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The AISI Bar Machinability Sub-committee was formed in 1991 to develop a database of automotive bar steel machinability under single point carbide turning conditions. To accomplish this task more than 30 industrially significant steel grades and their variants have been evaluated in the ensuing years. The test materials were produced by eight different steel companies using various melting and casting practices. Material properties and microstructures were characterized and the machinability of each steel variant was evaluated by at least two different machinability testing laboratories. This paper presents the results of these tests and correlates the machinability of the steels with their properties. The data base thus generated can be used by the machining industry to compare the relative machinability of various steel grades and their properties to make more informed materials application decisions.

In May 2000, the UltraLight Steel Auto Closure (ULSAC) Consortium unveiled a lightweight frameless steel door design that achieves 42 percent weight savings over the average benchmarked (1997 model year vehicles) frameless door and 22 percent savings over the lightest benchmark, a framed door. ULSAC was commissioned by this international consortium of 31 sheet steel producers to assist their automotive customers with viable lightweighting steel solutions. The ULSAC design and engineering team, Porsche Engineering Services, Inc. (PES), Troy, Michigan USA, accomplished this significant weight savings by using high and ultra high strength steels, combined with technologies such as tailored blanks and hydroforming. The door outer panel of this first round of demonstration hardware is made of stamped 0.7 mm Bake Hardenable (BH) 260 sheet steel.

A large life cycle inventory study like the one completed under the banner of the United States Automotive Materials Partnership (USAMP) can be a complex affair. Apart from the technical requirements of modeling a “generic” North American vehicle, it was necessary to bring a diverse group of stakeholders to the life cycle table and to have the stakeholders work together for a common purpose. This paper identifies six stakeholders that participated in the LCI study of a generic North American automobile and describes how the work was organized. These stakeholders, particularly the auto, steel, plastics, and aluminum industries, each had different experiences with life cycle inventory analysis, held competing interests, and perhaps entered the project with different expectations. Issues that had to be addressed include goal selection, provision of resources, division of the work among stakeholders, scheduling and related project planning, as well as the process for decision making.

The ULSAB-Advanced Vehicle Concepts Program is focused on the development of steel applications for vehicles to be produced beginning in the year 2004. A “holistic” total vehicle development approach will be applied, including styling, package, closures, suspension, etc. The understanding of the interactions of all vehicle subsystems, their optimization in respect to size, mass, and performance, will lead the program to an optimized steel intensive vehicle concept. Benchmarking will provide the data for building the basis of the target setting, after which the program target will be established and guidelines for the design will be created. The ULSAB-AVC Program concentrates on the design of two size lightweight vehicles: One size fitting in the most popular European C-class (so-called Golf class); and the second size similar to the North American PNGV class (Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles*).