Constellium joins research consortium led by MIT to improve design of automotive structural componentsNew simple page

Constellium N.V. announced today that it has joined the Industrial Fracture Consortium established by Professor Tomasz Wierzbicki from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The consortium will engage in research to develop and improve modeling and mathematical simulations software designed to predict the behaviors of the structural components during forming and crash, which are amongst the most important performance evaluation criteria in automotive engineering.

“Our collaboration in the Industrial Fracture Consortium is strategic for Constellium in the context of the strong demand for lightweight aluminum solutions for automotive Body-in-White. It will strengthen our modeling and material testing skills and our technical network, with open innovation at stake,” said Bruno Chenal, Director R&D, Constellium Research & Technology.

Research is a first step in designing the necessary tools to assess the integrity of structural components in order to predict their possible failure at an early stage of development. Progressive prediction of the performance of materials and design will provide insight into how to strengthen those materials for improved safety and how to lightweight them for better fuel efficiency.

The consortium has secured funding through 2016. Other consortium members include leading automotive, aerospace, energy production and steel industries, and scientific computation software suppliers. The work will be conducted at the Impact and Crashworthiness Laboratory of MIT in collaboration with Laboratoire de Mécanique des Solides (LMS) at Ecole Polytechnique (France).