USAMP and A/SP receive $6M from DOE for automotive advanced high-strength steel project
26 February 2013
The United States Automotive Materials Partnership LLC (USAMP), in collaboration with the Auto/Steel Partnership (A/SP), received a competitively solicited award for $6 million from the US Department of Energy (DOE) for its “Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) Approach to Development of Lightweight, Third-Generation Advanced High-Strength Steels (3GAHSS)” project. (Earlier post.)
USAMP, a collaborative organization of Chrysler Group LLC, Ford Motor Company and General Motors, will work in cooperation with the A/SP on the project to demonstrate the applicability of ICME for the development and deployment of 3GAHSS for passenger vehicle weight reduction. The four-year project is slated to begin by early spring.
Advanced high-strength steels have demonstrated significant potential for increased vehicle lightweighting. Since our existing infrastructure is built around conventional steels, it is critical to develop advanced steel grades that can be formed utilizing this very same infrastructure, thus reducing major overhauls of the manufacturing process.
—Lou Hector Jr., GM technical fellow and USAMP’s technical program leader on the project
Although early generations of AHSS are being used in numerous automotive applications today, the 3GAHSS project goal is to create a product that is high strength, ductile and uses existing conventional steel infrastructures, helping reduce costs.
Phase I of the project will focus on “Model Development and Model-Level Validation.” This phase will integrate results from existing computational and experimental methodologies, spanning numerous length scales, to develop a suite of models to predict the properties of 3GAHSS.
Phase II of the project will focus on integration and design. Modeling based upon manufacturing process and performance simulation modules for 3GAHSS will be used to simulate forming and performance of structural components and of an automotive assembly consisting of at least four reduced weight 3GAHSS structural motor compartment elements.
USAMP is a wholly owned subsidiary of USCAR focused on developing materials and processes that enable the high volume production of vehicles that are half the mass, more recyclable, of equal or better quality and durability, and are as affordable as vehicles today.
USCAR is the collaborative automotive technology Company for Chrysler Group LLC, Ford Motor Company and General Motors. The goal of USCAR is to further strengthen the technology base of the domestic auto industry through cooperative research and development.
Formed in 1987, the Auto/Steel Partnership is a consortium of Steel Market Development Institute’s Automotive Applications Council, Chrysler Group LLC, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. The Partnership leverages the resources of the automotive and steel industries to pursue research, validation and education that have helped automakers enhance vehicle safety and fuel economy and improve design and manufacturing.
Auto/Steel Partnership members include: AK Steel Corporation; ArcelorMittal Dofasco; ArcelorMittal USA LLC; Chrysler Group LLC; Ford Motor Company; General Motors Company; Nucor Corporation; Severstal North America; ThyssenKrupp Steel USA, LLC; and United States Steel Corporation.
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