Nanosteel, Providence, has delivered its first advanced high strength steel (AHSS) sheet to General Motors for initial evaluation of its role in vehicle lightweighting to meet rising global fuel-economy regulations. The steel is the result of a multi-year joint development program between NanoSteel and AK Steel Corp., West Chester, Ohio.
NanoSteel’s commercially produced automotive sheet steel overcomes the historical tradeoff between strength and formability by delivering exceptional levels of both properties at the same time (approximately 1200 MPa tensile strength and 50% elongation). The high strength allows designers to create parts utilizing thinner-gauge material, while the high elongation allows manufacturers to produce the newly designed parts without expensive processing techniques, employee retraining, or additional capital costs. The unique combination of properties also allows engineers the design freedom to create novel part shapes, which further reduce weight.
“Many advanced materials with outstanding properties end up abandoned because they are too hard to use or too expensive to make,” says NanoSteel CEO and president David Paratore. “NanoSteel’s advanced high strength steel is designed to be both easy to produce—using conventional alloying elements with standard slab casting equipment; and easy to use—enabling the stamping and forming of parts at room temperature without additional manufacturing infrastructure or investment, such as that required for ‘hot’ stamped parts.”
AK Steel CEO Roger Newport commented, “We are pleased to partner with Nanosteel to bring this exciting new product to the market. As the first steel producer to manufacture this unique product using traditional slab casting, we are proud to add this accomplishment to our long and successful track record of innovation.”
Mr. Paratore added, “We are confident that the exceptional properties of NanoSteel’s sheet will enable automakers to affordably meet the ever-changing requirements of vehicle design and foster a new era of steel competitiveness in the battle of material choice.”
