Crash&Tough participates in the 6th International Conference on Steels in Cars and Trucks (SCT 2022)
The results of the Crash&Tough project have been disseminated at the 6th International Conference on Steels in Cars and Trucks (SCT 2022), celebrated on June 19th-23th in Milan (Italy).
David Frómeta, Researcher of the Metallic and Ceramic Materials Unit of Eurecat and coordinator of Crash&Tough, delivered the presentation “3rd Gen AHSS for high crashworthiness automotive applications” within the framework of the session “3rd Generation AHSS”.
The presentation showed the main results of the industrial implementation studies performed in the project. The study explored the feasibility of manufacturing crash-relevant automotive components with the three 1180 MPa 3rd Gen AHSS grades investigated in the project, a DP1180HD from voestalpine and two 1180MPa Fortiform® steel concepts supplied by ArcelorMittal, a carbide-free bainite (CFB) steel and a Quenching and Partitioning (Q&P) steel. These grades were used to replace a first generation DP780 steel in two automotive prototype components: a side sill reinforcement and a battery pack reinforcement. The work included a complete mechanical characterization of the steel grades, stamping trials in an industrial stamping line and crash resistance tests with the manufactured components. The results demonstrated the suitability of 3rd Generation AHSS to manufacture high-performance automotive components with relatively complex geometries using current production tools and achieving potential weight savings up to 20%.
