Auto/Steel Partnership Intensifies Focus on Mass Reduction With New Studies That Build on UltraLight Steel Auto Body

    SOUTHFIELD, Mich., May 22 Prompted by U.S. automakers'
favorable response to the steel industry's landmark series of UltraLight Steel
Auto (ULSA) initiatives, the Auto/Steel Partnership (A/SP) has initiated two
ULSA-based, vehicle light weighting projects.
    One of the A/SP projects will use the UltraLight Steel Auto Body (ULSAB)
front-end structure as a baseline for a study aimed at designing lighter-
weight front ends.  The work will target achieving a double Five Star rating
in the Federal government's New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) crash tests and
an overall "Good" rating in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's
(IIHS) 40 mph/40% offset deformable barrier test.
    A second project will explore methods and materials that will enable a
25 percent weight reduction in closure panels, which include doors, hoods,
trunk lids, and hatchbacks.
    Both A/SP projects seek to develop concepts applicable to high-volume
production of a family of vehicles across platforms and will rely heavily on
the use of advanced and ultra high-strength steels, increasingly the materials
of choice among automakers.
    The A/SP also is undertaking nine "enabler" projects aimed at enhancing
knowledge and understanding of the properties, performance, forming and
joining of the latest generation of these steels.  Work on the enabler
projects also involves updating and improving engineering and design tools
such as databases, software and predictive models.
    Using the ULSAB front-end structure as a baseline, the body structures
project focuses on optimizing the auto body front end using advanced high-
strength steels (AHSS), ensuring compliance with current and future government
safety standards and validating the formability and manufacturability of AHSS.
    The A/SP expects that the project will advance the state-of-the-art in the
use of Computer Aided Optimization tools and techniques to explore various
design alternatives and reach optimized designs faster.  These advances will
reduce product development time, promote lower product costs and foster better
product performance.
    The A/SP closure panel project will identify new developments necessary
for achieving 25 percent weight savings, equivalent performance, high-volume
manufacturability and minimal cost impact.  These advances include new joining
methods, new manufacturing processes, improved materials, and more precise
modeling and simulations.  Using the 2002 Jeep Cherokee as the reference
vehicle, Phase I of this project focuses on passenger vehicle front doors.
    Once the closure panel team has identified the necessary developments, the
"enabler" project teams then will investigate a range of tools and techniques
essential to their effective implementation.
    Among the "enabler" projects are studies to update predictive models for
HSS's mechanical properties, fatigue characteristics, stamping formability,
and strain rate characteristics.  Other projects will examine the effects of
tube hydroforming on HSS, use of tailor-welded blanks, spot welding and die
interface.  An additional project will investigate optimizing joints in light
truck frames.
    The A/SP will support the body structure and closure projects with funding
from its member steel and auto companies.  A/SP will receive funding for the
"enabler" projects from the U.S. Department of Energy.
    The A/SP initiatives and "enabler" projects build on results of the 1998
ULSAB and 2000 ULSAC programs.  ULSAB documented an average 25 percent weight
reduction in body structure, compared to a range of benchmark vehicles, along
with better structural performance and lower cost.  ULSAC achieved a
33 percent weight reduction compared to a wide range of door structures and at
no cost penalty.  Both projects focused on providing highly effective, steel-
based solutions to help vehicle manufacturers meet safety, fuel economy and
other environmental challenges facing the automotive industry.
   For more information on these projects, as it becomes available, visit
http://www.a-sp.org .
    The Auto/Steel Partnership is a unique international association that
includes the largest North American automotive companies and major sheet steel
producers.  Formed in 1987, the A/SP is the automotive industry's oldest
OEM/supplier consortium.  It leverages the resources of the automotive and
steel industries to pursue research, validation and education common and
critical to both industries.  These A/SP activities assure continued
leadership in the design and manufacture of automotive bodies utilizing sheet
steel.

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