Automotive Industry Trends
July 2006
Saving Energy with New Steels: Q&A with AISI’s Ron Krupitzer
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Ron Krupitzer is vice president of automotive applications for the American Iron and Steel Institute, an organization that promotes a sustainable North American steel industry committed to innovations that answer society’s needs.
In October 2005, the ULSAB-AVC (UltraLight Steel Auto Body-Advanced Vehicle Concepts) project was honored with one of the coveted Stars of Energy Efficiency Awards from the Alliance to Save Energy. ULSAB received the award for its dramatic innovations in UltraLight steels, developing revolutionary solutions for automotive energy efficiency. The UltraLight Steel research projects initiated by AISI were completed over the course of a decade and represented a unique alliance among steel producers and automakers around the world.
Q. The steel industry did a remarkable thing by uniting to develop ULSAB technology. Will that kind of synergy and cooperation continue?
A: In the case of the UltraLight Steel Auto body projects, the global steel industry in each case had 30 to 40 member companies around the world working together on common goals. They produced projects that were technically very sound with very large engineering reports—information that was easily transmitted through deliverables for use by engineering departments of car companies around the world. Porsche Engineering Services was the automotive expert company, and the steel companies provided the steel expertise. That was a pretty remarkable set of circumstances, and we’re still mining the results today. I think there’s a new kind of synergy that has emerged based on that established work, projects with great focus on applying these ULSAB technologies in problems and design situations. We recently took ULSAB technology, applied it to the front structure of an existing vehicle on the road, and showed we could reduce that structure’s weight by 25% and improve crashworthiness as well. We’re also working with the International Iron and Steel Institute (IISI) and their automotive committee, AutoCo. So the spirit of cooperation is alive and well, but we’ve moved on from the concept work to applications.
Q: What's next for the UltraLight projects?
A: The year 2002 marked the end of the formal ULSAB projects, and the character of those projects now is: How do we implement all these great ideas? We need new guidelines, and we have put together documents that begin to describe how to use the new steels. We do case studies, like the front-end structure work and a new passenger compartment concept development. Both of these studies are with the Auto/Steel Partnership that includes DaimlerChrysler, Ford, and GM. AISI also works one-on-one with car companies and do advanced engineering with them—taking some of their designs and testing them against what we think can be done better with the newest steels.
Q: What do you think are the most important trends of the coming decades?
A: We see a number of things that are happening and are likely to continue happening. As we move up the curve in experience, we find we need to go to higher strengths and grades. We started with the dual phase 590 MPa. With the newer grades, we’re going from that 590 level to 780 and 980 MPa, either in dual phase or TRIP (transformation-induced plasticity) steels. In fact, we’re pushing way up the curve, working to develop experience and get the case histories established in our database where car companies can refer to them.
We forecast there will be a third generation that will be highly formable but even more manufacturable and maybe less expensive to produce than some of the grades we’re working with now. However, we think that the currently available new premium steels—they cost a little more—are still the lowest cost solution for future needs, like more significant crash demands in terms of frontal, side, and roof-crush, and overall vehicle performance.
The environment is going to become a much more important factor in defining materials, and steel is the most recyclable material in the automotive business. And the steel industry has worked hard to reduce its emissions in manufacturing each ton of steel, and that’s going to continue, so that steel will continue to be a very sustainable and, in fact, a very green material to select.
Q: How can U.S. automakers prepare to take advantage of those trends?
A: Part of this is collaboration and partnering. I think that working on fuel solutions to address the impact on the environment requires that we work closely together. Steel companies have this as a common issue, so there’s no sense in each company working individually on this, so working together is really the way that we’re going to make progress. Many of these are in fact global issues, so I expect as the steel industry becomes more global and consolidates, we will be working with bigger partnerships and consortia like we did in the early days of ULSAB. I think another way is for car companies to work with steel companies early—early involvement on materials technology is important, and steel companies now are better equipped to work on the design side than they ever were by providing important materials advice.
Q: How will those trends play into the auto industry's move to alternative fuels?
A: It’s very interesting. Alternative fuels, I think, are really directed at a strategy to help the United States in particular become less dependent on foreign oil. What that does to a vehicle is really change its fuel and power train systems a bit, but not so much the vehicle structure. I think the same vehicle steel requirements in terms of structure will apply, so everything we’re doing now will apply to alternative fuel vehicles. I think that the entire lightweight, strong steel approach pays big dividends whether you’re using alternative fuels or conventional fuels. We look at the switch to alternative fuels as one more incentive for car companies to consider steel very seriously. As restrictions become more significant, I think steel is going to emerge with a clear advantage over other materials.
Q: What is the overall outlook for the steel industry?
A: The steel industry over the last five years has been in a dramatic state of transition. The industry, especially here in the U.S. and North America, was struggling five years ago. Now it’s thriving, because the industry has made the tough choices of consolidating, of cleaning up its business plans—we’ve relied more on collaboration to get things done, and we are more efficient. And on a global basis, there’s a better balance between supply and demand, and so the industry looks quite healthy. We see it as a vibrant source of future successful business and also one that can impart technology to its customers, like the automotive industry.
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