The 2015 Ford F-150, which Ford calls its “toughest, smartest, most capable F-150 ever”, features a high-strength, military grade, aluminium-alloy body, and is about 700 pounds lighter than the 2014 model. Despite lighter weight, engineers indicate that a truck body using aluminium can equal or outperform steel in overall strength and dent resistance, depending on the type of material used, its thickness and how the structure is designed and assembled. For the F-150, a global team of Sapa engineers and metallurgists rigorously tested and analysed the extruded aluminium before Sapa began production for Ford.
“Our metallurgy and production teams were really excited by this opportunity to show our development and manufacturing capabilities to a major automaker like Ford,” says Jack Pell, vice president of commercial sales for Sapa’s extrusion operations in the Americas.