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This paper provides a preliminary study on tensile behavior and formability of some engineering magnesium and aluminum alloys, and steels at elevated temperatures (>0.6 Tm) and high strain rates (>0.1/s). A new elevated-temperature biaxial formability testing technique is developed to study strain path dependence as well as temperature and strain rate dependence. The formability test and in-die forming process are simulated with FEA method, and a concept of forming process diagram is established. The technical feasibility of elevated temperature gas forming for automotive components is discussed.

A survey of the on-road petrol consumption of Australian passenger cars provided data which has been analysed for effects on fuel consumption caused by features such as transmission type, vehicle inertia class, engine size, air conditioning presence and vehicle location. Results show that cars with automatic transmissions consistently have higher petrol consumption than manuals for all inertia classes - 15% higher in city conditions and 11% higher in highway conditions. There is also a penalty for automatic transmissions at most engine sizes, although the penalty is relatively larger for smaller engine capacities. Presence of air conditioning was found to increase petrol consumption by 13.5% on average, but the data did not allow the impact of frequency of use to be determined. Coastal driving conditions resulted in petrol consumption being 9.4% higher than for inland conditions, and cars driven in winter had 4.4% greater fuel consumption than cars driven in summer.