Abstract: Light-weighting for automotive and heavy-duty vehicles is becoming critical for reduction in fuel consumption, and thereby, minimizing green house gases. As part of a three-lab consortia, ANL is collaborating with ORNL and PNNL in the solving materials related challenges. The utilization of high energy synchrotron X-rays to characterize material microstructure and interfaces using both diffraction and imaging provides key information as compared to conventional characterization techniques. As part of this presentation, the following three specific topics will be covered: (a) joining of dissimilar metals - magnesium joined to Zn coated steel alloy that was joined via a friction stir assisted scribe technique; (b) in-situ bi-axial deformation of flash processed steel sheets, and (c) three-dimensional particle analysis of metal powders used in additive manufacturing. For each of these topics the technique development, data analysis, and key outcomes from the experiments will be discussed.