Stainless steels are well known for their excellent corrosion resistance in a wide variety of environments. They have been used for many industrial, architectural, chemical and consumer applications for almost half a century, but they also exhibit a combination of outstanding characteristics which make them particularly attractive materials in the automotive field. High strength characteristics, good manufacturability, excellent fatigue resistance and energy absorption capability are some of the stainless steel properties which enable the specific requirements of various passenger car components to be met: These requirements include safety and reliability, mass saving, but also environmental benefits and durability. Several stainless steel grades are produced under the designation of high strength steels. Each of these alloys provides a unique combination of mechanical properties and manufacturability. High strength stainless steels are used as a means to reduce the thickness and therefore the mass of the vehicle. The dynamic energy involved during a vehicle crash is consumed first through the plastic strain of the material. Therefore materials that have higher mechanical properties will absorb more energy in this way. In this case the mechanical properties refer intrinsically to the stress strain curves. In addition to this the fact that the mechanical properties of stainless steels grow with the dynamic strain rate, stainless steels absorb more energy than their static properties would lead to expect. Stainless steel is becoming recognized as a structural material and it is the reason why many car designers are looking more closely at the combination of: corrosion resistance, mechanical properties, and manufacturability, in order to achieve the best performances in terms of stiffness, mass reduction and safety.
Stainless steel characteristics for structural automotive applications
Kennwerte von rostfreiem Stahl für den Einsatz im Automobilbau
2000
10 Seiten, 2 Bilder, 3 Tabellen, 5 Quellen
Conference paper
English
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