unsolved problem today. Future vehicles have to be designed keeping the recyclability
issue in mind, in particular to ensure that ASR is free of hazardous substances like Pb, Hg, Cd and
Cr(VI). Appropriate national policies and voluntary agreements by major auto majors are being
developed to address the ELV issue (JOM, Aug 2003). We hope to review some of these important
topics in our future issues of Trans. IIM.
I sincerely hope that the readers of Trans IIM do find this special issue interesting and useful. I
would like to place on record my grateful thanks to all the authors of this issue for their valuable
contributions. I sincerely thank all the reviewers for their crucial inputs towards enhancing the value
of this issue. I am grateful to Prof. Mathai Joseph, Executive Director, Tata Research Development
& Design Centre, Pune for his encouragement and support in this effort. I thank Anupama Jadhav for
her expert secretarial assistance in preparing this issue for publication. Timely guidance, help and
support provided by Dr. Baldev Raj (Chairman, Publciations Committee, IIM), Dr. K. Bhanu Sankara
Rao (Chief Editor, Transactions, IIM) and Dr. (Mrs.) R. Sandhya (Associate Editor, Transaction,
IIM) at Kalpakkam in bringing out this issue are gratefully acknowledged.
May 2004
Pradip
Tata Research & Design Centre
Pune