Optimization of automotive parts nowadays is mainly used to design lightweight and cost-effective vehicle parts in order to improve the cost and efficiency. In this research, a sheet metal part was taken into consideration and optimized using direct optimization module in ANSYS to evaluate the process. An initial Finite Element Analysis (FEA) was done on the sheet metal part by adding forces and constraints in order to initiate direct optimization. The purpose of the optimization is to minimize the mass of the sheet metal part and maintaining a certain Factor of Safety (FOS) by automatically modifying the sheet thickness and the dimension of the side holes. As a result, the best candidate point with 23% mass reduction was found which complied with FOS value was selected for optimal geometry.

Over the recent years metallic foams have become a popular material due to their unique characteristics like low density coupled with beneficial mechanical properties such as good energy absorption, heat resistance, flame resistance, etc. However, their production processes (foaming) is highly stochastic which results in an inhomogeneous foam structure. Hybrid aluminum foam with closed-cell has been manufactured using direct foaming method coupled with the Taguchi Design of Experiments (DOE). Image analysis has been carried out to determine the average porous area and pore size. The influence of the production parameters (amount of foaming agent added, mixing speed and temperature) on the pore size and the porous area has been analyzed using the statistical Taguchi technique. From the experiments it was seen that the most important control factor for both the pore size and the porous area is the amount of the foaming agent added, followed by temperature and stirring speed. Furthermore, the statistical significance of these manufacturing parameters on the response was also investigated by performing analysis of variance (ANOVA) statistical method.