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www.ADandP.media well as an abundance of adhesives. There are high-pressure aluminum die castings. There is a high-strength aluminum impact bar in the rear of the vehicle. In all, there are thirteen different materials used for the construction. The utilization of different materials allows the car to be, they've calculated, 198 pounds lighter than a steel-inten- sive vehicle would be. Mass reduction was of particular interest to the CT6 engineering team not only because they wanted superior ride and handling (lighter is certainly better than ponderous), but because they knew that there was a plug-in hybrid coming (it is introduced as a 2017 model), and when you are using electricity to move a vehicle, you want to make sure that the mass is optimized. (Arguably, the Tesla Model S could be consid- ered a poster child for aluminum vehicles, but people can't get over the electric powertrain so its structure and skin are typically overlooked.) John Thomas, director, Global Marketing–Automotive, There are two poster children for the use of aluminum in automotive applications that have appeared during the past few years. First off, there's the 2015 Ford F-150, the truck with "high-strength, military-grade alloy" in its body, material that contributes to a mass reduction of up to 700 pounds for the vehicle overall, which translates into features including the ability to tow up to 1,100 more pounds and haul 530 more pounds because the powertrain doesn't have to move as much vehicle mass. The F-150 application of aluminum has worked out fairly well for Ford, apparently, as the company not only decided to use the material for the 2017 Super Duty—and know that this is the first-ever redesign of that truck—but aluminum is also being used for the body of the forthcoming 2018 Expedition. Before looking at the second vehicle, a word about that 2017 Super Duty, as it makes an important point that we'll get to later. In addition to the aluminum for the body applications, the truck's boxed frame is made with more than 95 percent high-strength steel. (Yes, the frames of the F-150 and the Expedition are also made with steel.) The second poster child is the 2016 Cadillac CT6 sedan. For that car, 64 percent of the body structure is aluminum, including all of the body panels. To assemble that car they're using aluminum spot, laser and arc welding, as Aluminum coils at an Arconic facility in Davenport, Iowa. The use of the material is on the rise as metallurgical advances are enhancing aluminum's characteristics for automotive applications. 37 AD&P; ∕ AUGUST 2017 ALUMINUM