aluminium in commercial vehicles - European Aluminium Association

34 EUROPEAN ALUMINIUM ASSOCIATION ALUMINIUM IN COMMERCIAL VEHICLES CHAPTER IV
2.3. Is the life of an aluminium chassis shorter than a steel chassis?
The lifespan of a chassis is a design
issue and not a material issue.
Aluminium chassis are mostly
used in transport segments
where the load factors are the
highest (solid & liquid bulk
2.4. How does aluminium compete with high strength steel?
We should make a distinction
between pure aluminium and
aluminium alloys.
Pure aluminium is never used in
commercial vehicles. A wide
variety of aluminium alloys do
exist, including high strength
solutions.
What is seldom communicated
is that all alloys based on the
same parent metal have nearly
the same elastic properties.
This means that if someone is
looking for a lightweight alternative
to a standard chassis
while keeping the same stiff-
Bolted aluminium chassis for tipper
(Menci)
tanks, tippers), nevertheless well
designed vehicles can easily
exceed 20 years of service life.
ness, the only solution is to
change the material e.g. switching
from steel to aluminium (see
Chapter III).