The lightweight design of the outer tie rod installed on an electrical vehicle was achieved through material selection and optimization technique. The aluminum alloy Al6082M was selected as a steel-substitute, and its structural shape was optimized by applying metamodel-based optimization. In this process, finite element analysis was performed to predict the structural responses, such as buckling resistance and fatigue life. First, for an arbitrary base design made of steel, the structural responses were calculated. Then, the design variables were defined to find a lightweight design made of Al6082M. Secondly, metamodel-based optimization based on the kriging interpolation method was applied, leading to determination of an optimum design. The suggested optimum design has the minimum weight satisfying the critical design requirement. Finally, the numerical results of the buckling resistance and fatigue life were validated, through bucking and fatigue tests.

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A large variety of metal forming processes is required in manufacturing for automotive applications.Traditionally the design process for metal forming tools is based on trial-and-error and on the skill of experienced diemakers. This approach results in high development cost and long lead-times. Especially spline of drum clutch hub requires tight dimensional accuracy in its inside diameter and gear shape because it is used as the main component for the automatic transmission. In this paper, the most desirable or feasible manufacturing conditions for spline of drum clutch hub were found or determined by using Taguchi method and FE-simulation(FORGE-3D). Taguchi's optimization approach was used to obtain the optimal parameters. The significant parameters were identified and their effects on Manufacturing of spline were studied. As a results, a confirmation experiment with the optimal levels of manufacturing parameters was carried out in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the Taguch method.