Metallurgy
The possibilities of combining iron with other elements and arranging them in novel ways are unparalleled and vast, which is why and how steel keeps reinventing itself from the mild automotive steels of the mid-20th Century to 3rd Generation Advanced High-Strength Steels today.
This section of the Guidelines provides a metallurgical look at the many steel types that make up automotive sheet steels. But it is in no wise conclusive since the potential for new grades and attributes is still strong and will be well into the future. As an example, the UltraLight Steel Auto Body program, the first global steel industry automotive demonstration of High-Strength Steels (HSS) in vehicle applications, drew from a list of 11 HSS grades to manufacture its lightweight body structure. The Steel E-Motive program, the sixth steel industry demonstration, includes a portfolio of over 60 HSS and Advanced High-Strength Steel grades to design its optimized Mobility as a Service vehicle concepts. Browse the Steel Grades page to review the family of automotive sheet steels.
Metallurgy topics at a glance:
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