Canada Forms Aluminum Research Consortium

Canada’s National Research Council and a group of industry partners have formed the ALTec Industrial R&D Group to develop new aluminum products and processes for vehicle applications.

The partners plan to collaborate on pre-competitive research to reduce costs, share risks and speed development. They will have access to shared facilities and expertise in aluminum forming, assembling, corrosion control and performance validation.

More than 10 projects already have been identified. Target areas include manufacturing, component assembly and evaluating the durability of advanced aluminum and multi-material blends.

The Ministere de l’Economie-de la Science et de l’Innovation du Quebec is providing C$450,000 ($348,000) to the partnership. Rio Tinto Aluminum is contributing C$125,000 ($97,000).

The other major partners are the Aluminum Association of Canada, AluQuebec, Aluminum Valley Society, Prima Quebec and Trans-AL Network. Participating member companies include Bombardier, Deere, Ford, PPG and Tesla.

The partners estimate that global aluminum sales in the transportation sector forecast will be worth more than $65 billion by 2020.