A FUTURE CRAFTED FROM ‘SPECIAL STEELS’
The trend in vehicle manufacturing is increasingly shifting towards lighter, safer and more resource-efficient vehicles. This applies not only to vehicles with low CO2 drives but also the manufacture of components for electric vehicles, which rely on lighter materials to maximise range and energy efficiency.
Innovators such as the Swiss Steel Group are looking at special steel technologies that both offer maximum performance and promote the sustainable use of resources.
A key goal of automotive manufacturers is to reduce fuel consumption in vehicles with conventional drives through lightweight construction while increasing the range of electric cars. The Swiss Steel Group’s special steels contribute to this by enabling components to be produced with less material and optimised performance, this reduces CO2 emissions over the entire life cycle of the vehicles – from production to operation to disposal.
Particularly noteworthy is the use of Bainidur 1300, an innovative material from Deutsche Edelstahlwerke in Germany. The bainitic (heat-treated) steel enables the cost-efficient production of lightweight components that can be processed easily without additional tempering processes or the risk of distortion – even for large format components (>60mm round).
Thanks to its lower materials consumption and easier machinability, this steel also contributes significantly to resource conservation.
Ease of processing
In addition to sustainability, the focus is on efficiency in production. With its special steels, the Swiss Steel Group offers solutions that are not only high-performance, but also particularly easy to process. Bainidur 1300, thanks to its excellent machinability, helps to minimise production costs when manufacturing complex components while souring consistent quality.
Thanks to the optimised forging and cooling process, the effort required for the finished parts is significantly reduced. This saves manufacturers both time and money.
Bainidur 1300 offers and outstanding combination of lightweight construction and machinability. It enables components to be manufactured efficiently without compromising on quality. At the same time, it significantly reduces the amount of material used, which has a positive impact on resource conservation.
Innovative solutions
The Swiss Steel Group also offer tailor-made solutions for the most demanding applications in the automotive industry, for example, the heat-resistant steel Thermodur 2382 Supercool ensures shorter production times in the manufacture of sheet metal components such as the B-pillar by significantly reducing process costs through combined hot forming and heat treatment. The SF-2000 LQ40 plastic mould steel from Sorel Forge is characterised by excellent purity, which enables a high-gloss polishable surface – ideal for the random production of crystal-clear headlight lenses.
Steeltec’s HSX 90 special steel is used in the production of airbag sleeves and ensures fast and reliable manufacturing, with the steel withstanding extreme loads until the airbag is deployed.
These special steels, which are already showing up in body shops, support the automotive industry with high developed materials that meet the highest performance requirements, as well as by providing innovative solutions that are both resource – efficient and efficient in production.
The use of sustainable special steels not only reduces CO2 footprint of vehicles but also simplifies production and makes it more cost-effective.
