Advanced concepts for side impact protection （侧面碰撞保护先进概念）.pdf

Advanced concepts for side impact protection beams Heinrich Weber – Dreistern - Germany 1 Abstract Increased crash safety and lower weight at reduced cost are nowadays among the most important requirements for body-in-white components. Side impact protection beams have to meet these requirements. Especially the use of ultra-high strength steel demonstrates to be an efficient approach to reach this target. The presentation will display a comparison between a press manufacturing and a combined rollforming/laser welding process. This comparison indicates considerable cost savings for the rollforming alternative. Recent developments in the rollforming and laser welding technology will provide further weight and cost reduction. Up to now rollformed sections had a uniform wall thickness. Now rollforming can provide sections with variable wall thickness also. This allows for load-commensurate section design. These developments offer a remarkable potential not only for new side impact beams but also for body-in-white. A couple of European custom rollforming companies are already equipped with this state-of-the art technology. They are capable to provide the automotive industry with product volumes for niche market models as well as for high-volume vehicles. 2 Requirements for side impact protection beams Improving the crash-safety of body in white for new vehicle concepts is not a new task for the designers. Within only 10 years changing crash test conditions raised the energy, which has to be absorbed by more than 80%. This development is expected to continue in the next future. Today Fig. 1: Open MSW 1200 Door Beam [1] the side crash is executed by means of a barrier with 300 mm in height ramming the car at 5