US-based NanoSteel, a leader in nanostructured steel materials, has announced the delivery of its first advanced high strength steel (AHSS) to General Motors for initial testing.

NanoSteel is an advanced materials company specialising in the design and commercialisation of patented steels with exceptional mechanical properties derived from their nano-scale microstructure.  

Designed to provide automakers with a new standard in material performance, the sheet steel is poised to accelerate vehicle light-weighting initiatives focused on affordably meeting rising global fuel-economy regulations, said a statement from the company.

The production of the material, targeted to the $100 billion-plus automotive steel market, is the result of a multi-year joint development program between NanoSteel and AK Steel Corporation, an industry-leading innovator in steel product development, it said.

NanoSteel’s commercially produced automotive sheet steel overcomes the historical trade-off between strength and formability by delivering exceptional levels of both properties at the same time (approximately 1200 MPa tensile strength and 50 per cent elongation), it added.

The high strength allows designers to create parts utilising thinner-gauge material (less weight) 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 reduces weight, said the statement.

David Paratore, CEO and president, NanoSteel, said: “Many advanced materials with outstanding properties end up abandoned because they are too hard to use or too expensive to make.”

“Our company’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,” he added.

Roger Newport, CEO, AK Steel Corporation, said: “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,” he said.

“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,” Paratore concluded. – TradeArabia News Service