New reports suggest that cars made from new types of steel could be stronger and lighter, and significantly more fuel efficient. According to reports from Knowable MagazineBy combining lightweight polymers with carbon fiber interiors and underbody panels, new types of steel are produced that help reduce vehicle weight and improve cars’ fuel consumption.
This is also something that is being heavily invested in with battery-electric vehicles, as these require lighter materials to achieve greater ranges with their limited electric charge. However, safety is also an important aspect of the process that cannot be overlooked. So while car manufacturers are looking at ways to make stronger and lighter bodies, these also need to be just as safe as the older, heavier options.
In recent decades, we’ve achieved this by using higher-strength and hardened pieces of steel that can expand to make the body of the vehicle. But it’s still pretty heavy, so scientists are looking at ways to mix the basic iron that makes up steel with other components to make it lighter – and thus build more fuel-efficient cars – while retaining the body’s ability to not crumble as much in an impact.
Now, automakers and researchers have worked with steelmakers to develop three different generations of “high-strength steel,” which have been used in various forms since the 1990s. They are still widely used today and offer a good combination of strength and lightness. But newer alloys like titanium and even niobium have helped them push the development further.
Not only have they increased the strength of the steel used in the vehicle’s body, but the use of computers should hopefully make it much easier to demonstrate how these materials can prove useful in producing more fuel-efficient cars, while also providing drivers and passengers with the safety they need when travelling.
There is clearly still a lot of work to be done in this regard. But it seems that researchers and automakers have a good foundation. They just need to find the next step to take things further and maybe even start producing better long-distance vehicles.
