Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

Moinuddin S Rashid

Chongmin Kim

Michael D Hanna

Ravi Verma

Sooho Kim

Frederick Irvin Saunders

Paul Edward Krajewski

Edward Frank Ryntz

Edward F Ryntz, Jr

M David Hanna

Kulsum Rashid, Legal Representative

A method is disclosed for stretching magnesium-containing aluminum alloy sheet stock into intricate shapes such as are required in automotive body panels. The sheet stock, at a temperature in the range of about 400&#xb0; C. to about 510&#xb0; C., is stretched under the pressure of a working gas into conformance with the surface of a forming tool. The sheet forming pressure is increased continually in a controlled manner from ambient pressure to a final forming level in the range of about 250 psi to about 500 psi or higher. A portion of the sheet can experience strain rates substantially higher than 10secand the forming of the sheet can be completed within 12 minutes.

Quick plastic forming of aluminum alloy sheet metal

A method is disclosed for stretching magnesium-containing aluminum alloy sheet stock into intricate shapes such as are required in automotive body panels. The sheet stock, at a temperature in the range of about 400&deg; C. to about 510&deg; C., is stretched under the pressure of a working gas into conformance with the surface of a forming tool. The sheet forming pressure is increased continually in a controlled manner from ambient pressure to a final forming level in the range of about 250 psi to about 500 psi or higher. A portion of the sheet can experience strain rates substantially higher than 10,sec,and the forming of the sheet can be completed within 12 minutes.

Unitary vehicle body compartment structures of the type comprising wall members and/or interconnected frame members that define the surface of a cylinder are made by providing a tube that is initially smaller than the cylinder and expanding at least portions of the tube to the shape of the body compartment structure. Functional openings such as windows are trimmed from the deformed tube to further define the compartment. A complete body may be assembled by attaching two or more such compartments such as, e.g., a passenger compartment, an engine compartment and a luggage compartment. Tube or tube segments may also be employed to make segments of the body compartment or smaller body parts such as doors and hoods.

Method of making a vehicle compartment from a cylindrical tube

Method of manufacturing a passenger compartment from a cylindrical tube

The present invention includes high strength, high temperature and strain rate applications of a zinc-base alloy including about 83 to 94 weight percent zinc, about 4 to about 11 percent copper and about 2 to about 4 percent aluminum. The composition may also include minor components such as magnesium and impurities. The alloy is used to construct automotive components which are subject to an instantaneous load of between 40-500 MPa. The alloy is particularly suitable for constructing components which are subject to such loads under high temperatures. In fact, components constructed from the alloy become much stronger at higher temperatures under sudden stress.

High strength, high temperature and high strain rate applications of a

A vehicle door is reinforced by an integral reinforcement panel that is fixed to and reinforces side portions of an inner door panel. The reinforcement panel has an outer periphery adjacent and preferably abutting the outer door panel and includes stiffening flutes. Preferably, abutting portions of the outer panel and the stiffening panel are bonded together to form reinforcing box sections. Alternatively, a support panel may abut inner surfaces of the reinforcement panel and is preferably bonded to valley portions of the stiffening flutes to form the reinforcing box sections. The reinforcement panel may replace an anti-intrusion beam and other components of a conventional vehicle door.

Reinforced vehicle door

Brake system zinc-base alloy components

A creep-resistant die casting is formed of a zinc-base alloy comprising about 4 to 12 percent copper and about 2 to 4 percent aluminum. The die casting is characterized by an intimate dispersion of fine epsilon and eta phases effective to retard slip and thereby enhance creep resistance.

Creep-resistant die cast zinc alloys

The formability of high strength low alloy steel is improved while strength is substantially maintained or improved by first heating the steel to at least the lowermost eutectoid temperature of the steel to dissolve a substantial proportion of the carbides and nitrides (if nitrides are present) into the austenite and air cooling to substantially lower the yield strength and improve formability without significantly reducing tensile strength. The steel is then deformed to an amount equivalent to at least 2% strain on the tensile stress-strain diagram whereby the yield strength is substantially recovered. Preferably, the steel is then heat aged whereby the yield strength and tensile strength are each further raised.

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Bloomfield Hills, MI, United States of America

Moinuddin S Rashid