aluminium (was: NEW RONIN Movie..)

[ti@amb.org (Ti Kan)]

Orin Eman writes:
> Brett Dikeman wrote:
> > Aluminium is a great choice for weight reduction, but it means that parking
> > lots are going to be disasters.  Anyone seen the saturn commercial with the
> > baseball lesson?  Picture that with an A8 :o
> 
> The thing about aluminium is that you can get the _same_ strength with
> less weight.  Without doing some calibrated bashing of an A8, I
> personally couldn't say that it would hold up better or worse than steel
> to your average parking lot door bashing.
> 
> Orin.

Audi actually says that the tempered aluminum body panels makes the A8
more dent resistant than steel panels.  This was in one of the A8
brochures I have.

Remember, the aluminum used in an A8 is not ordinary aluminum.  It is a
special alloy that exceeds the strength of steel while retaining the
lightness of aluminum.  The metallurgy, the Audi Space Frame design and
their manufacturing processes are the culmination of some ten years of
research done by Audi and Alcoa.  There is some serious technology in
there, and definitely not "soda can" stuff.

-Ti
96 A4 2.8 quattro
84 5000S 2.1 turbo
80 4000 2.0
-- 
    ///  Ti Kan                Vorsprung durch Technik
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