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Adhesive bonding has gained a lot of popularity on the automotive industry on recent years. The technology has helped OEMs to build lighter vehicles by enabling the joint of dissimilar, lighter materials as well as joints that otherwise could not be welded or bolted together due to the lack of machine and operator access. It has also seen widespread usage to enhance crash performance, due to its ability to distribute stress uniformly and absorb energy. Past test reports had shown that adhesive bonding may have a poor performance when used on Zn-Fe (Galvanneal - GA) coated steel sheets, as the superficial coating layer may delaminate from the base steel, not allowing the adhesive to perform properly. The objective of this paper is to analyze the performance of adhesive bonding on GA coated steels when utilized alongside weld spots.

The automotive industry is spending a huge amount of money searching for new technologies, focused on cost reduction of product and/or process, quality improvements and nowadays aiming for environmental improvements. This paper shows a new technology applied to the automotive industry and a new development of production process of painting with chromed plate appearance. Chromed plate is a traditional electrolytically deposited chromium coating on the first surface of plastic components used in several automotive parts to improve the vehicle jewel effect, more often to differentiate luxury levels into a vehicle platform (in this case for top level vehicles), but with some dramatically important issues, such as: process scraps, part costs and heavy metals in their composition. This new technology is environmentally friendly chrome appearance (water-based without heavy metals), and has reduced costs, compared with the traditional process of chroming.

The automotive industry demands for quality and technological innovations that enhance the performance of their products. Visual quality and corrosion resistance are also very important, even for fasteners exposed to the weathering throughout its life cycle that shall meet the performance requirements specified by the automotive industry. This paper shows how the search for new technologies leads to innovations in the already established surface treatment with a new generation of sealers for the automotive industry. This brand new technology of organic/polymeric sealer applies in water basis a single and uniform layer with low molecular weight (1000 to 10000 Dalton) in order to enhance specific properties such as high corrosion resistance, low coefficient of friction attributing characteristics of self-lubricating surface and increase in the wear resistance of the coating.