Retirees Take ACTION for Local School
Members of the Mt. Holly Retirees Club present a check to the Devon Forest Elementary School in Goose Creek, SC. The retirees earned the $1,500 ACTION grant from the Alcoa Foundation by volunteering at the school.
Learn more about Alcoa Foundation grants available to retirees
How Aluminum is Changing the Auto Industry
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently invited field experts to attend a two-day workshop discussing the latest findings and benefits of aluminum in fuel economy, vehicle mass reduction and vehicle safety.
The workshop addressed a series of questions NHTSA faces when determining Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for vehicle models for 2017 to 2025, including how to affordably and feasibly reduce mass without compromising safety and major functionalities, including noise, vibration and harshness (NVH).
NHTSA Administrator David Strickland opened the workshop by addressing the increasing need for lighter vehicles that meet CAFE standards yet remain safe and cost-effective. Two panels followed: one addressing the engineering realities and the other detailing statistical evidence of the role of vehicle mass on size and safety. Representatives from Honda, The Aluminum in Transportation Group of the U.S. Aluminum Association (ATG), and NHTSA presented detailed information regarding advanced vehicle design, structural crashworthiness and occupant injury.
ATG demonstrated that safety performance and NVH objectives are possible and being done already in reduced mass designs possessing an Aluminum Intensive Body (AIB), citing research from the University of Aachen, Germany that shows aluminum’s superior ability to absorb impacts and fold predictably in a collision. This maximum mass reduction, capable of reducing vehicle weight by up to 40 percent, is capable of meeting the design objectives of size, functionality, NVH, performance, and safety, with feasibly equal, if not superior, collision performance.
Due to an increased demand in automotive sheet from automakers, Alcoa is expanding operations at the Davenport, Iowa (USA), and Knoxville, Tennessee (USA). locations. The expansion includes expanding and converting the capacity at the rolling mill in Knoxville to produce high-strength automotive aluminum, while simultaneously expanding the Davenport rolled products plant.
