Low CO2 Steels for Safety Applications in the European Automovile

ongoing

The European industry faces ambitious CO2 emission reduction targets. Indeed, the steel industry is rising to the challenge, proposing solutions to drastically cut CO2 within a short time frame. However, these solutions need to be accepted and deployed by the market. One of the main users of steel in Europe is the automotive industry. And, for auto, steel needs to be clean, but first and foremost it needs to be safe. Low CO2 steels need to demonstrate that it can meet the strict safety regulations of the auto sector, and particularly that its performance is satisfactory in terms of fatigue durability, of structural integrity of assemblies and, particularly, in performance in the event of a crash. This challenge is tackled by a consortium built around a solid industrial core including two steelmakers, two companies from the auto sector and a certifying company. This base is complemented by research entities contributing with their main expertise: crash and fracture mechanics, formability, welding, numerical modelling and Life Cycle analysis. The project includes studying the performance of two steel families: cold rolled high strength product and hot rolled High Strength Low Alloy steel. Studies will be performed on fatigue, plasticity at high strain rates and the implications of assembly on material properties, with the support of Finite Element Modelling, and all of this tied to the level of residual elements in the steel composition. These activities will be designed, performed and validated inside the framework of two use cases: one body-in-white crash sensitive part, and one fatigue-critical chassis part. Those components will be finally built and tested in a semi-industrial experience, including the development subsystem-level crash tests. Safe&Clean demonstrates how low CO2 steel can be used in responsibility applications, and does so providing by laboratory and industrial experience coupled with a sustainability analysis of the proposed solutions.