Corus and Tenneco win at Aluminium Award 2000

26 Mar 2001

Corus Aluminium Extrusions and Tenneco Automotive won The Innovation Award in Automotive Parts and Accessories at Aluminium Award 2000, which took place at the AutoDome Automobile Museum Rosmalen. The award in this category recognised the work of Corus and Tenneco in developing an aluminium piston rod for shock absorbers.

To achieve weight savings in the pre-springed part of a car is a significant step forward for the automotive industry. The rod itself is 60% lighter than conventional rods, which normally constitute 20% of the weight of a shock absorber.

The combination of cost, weight and mechanical properties encouraged designers to use aluminium instead of other materials such as titan, magnesium or composites to develop their award-winning prototype.

P.D. van der Koogh, director of the Stan Ackermans Institute, presented the awards, in which the Audi A2 won the Cars category and the Opel G90 won the Concept Car award. The Euorpean Aluminium Award Automotive is a bi-annual award, which is an initiative of the Dutch Aluminium Centre in co-operation with the European Aluminium Association (EAA). Winners received a bauxite and aluminium sculpture and a certificate.

Corus Aluminium Extrusions developed a tailor-made aluminium alloy in the 7000 series, which retained the design of the rod and replaced steel with aluminium. Channel induction ovens at the highly specialised Corus Aluminium foundry cast the special alloy into extrusion billets to ensure homogeneity. Corus tests billets and drawn rods ultrasonically at its plant in Duffel. Eddy-current testing of semi-finished products guarantees a zero-defect aluminium rod. The precise straightness and tight diameter tolerances of Corus’ rod help Tenneco manufacture a high-quality, economical piston rod for shock absorbers. Reducing its weight helps the environment.