Audi – the fight against excess weight

The most difficult and time -consuming to facilitate structural elements is the body. Fifteen years ago, a German company carried out a breakthrough in the automotive industry, presenting the mass public of the first -generation with a completely aluminum body consisting of extruded and cast elements (the former is obtained by pouring metal through the openings of the required section). Technology was designated as ASF, or “Audi Space Frame”. Before the appearance of the first flagship of the company in the world, there was no large -scale machine with an all -the -illuminum corps and, importantly, with a spatially supporting frame. By the way, “Audi” to date is able to produce more than 550 thousand different bodies created using “ASF” technology.Aluminum is considered a fairly moody material: it lends itself to stamping worse than steel and a lot of troubles in the process of welding due to thick oxide film. However, the prospects of 40% to reduce the weight of the machine in comparison with steel analogues for engineers was an excellent purpose. Machine -building technologies over the past decades have advanced far ahead. Party welding was replaced by laser – its seam is almost invisible and more durable. Due to the appearance of laser welding, the developers of the TT serial coupe were able to abandon most decorative linings that hid the joints of the elements of the sidewall panels and the roof.