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

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 (NYSE: X) 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/.

USX Corporation press releases are available through Company News On-Call by fax, 800-758-5804, ext. 929150, or at http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/929150.html.

SOURCE: U. S. Steel Group

Contact: Tom Ferrall, 412-433-6899, or John Armstrong, 412-433-6792, or
Mike Dixon, 412-433-6860, all for U. S. Steel

Website: http://www.usx.com/

Website: http://www.ussteel.com/

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