GF Automotive: helping to reduce CO2

Every two years in the autumn when the International Motor Show (IAA) is held, cars become a focal point of public interest. Hundreds of thousands of people crowding around their automobile dreams at this Frankfurt fair. However, cars have impressed themselves on our consciousness not only because they are a symbol of mobility but also because they contribute to upsetting the ecological balance, especially through the carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by engines.

Reducing CO2 emissions has thus become an important objective in automotive construction. CO2 emissions stem from many sources: households and industry, power plants, agriculture and transport. In Germany, for instance, passenger vehicle traffic accounts for about 12 percent – or one eighth – of total CO2 emissions. In Switzerland, passenger cars cause around 24 percent of these emissions. So, cars are not the main cause of the greenhouse effect, but reducing CO2 emissions from vehicles makes good sense and is necessary. Moreover, motor vehicle traffic is increasing the world over.

By 2012, therefore, the European Union wants to limit CO2 emissions per vehicle to a maximum of 120 grams on average – that spells a 30 percent reduction compared with current levels. An ambitious target, to which Georg Fischer Automotive can contribute with innovative solutions. The largest Corporate Group within the Georg Fischer Corporation demonstrated this capability to financial analysts and journalists attending the Technology Day 2007 in Schaffhausen.

"The most effective way of reducing CO2 emissions is by showing restraint when driving," stressed Ferdinand Stutz, Head of GF Automotive in discussions with visitors to the Technology Day. "But neither carmakers nor we have any influence on this factor." Experts estimate that restraint in driving would reduce CO2 emissions by about a third.

In addition, a number of technical options, taken together, could also result in a substantial cut in CO2 emissions. These include improved engines and new drive systems (reduction of about ten percent), multispeed transmissions with wider transmission ratios (about six percent), automatic starter systems, regenerative braking, and electric steering (each about three percent). Lightweight construction accounts for a two percent reduction, and low rolling resistance tires and more streamlined bodywork for another one percent each.

In view of its core competencies in materials know-how, casting, and cast iron and light metal components, GF Automotive can have the biggest impact on CO2 emissions through lightweight construction of drive systems, chassis and bodywork. In concrete terms, the innovative contribution of GF consists in new materials such as the material families SiboDur and SiMo 1000 or in novel casting processes such as LamiCast and the products to which this gives rise.

Beat Ruckstuhl, Head of Research & Development at GF Automotive, explained to visitors on the shop floor what this means and what has already been achieved. The guests were shown a new Audi A5, a sports coupe, for which GF produces eight components. Audi relies mainly on aluminium for its cars, but where power and momentum come into play and there is relatively little installation space available, they gladly, as in the past, turn to cast iron "made by Georg Fischer".

"And it's going to stay like that," says Ruckstuhl. "Aluminium is an interesting, powerful and promising material, but it's not an all-purpose answer for drive systems, chassis and bodywork. Hybrid construction using different materials will continue to dominate the car industry. Today and in future." GF Automotive is well placed in this respect, as its applications and market penetration show: it can offer the materials iron, aluminium and magnesium and processes such as sand casting, pressure casting and gravity die casting.

Although iron has been used by humans for some 6,000 years, the possibilities for new alloys with this material have not yet been exhausted. This is amply demonstrated by the SiboDur material family which GF has patented. This alloy is eminently suitable for highly stressable chassis components and as a substitute for forged components. Wheel mounts made of SiboDur for the Golf recently received the Volkswagen Group Award 2007; they were cited as an impressive and promising development. Two years ago, GF Automotive presented SiboDur as a development project at the Technology Day 2005. Now, two years later, we have already received substantial customer orders in addition to ongoing development projects on behalf of automotive manufacturers. The achievement demonstrates the enormous market potential of this innovative material and opens up new perspectives for lightweight manufacturing with cast iron.

GF Automotive has followed up this initial success with the SiMo 1000 material family. The new material SiMo 1000 is notable for its outstanding properties at high temperatures. To the spheroidal graphite cast iron we have added silicon and molybdenum among other substances. The alloy is thus able to withstand temperatures of up to almost 1000 degrees, thus meeting the demands of modern exhaust manifolds and current emission requirements. This material too opens up new applications. SiMo 1000 is highly suitable as an affordable alternative to thermally highly stressable components in the drive system and as a substitute for high-alloy cast iron or welded exhaust manifolds. This material has also gained recognition by the market and is meeting with very great interest from automotive industry customers in new development projects.

GF Automotive also got off to a successful start with its novel casting technique LamiCast. The name LamiCast contains the word "laminar", and this describes an essential production feature. In the LamiCast casting technique, the liquid iron no longer flows from above down into the mould but from below upwards. This makes casting virtually turbulence-free. For engineers, laminar is the opposite of turbulent. Beat Ruckstuhl made an impressive demonstration of the two phenomena by filling a beer mug with wheat beer: If you pour in the beer smoothly, you can fill the glass to the rim and get a perfect head; if you don't pour it smoothly, though, the beer will foam over the edge of the glass before it is full.

The laminar technique makes it possible to produce thin-walled casting, which means that components are now lighter than they used to be. LamiCast is highly suitable for large-surface aluminium cast components such as oil sumps or front and rear axle support frames. The market has already taken note of these advantages. Based on contractually secured orders from customers, GF Automotive is now making the necessary manufacturing capacity available at its Garching plant near Munich, Germany.

"As the automotive industry recognizes the benefits of our new materials and techniques for lightweight construction, we have to increase our capacity in order to be able to meet demand," said Ferdinand Stutz, visibly pleased, in his welcoming address. What's more: "The innovation pipeline is brimful and is driving strong growth." Average growth in the past three years was over five percent and in the first half of 2007 it stood at ten percent, after adjustment for currency fluctuations. The production volume of GF Automotive is now over 110 million component a year, for which 600,000 tonnes of casting are needed.

The Corporate Group, with 13 production sites, 5,600 employees and three development centres, generated sales revenues of 1.93 billion Swiss francs in fiscal 2006. GF Automotive is the undisputed number one in its industry in Europe and ranks among the top 100 automotive suppliers worldwide. The main customers for its development and manufacturing products are in Germany, but the Corporate Group aims to be a global player with global delivery capability, as witnessed by the operation of its own light metal foundries in Suzhou, China, and Montreal, Canada, and the construction of an iron foundry in Kunshan, China.

In order to reinforce its position as an acknowledged development partner for chassis, drive systems and bodywork, GF Automotive will build a new research centre at its Schaffhausen location, to be completed in 2009. Investments for the project will come to around 25 million Swiss francs. The planned building will replace the Central Laboratory in the Mühlental. This project underscores Georg Fischer's determination to secure competitive advantages through in-house innovation in materials development and in product and process technology. As part of the expansion plan, some 25 additional jobs will be created in Schaffhausen in the next few years.