Various steel sheet applications for automotive

The biggest concerns that the automotive industry face today are those related to the environment and safety. In terms of the environment, reducing green house gases to prevent global warming is an urgent issue. In order to reduce CO2 emissions, Toyota has developed and is aggressively selling hybrid vehicles, while at the same time, actively proceeding with fuel cell vehicle development. As for the internal combustion engine vehicle, various fuel consumption improvement techniques have been employed, such as those related to engine efficiency, combustion, transmission efficiency, and weight reduction. Reducing vehicle weight has proven to be a highly effective method for reducing CO2 emissions, thereby, reducing the weight of sheet steel parts, which account for approximately fifty percent of the vehicle. At the same time, in terms of safety, collision prevention and passenger protection are important. New body structure designs and materials have been studied to increase body crash performance under actual conditions. Advanced high strength steel application has been identified as one of the most important methods for managing both environment and safety concerns. In this presentation, the application status of high strength steels will be reviewed. These steels include 440, 590, and 980 MPa sheet steel and hot stamped material for body structure parts, bake hardenable 340 MPa sheet for closure panels, and hot rolled 590 and 780 MPa steel for truck frame and chassis parts. Also, high strength sheet steel application concerns and future expectations will be discussed. (AU)