Finnish researchers develop new composition, manufacturing process for producing stronger steel
Automakers today use a special type of steel (called Advanced High-Strength Steel, or AHSS) in components critical to driver and passenger safety, such as safety cages and bumpers. These parts of the car are designed to absorb collision forces so that less impact is transferred to occupants.
Researchers in Finland have developed not only a new composition for this type of steel but also a new manufacturing process that produces a stronger steel while also making it cheaper and more environmentally friendly. Their findings are published in the journal Materials & Design.
“We wanted to know: can we make steels that are two or three times stronger than current formulations, so we can reduce the amount of steel required and lower the overall weight of a vehicle?” says Roohallah Aliabad, a researcher at the Microstructure and Mechanisms research group (Centre for Advanced Steels Research) at the University of Oulu. “A byproduct of this research is reducing greenhouse gas emissions. When you reduce the weight of cars, you are indirectly contributing to that goal.”
Aliabad and his colleagues are investigating compositions and processing routes that use manganese as an alloying element. Manganese is significantly less expensive than chromium and nickel, which are traditionally used in steel alloys. The team found that, by tailoring the microstructure of their steel, they could create an ultra strong, non-uniform microstructure (controlled heterogeneity) that contains two types of austenite, a form of iron.
Read more on the CLS website
Image: Roohalah Aliabad, Centre for Advanced Steels Research, University of Oulu (Finland)