Lightweight solutions

Thanks to many years of know-how and the ideal combination of design, materials and manufacturing processes, we are able to make components lighter.

Our lightweight solutions

In the development and series production of castings, GF Casting Solutions places a clear focus on bionic design and lightweight construction in order to significantly reduce the weight of the casting solutions. In vehicles, weight reduction not only means a reduction in fuel consumption and the associated reduction in emissions, but also has a positive impact on driving behavior.

Lightweighting for alternative drives

Lightweight construction is particularly important if you want to help shape the future of electrically powered vehicles. Due to the high weight of the battery, lightweight construction in the vehicle is a must - especially for hybrid vehicles in which two drive concepts are integrated in the vehicle.

Sustainable future

Furthermore, working with cast materials enables us to produce sustainably due to the reusability of raw materials such as secondary aluminum and iron scrap, as well as the high degree of freedom in component geometry.

In a nutshell: cast iron combines significant weight reduction and the sustainable use of valuable resources. This is possible because we have been intensively involved with component requirements, materials and the possibilities and limits of our casting processes and act sustainably.

Advantages

Reducing CO2 emissions

Shock tower: Substitution of 10 sheet metal parts

-45 % weight reduction
1.3 g/km
375,000 t CO2*

*over 8 years vehicle lifetime

Shock Tower

Magnesium instead of aluminum

Magnesium is the lightest metal that can be used in mass production and is a very special material for us. Thanks to its specific density, it can save almost 30 % in weight compared to aluminum. In the drive area, we have succeeded in reducing the weight of the control box lid by more than 45 % simply by using magnesium and thanks to possible refinements and wall thickness reductions.

Substitution

Thanks to the high geometric freedom of casting, several components can be substituted with just one casting. In the body area, for example, we were able to replace up to 12 individual sheet metal parts with just one cast part and reduce the weight of the shock tower in die-cast aluminum by almost 40%.

Material know-how and bionic design

With our developed cast iron material SiboDur, the mechanical properties of the cast iron parts could be significantly improved. Thanks to the combination of SiboDur and bionic design, we have succeeded in achieving a weight reduction of up to 32% for chassis parts such as steering knuckles and wheel carriers compared to conventional castings.