The U.S. steel industry are undertaking aggressive research and development

Tag : structural steels
New steels coupled with new designs significantly reduce greenhousegas emissions in the Future Steel Vehicle Program (FSV)(http://rbi.ims.ca/5726-541 ).
We're not just looking at the vehicle design and its impact ongreenhouse gases at the tailpipe, says Jody Shaw, manager,technical marketing and product research, U.S. Steel Corp. andchairman of the FSV Program. We're concerned with the whole lifecycle of the vehicle, from the emissions produced and energy usedto create raw materials, all the way to the impact of recycling. Ifthe whole life cycle is not taken into account, there is thedistinct possibility of having a net increase in greenhouse gasesif the wrong material choice is made. This isn't just speculation -we have very clear models that demonstrate this.
The Future Steel Vehicle technical team includes EDAG, QuantumTechnologies, Shanghai Fuel Cell Vehicle Powertrain Co./Tongji andWorldAutoSteel material experts. The group is studying four optionsfor the proposed year 2015-2020 vehicle: electric (EV) and plug-inhybrid electric (PHEV) vehicles for four or more passengers; andplug-in hybrid electric (PHEV) and fuel cell (FCV) vehicles forfive passengers.
We have shown that with the use of current advanced high-strengthsteels, a vehicle's body structure mass can be reduced by at least25 percent, says Ron Krupitzer, vice president of automotiveapplications for the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).However, with the new third-generation steels now underdevelopment, we expect to achieve more than 35 percent instructural mass reduction, which will significantly help automakersimprove fuel efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Krupitzer also says the U.S. steel industry, in collaboration withits global counterparts, are undertaking aggressive research anddevelopment programs to develop the next generation of iron andsteelmaking technologies that will drastically reduce or eliminategreenhouse gas emissions throughout the total life cycle of thevehicle. The AISI says steel produces five to 15 times lessemissions than other materials used for lightweighting.
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