Mercedes is painfully teasing the 2013 SL, with the company’s latest move being the release of a video that brings forward the vehicle’s aluminum bodyshell.
This uses 89 percent aluminum, also coming with various alloys and complex section that will allow the new generation of the roadster to be 140 lighter than its predecessor. Mercedes-Benz brags that the new development meets the highest safety standards and also promises that the SL will be unique among roadsters in terms of NVH (noise. vibration, harshness) level, which will allow the car to be both dynamic and comfortable.
Here are the highlights of the bodyshell:
• The Front Wall is at present the largest aluminium cast component made in large series for vehicle bodywork
• Many sheet metal parts are designed in such a way that for the first time they can be made from 100 percent recycled aluminium, saving 80 percent of the energy used in their production.
• The main floorpan is a 3-layer shaped panel made from thin, extrusion-moulded hollow sections, welded together by friction stir welding.
• The longitudinal members in the vehicle front end are made using high-pressure hydroforming (IHU) technology, which enables the creation of highly complex and robust components, permitting optimum use of reduced installation spaces.
• The door sills (longitudinal members) consist of 1.7-metre long, 7-chamber extrusion-moulded aluminium sections; these provide rigidity in the lateral sectors and safety in the event of a collision. Flexible chamber distribution makes possible a minimum component weight coupled with optimum characteristics.
• The tunnel is made of aluminium sheet metal with a reinforcement of varying thickness (3 different thicknesses depending on sector, a so-called tailored welded blank TWB).
• The rear sector floor is a MIG welded frame with a hollow chilled cast longitudinal member as its central element. This technique is employed in the SL for the very first time in automotive bodyshell construction.
• The rear sector floor frame structure is closed by floor sheet metal panels and the boot tub made by vacuum die-casting.
• The spare wheel recess is made from recycled sheet metal.
• The central member connects the front end with the rear sector floor. The mounting points for the drive shaft, the transmission cross beam, the transmission tunnel braces and the seat bolting points on the tunnel side are all integrated into a single element. The wall thicknesses and rib distribution are oriented bionically towards the requirements and loads.
• Many other components were optimised bionically, i.e. based on examples from nature. These structures reduce the vehicle weight compared to a classic design even further.
Here are the highlights of the bodyshell:
• The Front Wall is at present the largest aluminium cast component made in large series for vehicle bodywork
• Many sheet metal parts are designed in such a way that for the first time they can be made from 100 percent recycled aluminium, saving 80 percent of the energy used in their production.
• The main floorpan is a 3-layer shaped panel made from thin, extrusion-moulded hollow sections, welded together by friction stir welding.
• The longitudinal members in the vehicle front end are made using high-pressure hydroforming (IHU) technology, which enables the creation of highly complex and robust components, permitting optimum use of reduced installation spaces.
• The door sills (longitudinal members) consist of 1.7-metre long, 7-chamber extrusion-moulded aluminium sections; these provide rigidity in the lateral sectors and safety in the event of a collision. Flexible chamber distribution makes possible a minimum component weight coupled with optimum characteristics.
• The tunnel is made of aluminium sheet metal with a reinforcement of varying thickness (3 different thicknesses depending on sector, a so-called tailored welded blank TWB).
• The rear sector floor is a MIG welded frame with a hollow chilled cast longitudinal member as its central element. This technique is employed in the SL for the very first time in automotive bodyshell construction.
• The rear sector floor frame structure is closed by floor sheet metal panels and the boot tub made by vacuum die-casting.
• The spare wheel recess is made from recycled sheet metal.
• The central member connects the front end with the rear sector floor. The mounting points for the drive shaft, the transmission cross beam, the transmission tunnel braces and the seat bolting points on the tunnel side are all integrated into a single element. The wall thicknesses and rib distribution are oriented bionically towards the requirements and loads.
• Many other components were optimised bionically, i.e. based on examples from nature. These structures reduce the vehicle weight compared to a classic design even further.
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