Put two candles on our cake. NATT just had its second anniversary and we think it's a good time to take stock. So far, we think it's fair to say we've developed a portfolio of projects with industry partners that promises to put the lightweight, low-emission car of the future on the fast track.

Here are just a few highlights:

Development of a Carbon-Free Alumina Reduction Cell with Northwest Aluminum. This technique will reduce carbon emissions and power consumption - and potentially reduce the cost of producing aluminum for use in lightweight vehicles.

Development of Low-Cost Aluminum Metal Matrix Composites - MC-21, Inc. Following successful tests, MC-21 is developing a commercialization plan that will allow its low-cost MMC process to be licensed by foundries to produce high-value components.

Advanced Manufacturing Technology for Automotive Applications. Natt is helping to develop the design and processing technology Detroit needs to make lightweight structures that are reliable and safe.

Lightweight Pick-Up/Sport Utility Vehicle Frame Program. Natt is working on reducing the weight of frames up to 40 percent, while maintaining the performance and towing capability that has made this class of vehicle so popular.

Read about two of our latest projects dealing with aluminum recycling and magnesium reduction in this issue of NATT Quarterly. Obviously, we're very pleased to be heading into the next millennium at full throttle.

Shaping the car of the future with Aluminum

More lightweight aluminum could show up in the car of the future-if a new NATT project succeeds in predicting how aluminum shapes, bends and otherwise behaves in the forming process.

In July, NATT and Alcoa's Pittsburgh, Penna.-based Technical Center started the three-year project. According to NATT's Mark Smith, the first goal of the project is to develop computer-based modeling tools to help predict and optimize the forming of aluminum into complex, lightweight automotive structures. A second goal is to develop modeling tools to predict distortions and final shapes for welded car components made from multiple aluminum parts.

"The project is already meeting the goals of developing three-dimensional modeling techniques for shaping and joining operations," Smith said. "This is a very challenging, computation-intensive project. Modeling activities are being performed even as we speak on NATT's IBM supercomputer." The ability to predict the final shapes and dimensions of fabricated structures would greatly enhance the car manufacturers' ability to use aluminum in their vehicles.

In other aluminum news, Smith reports that a project with Northwest Aluminum, of The Dalles, Ore., is proceeding well. The goal is to develop technology that would make the production of primary aluminum cheaper and environmentally safer. The project is being conducted with Brooks Rand, Ltd., of Seattle, Wash., and is expected to wrap up sometime this spring.

NATT's Second Conference takes on Heavy Vehicles

On October 29, about 60 professionals gathered at the Bell Harbor International Conference Center on Seattle's waterfront for the second annual NATT conference. Representatives included the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE); national laboratories; truck and truck part manufacturers; universities; and aluminum, glazing and other materials manufacturers.

NATT was originally established to help auto manufacturers produce lighter, more fuel-efficient and low emission cars. But this year the attention turned to trucks.

"Many of the same technologies NATT is already exploring for producing lightweight car components translate quite easily to trucks," said NATT Director Gary McVay.

DOE is dialed in to heavy trucks

Dr. James Eberhardt, the Director of the Office of Heavy Vehicle Technologies (OHVT) for DOE said his department is trying to achieve very low diesel emissions without sacrificing efficiency. "Technically, it's possible," the keynote speaker said. "In the lab, there's no reason we can't achieve these very low emissions."

There are at least two compelling reasons for reaching those goals. First, greater fuel efficiency would lessen our dependence on foreign oil. It's worth noting that most of the country's increase in fuel consumption is due to trucks. Second, the world would breathe a little easier if greenhouse gas emissions were reduced.

New and notable

The conference also gave heavy vehicle suppliers and manufacturers an overview of some of the developments pioneered by NATT in the past year. Those developments include:

Finding focus for the future

At the end of the conference, heavy vehicle manufacturers and suppliers had their say. Representatives of several truck makers and parts suppliers offered suggestions on how NATT could specifically be of help to them in their pursuit of lighter, more fuel-efficient vehicles. The development of more durable brake rotors and cleaner-running engines were just two ideas that came out in this brain storming session.

According to NATT Director Gary McVay, the conference underscored the benefits of face-to-face meetings like this. "People in the heavy truck industry walked away from this conference thinking about ways NATT projects can be applied to what they're doing," McVay said. "Participants definitely have a better idea of how a public/private partnership like NATT can bring more resources to bear on the problems truck makers want to solve."

Hot Crush and Color Sorting:  Trying New Ways of Getting the Al Out of Cars

The more aluminum you put in, the more aluminum you've got to take out. That's the recycling challenge for the next generation of lightweight cars, said NATT manager Mark Smith.

"Right now, it's pretty easy to separate high-value aluminum from a car," said Smith. "Most of the aluminum is found in castings in the powertrain (engine, transmission, etc.), and these parts are readily dismantled from the vehicle and reused or recycled."

However, as more aluminum is used in car bodies and chassis to reduce the weight of cars, recycling gets a bit more challenging. Aluminum would need to be separated from steel, plastics and various lightweight metals. In addition, many aluminum alloys used for auto body parts are not compatible with the alloys used in castings and, to be most cost effective, need to be kept separate.

To address this problem, NATT is funding two projects aimed at developing separation techniques for cast and "sheet" aluminum alloys. The Albany Research Center in Albany, Ore., is tackling the first project. There, the focus is on developing a "hot crush" technique that will allow aluminum casting alloys to be segregated from sheet alloys and other lightweight metals.

"Since casting alloys start to melt at distinctly different temperatures than sheet alloys, we think they can be separated by new heating and mechanical crushing techniques," said Smith.

The goal of the second recycling project is to develop a unique "color sorting" process that uses an environmentally friendly etching process to actually give different colors to different aluminum alloys. Alcoa Technical Center, based in Alcoa, Penna., is spearheading this effort. NATT contributed to the Alcoa project by developing a digital optical analysis system that characterizes the color of the aluminum scrap and categorizes it into one of 5 aluminum alloy families.

"The hot crush and color sorting techniques will be most effective when they are used together, first separating casting alloys from sheet alloys, and then using the color sorting technique to separate the different alloys," Smith said.

Eventually, both techniques will help ensure that the materials used in the car of the future end up in new cars, boats and aluminum siding - not in the scrap heap.