Development of New High-strength Steel Sheets for Automobiles

Improved fuel economy through car weight reduction and higher impact resistant passenger areas are both becoming increasingly popular in the automotive industry. Kobe Steel has developed and produced various kinds of high strength steels for automotive use including 590MPa grade dual-phase hot dip galvannealed steel, and hot and cold-rolled TRIP-aided steel. In this report a few new high strength steels are reported on including a very ductile 980MPa grade hot dip galvannealed steel, and an ultra high strength cold-rolled steel which has excellent delayed fracture resistance.