Automotive Engineering - September 2024 - 30

tarSTEEL
MATERIALS FEATURE
gets EV
structures,
battery boxes
An analysis
conducted with S&P
Global looked at
traditional single-part
manufacturing and
the improvements
offered by new steel
multi-part solutions.
The reference
single-part design
was compared
quantitatively to the
steel multipart and
then to the aluminum
die casting, which was
found to be heavier
and more costly.
" If you're not offsetting the
part costs with manufacturing
savings, you're going to end
up with a higher cost design
or no cost improvement. "
large die castings are difficult to repair after road accidents,
leading to higher auto insurance costs.
Davey prompted chuckles from the GDIS audience
when he reported that some automakers are discussing
the need to redesign load paths in their vehicles to
avoid damage to the large, expensive die castings. " If
you didn't have enough challenges keeping the occupants
and batteries in BEVs safe, now you've got to
protect the die castings as well, " he quipped.
Steel's multi-part solutions
The " optimal steel solutions " that Davey and other
steel execs believe will parry aluminum's assault are
rooted in the industry's innovation and R&D awakening
in the 1980s, when steel fought back against the
plastic body panel challenge. New lighter and stronger
high-strength, advanced high-strength, and highstrength
low-alloy products, combined with new
manufacturing processes, co-design services and
cost advantages halted the advance of aluminumintensive
bodies.
Even after losing Ford's F-Series to the light metal
in 2012, steel today still makes up over 50% of an average
vehicle's mass. At GDIS, American Iron and Steel
Institute CEO Kevin Dempsey noted that 75% of modern
steel alloys have been developed in the last 20
years; more than 3,500 steel grades are available today.
30 September 2024
ArcelorMittal Multi Part Integration™ is a sustainable
steel solution to simplify vehicle design and production
Dash panel
Rear floor panel
Cost reduction
Part reduction
Crash optimisation
Rear H-frame
Floor reinforcement
Double door
ring inner
Double door
ring outer
Material usage
optimisation
CO2
reduction
Body shop
simplification
ArcelorMittal engineers believe steel-intensive 'multipart solutions' are superior
overall to large aluminum die castings in performance and cost. A recent analysis
showed this steel approach offers significant reductions in operators in assembly,
the body shop area, the number of robots, hours per vehicle, part count, the
number of spot welds, and improved material utilization.
Steelmaker engineers who " sit at the design table " with vehicle
OEMs are using that portfolio, along with tailor-welded blanks,
new fabrication techniques, and what Davey calls " multi-part solutions "
to expand steel applications in EV body structures, conquest
the battery enclosures business, and improve the EV cost
structure overall.
Steel industry analyses reveal that nine of the top 10 vehicles with
the highest utilization of high-strength steel are EVs, Davey said. He
added that the adoption rate of laser-welded, press-hardened steels
is running 50% higher in EVs than in hybrid and ICE vehicles.
" We're winning back the battery boxes, " he said. " Nearly every
automaker is in discussion with us and others about how to utilize
steel in battery structures. One North American OEM has told us their
future for battery boxes is 100% steel, or highly steel-intensive. "
Bring on the competition, Davey said, echoing his industry colleagues
at GDIS. " The competition is good for all of us. " His keynote
concluded with a warning: " China is adopting these steel solutions at
about two times the rate of the Western world. "
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
BOTH IMAGES: ARCELORMITTAL
Automotive Engineering - September 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive Engineering - September 2024
