NanoSteel Delivers Advanced Automotive Sheet Steel to GM

NanoSteel® (Providence, RI), a leader in nanostructured steel materials, has announced the delivery of its first advanced high strength steel (AHSS) to General Motors for initial testing. Designed to provide automakers with a new standard in material performance, the sheet steel is poised to accelerate vehicle lightweighting initiatives focused on affordably meeting rising global fuel-economy regulations. Production of the material, targeted to the $100 billion-plus automotive steel market, is the result of a multi-year joint development program between NanoSteel and AK Steel Corporation (West Chester, OH), an industry-leading innovator in steel product development.

This commercially produced automotive sheet steel overcomes the historical tradeoff between strength and formability by delivering exceptional levels of both properties at the same time (approximately 1,200 MPa tensile strength and 50 percent elongation). The high strength allows designers to create parts utilizing thinner-gauge material (less weight) while the high elongation allows manufacturers to produce the newly designed parts without expensive processing techniques, employee retraining or additional capital costs. The unique combination of properties also allows engineers the design freedom to create novel part shapes, which further reduces weight.

“Many advanced materials with outstanding properties end up abandoned because they are too hard to use or too expensive to make,” stated David Paratore, the chief executive officer and president of NanoSteel. “Our advanced high strength steel is designed to be both easy to produce — using conventional alloying elements with standard slab casting equipment; and easy to use — enabling the stamping and forming of parts at room temperature without additional manufacturing infrastructure or investment, such as that required for ‘hot’ stamped parts.”

“We are pleased to partner with them to bring this exciting new product to the market,” noted Roger Newport, the chief executive officer of AK Steel Corporation. “As the first steel producer to manufacture this unique product using traditional slab casting, we are proud to add this accomplishment to our long and successful track record of innovation.”

“We are confident that the exceptional properties of our sheet will enable automakers to affordably meet the ever-changing requirements of vehicle design and foster a new era of steel competitiveness in the battle of material choice,” added Paratore.

NanoSteel is an advanced materials company specializing in the design and commercialization of patented steels with exceptional mechanical properties derived from their nano-scale microstructure. Their primary focus is proprietary alloys for use as sheet steel in automotive lightweighting applications. Founded as a spinoff of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory in 2002, they have developed multiple generations of ferrous materials innovations including metallic coatings, additive manufacturing powders, and sheet steel protected by over 300 patents filed and granted worldwide. It is a privately held company funded by lead shareholders EnerTech, Fairhaven Capital, and GM Ventures.

AK Steel is a world leader in the production of flat-rolled carbon, stainless and electrical steel products, primarily for automotive, infrastructure and manufacturing, construction and electrical power generation and distribution markets. Headquartered in West Chester (Greater Cincinnati), they employ approximately 8,500 men and women at eight steel plants, two coke plants and two tube manufacturing plants across six states: Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

www.nanosteelco.com,  www.aksteel.com