FALL 2023

10
THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK
Laurence Claus
Laurence Claus is the President of NNi Training and Consulting, Inc. He has 25 years of
experience with a medium sized automotive fastener manufacturer, holding positions
including Vice President of Engineering, General Manager, Director of Quality, Director
of New Business Development and Applications Engineer. In 2012 he formed NNi
offering technical and business training courses as well as technical consulting, expert
witness and consultation work. He can be reached at 847-867-7363 or by email:
Lclaus@NNiTraining.com. You can learn more about NNi at www.NNiTraining.com.
DIFFICULT FASTENING APPLICATIONS - PART 3
MIXED MATERIAL JOINTS
In the 2015 model year Ford boldly released it is
new, all-aluminum body Ford F150. In combination with
high-strength steel frame members, this new model
shed nearly seven hundred pounds when compared
to its predecessor. This solution has proven to be a
successful move for Ford and one that many industry
experts felt might pave the way for a wholesale
exodus from steel to aluminum. However, that has
not happened. Although an excellent way to lighten a
vehicle, it is also an expensive approach and one that
many tighter margin vehicles simply cannot absorb.
Therefore, most automotive OEMs have instead adopted
a mixed material strategy. Today, newer automobile
bodies are a mix of mild steel, aluminum, magnesium,
high-strength steel, ultra-high-strength steel, and
carbon fiber components. Unfortunately for the OEMs,
however, this incorporation of different material types
obsoleted many of the traditional fastening methods
and has become the genesis of many new and creative
fastening elements and techniques. Even with this
surge in fastening innovation though, some of these
challenges remain today with only one or two viable
fastening solutions.
Although this article will focus on car body structures,
it should not be considered a unique challenge to just
the automotive industry. In fact, these challenges can
TECHNICAL ARTICLE
be generalized across all industrial segments and a
tremendous amount can be learned from the adoption
of these new technologies in automotive.
This segment will conclude the three-part series on
challenging fastening applications that all distributors
should be aware of. As customers become more
dependent on suppliers to provide special expertise,
it is important that distributors be aware of the
challenges facing their customers and the potential
solutions that exist to address them.
The Trends
Perhaps like no other market segment, automotive
has become absorbed in lightweighting. The reasons
are quite simple, the lighter their product the better gas
mileage or battery range a vehicle gets. Lightweighting
is also one of their best investments, with greater
returns for each dollar invested than many of the
other technologies and innovations being explored
to improve gas mileage or range. Thus, the OEMs
are motivated to explore any new material or way of
combining materials that will accomplish this goal.
The result is that automotive bodies today are a mix
of new lightweight materials combined to often form
more lightweight and rigid structures than vehicles of
the past (Figure 1).
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