Automotive News Canada - January 2018 - 15

* JANUARY 2018

CANADA'S OTHER AUTO INDUSTRY

Research partnerships between industry
and education that are moving the industry forward

INNOVATORS
GM collaboration
is 'a good marriage'
QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY
KINGSTON, ONT.

Every three weeks, Il Yong Kim and a
group of his Queen's University graduate
students drive west from Kingston, Ont., to
meet engineers at the General Motors of
Canada technical centre in Oshawa.
What they discuss, Kim won't say, other
than it involves complex calculations for
designing and manufacturing lightweight
parts. But the project, he says, provides
invaluable real-world experience.
"It is very applied and very practical
work, and of course at Queen's we are
doing the fundamental scientific work. So
it's a good marriage."
It's the second collaboration with GM for
the associate professor of mechanical and
materials engineering, who earlier helped
develop thermal-management systems for
the battery arrays in vehicles such as the
Chevrolet Volt.
Kim's focus was the channels that route
liquid or air around batteries to regulate
temperature. Using advanced computer modelling, he sought out designs that
can work effectively with the least added
weight.
With funding from the National Science
and Engineering Research Council, the latest project will continue through 2022. And
while Kim is unable to provide specifics, he
said it is progressing well.
"We have already produced quite nice
results."
Another outcome? A former student has
been hired by GM and begins work this
month at the tech centre.
"When it comes to talent, both researchers and post-grad students, we have a very
strong group of people in Canada," Kim
said.
"As long as there's some good support and good connection with the industry, I think there's a great potential to make
an impact and to help position Canada as
a leader in various emerging and important
automotive areas."

McMaster University in Hamilton,
Ont., was one of the first schools
in Canada to focus on automotive
research.
(PHOTO: MCMASTER UNIVERSITY)

Light metals,
heavy research
MCMASTER UNIVERSITY
HAMILTON, ONT.

It isn't all metal at McMaster University,
where automaker-sponsored study subjects
range from hybrid powertrains (with FCA
Canada) to the safety of over-the-air software updates (Toyota) to the social costs
and benefits of electric mobility (Ford).
But with the proximity to Hamilton's steel
mills, metal is a big part of the research
efforts. Metal degradation and protection
are perpetual study targets, and lightweight
materials are a hot topic. A sampling of
other subjects:
* Development and galvanizing of new
steels that are stronger and more easily
formed than earlier types and are easier to
join to other grades.
* Development of zinc-coated press-hardened steel that is heated and then rapidly
cooled in dies to form complex shapes.
* Coatings (zinc, aluminum, magnesium)
for steel alloys that offer both strength and
"formability."
* Warm forming of aluminum alloys to
produce more complex stampings than traditional cold forming.
Much of this research takes place in
the well-equipped Centre for Automotive
Materials and Corrosion. McMaster is one
of three universities in the world to have a
galvanizing simulator.

Flax is a growing
opportunity

UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
OKANAGAN CAMPUS, KELOWNA
UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA
WINNIPEG

Il Yong Kim's findings help cool
the Chevrolet Volt's batteries while
controlling weight.

(PHOTO: GREG BLACK, QUEEN'S U N I V E R S I T Y )

Organic vehicle parts aren't new. Henry
Ford showed off his "Soybean Car" in 1941,
and the cotton-waste fenders of the East
German 1957 Trabant were famously tasty
to goats.
But research at two Canadian schools
could produce a big advance in renewable
components. Michael Deyholos, a biol-

ogy professor at the University of British
Columbia Okanagan, and David Levin of
the University of Manitoba's engineering
faculty in Winnipeg are working with industry partners on moulded tubs for "urban utility vehicles" - used in
places such as airports
and university campuses
- that make double use
of flax plants.
First, said Deyholos,
fibres from the flax
Growth
stems - typicalindustry:
ly a waste material in
renewables
Canada - replace the
expert Michael
glass fibres used in
Deyholos.
standard composites.
(PHOTO:
Next, resins are made
UNIVERSITY
from chemicals proOF BRITISH
duced by bacteria that
COLUMBIA
OKANAGAN)
feed on flax oil, among
other things. The result,
the researchers hope? Tubs with "lower
weight, lower environmental impact, and
ultimately lower production cost."
Manitoba's nonprofit Composites
Innovation Centre is coordinating production, with prototypes expected this year.
Deyholos said that light-utility vehicles that
don't travel at highway speed are a good
place to introduce novel materials.
"In the long term, we and many others
see potential for these results to be applied
to other vehicles and products."

Pavement ends,
progress begins
BRANDON UNIVERSITY
BRANDON, MAN.

For much of rural and northern Canada,
dirt and gravel roads can be an unfortunate
part of daily life.
"If you live near or use gravel roads,
then you know the problem," writes a
Brandon University research team led by
geology professor Hamid Mumin.
"They generate choking and noxious
dust clouds when dry, and quickly lose
strength and degrade to mucky conditions
when wet."
But better gravel roads are possible.
Mumin and his assistants are adding polymers and catalysts and experimenting with
different clay-aggregate mixes to create
more durable and vehicle-friendly surfaces.
It's largely uncharted territory, at least in
any formal way. But the team is able to
draw on ad-hoc techniques developed for
mining roads by Cypher Environmental, a
Winnipeg-based dust-control specialist.
It's also working with local contractors and
works departments.
Cypher and the National Research
Council are providing the bulk of funding for
the project.
Some of the studies take place in labs
while others involve area roads such as one
unpaved stretch used by 150 loaded gravel
trucks daily.

Canada is one of the world's largest
producers of flax. At right, cloth
from flax stalks is laid up to form a
body tub before resin derived from
flax oil is added.
(PHOTO: COMPOSITES
I N N O VAT I O N C E N T R E )

"It was built in 2015 with this technology and has gone from three times daily
maintenance to once
yearly, with the cost of
construction within the
pre-existing budget for
normal reconstruction,"
the team reports.
Interest in the project proves that dusty,
bumpy roads aren't just
a problem in Canada.
The researchers say delHamid Mumin
egations have come
wants to build
from Honduras, India
a better dirt
and China to examine
road.
the test roads.
(PHOTO:
"With the proper
BRANDON
design and construction, U N I V E R S I T Y )
there is almost limitless opportunity to solve some of the worst
chronic road problems in a sustainable and
very cost-effective manner."

Crash studies shift to
avoidance technology
UNIVERSITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK
SAINT JOHN, N.B.

The Transportation Research Group at
the University of New Brunswick is one of
six teams across the country under contract with Transport Canada to investigate

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

Greg Gaboury, right, and a Manitoba
Infrastructure employee perform a
nuclear densometer test.
(PHOTO: BRANDON UNIVERSITY)

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News Canada - January 2018