U. S. Steel Engineers to Present Four Technical Papers on Automotive Applications of DP Steels at SAE World Congress

    TROY, Mich., March 1 Engineers from U. S. Steel's
automotive center will present four technical papers on automotive
applications of its Dual Phase 590Y advanced high strength steel at the
upcoming Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) 2001 World Congress in Detroit.
The papers are the result of research and testing performed at U. S. Steel's
new automotive center in Troy, Mich., working with engineers from Kobe Steel,
Ford Motor Company and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
    The demand for safer, more fuel efficient and higher performance
automobiles is challenging steelmakers to develop higher-strength steels.  To
meet this challenge, U. S. Steel, working with Kobe Steel, recently developed
the capability to provide Dual Phase (DP) steels.  Traditional high strength
steels depend on alloying for their strength.  This strength, however, comes
at a cost to formability which severely restricts the flexibility of
automotive design and the complexity of the components automotive designers
can create.
    Instead of alloys, DP steels derive their strength from unique
combinations of two crystalline structures, ferrite and martensite, and have
demonstrated advantages over conventional high strength steel in formability
and structural performance.  These advantages are described in the papers to
be presented at SAE.
    U. S. Steel is the first North American steelmaker to be
qualified for DP grades and is currently supplying its DP590Y to a major
automobile manufacturer for use in a large production volume vehicle.
    The development of DP grades does not stop with production of the steel.
At its automotive center in Troy, U. S. Steel is demonstrating the advantages
of these steels through testing and computer simulation.
    "In testing and computer simulations, our DP590Y and DP780Y steels have
demonstrated superior performance in formability, component strength and
strain rate sensitivity," said John Peters, general manager of automotive for
U. S. Steel.  "We believe they will give automotive designers improved tools
and greater flexibility to design safer, more fuel efficient vehicles at an
affordable price.  For the past decade, high strength steels have been the
fastest growing light-weighting material in vehicle design, and these new
grades will continue that trend into the next decade."
    The formability of U. S. Steel's DP steels allows for greater parts
complexity, giving designers the ability to develop components that carry
structural loads more efficiently.  The inherent strength of DP steels is
enhanced through rapid work hardening during the stamping process, and again
during the painting process when the steel becomes bake hardened.  These
processes can increase steel strength as much as 80 percent over the virgin
sheet.  U. S. Steel's DP steels offer better crash performance over
conventional steel due, in part, to the added strength, but also because they
have high strain rate sensitivity, which means the faster the steel is
crushed, the more energy it can absorb.

    The titles and authors of the four papers, and time and location of the
presentations:

    Steel Processing Effects on Impact Deformation of Ultra Light Steel Auto
Body (ULSAB); Authors: Srdan Simunovic and G. Aramayo, Oak Ridge National
Laboratory; Jody Shaw, U. S. Steel (SAE Paper No. 2001-01-1056)
    To be presented March 7, 9:30 a.m. in room D3-19 COBO Center

    Steel Strength and Processing Effects on Impact Deformation for a Crash
Energy Management Component; Authors: Jody Shaw, U. S. Steel; Kenichi
Watanabe, Kobe Steel (SAE Paper No. 2001-01-1053)
    To be presented March 7, 11:00 a.m. in room D3-19 COBO Center

    Metal Forming Characterization and Simulation of Advanced High Strength
Steels; Authors: Jody Shaw and Ming Chen, U. S. Steel; Kenichi Watanabe, Kobe
Steel
    To be presented March 8, 3:00 p.m. in room D2-13 COBO Center

    Applications of High Strength Steels in Hydroforming Comparison Dual Phase
vs. HSLA; Authors: X.M. Chen, M.F. Shi and P.M. McKune, U. S. Steel; S.M.
Chen, Ford Motor Company (SAE Paper No. 2001-01-1133)
    To be presented March 8, 11:00 a.m. in room D2-13 COBO Center

    For more information on U. S. Steel, visit its Website at http://www.usx.com or
http://www.ussteel.com.

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