Automotive Notes, the newsletter with a focus on lightweight automotive design

An informational and inspirational read

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voestalpine continues its progress with consistent sustainability measures for premium steel grades in the automotive sector and impresses with an even lower CO2 footprint. greentec steel Edition makes it possible!

Increased tensile strength in processing materials = increasing tool costs? Not with us! Our eifeler coatings reduce wear on your forming and cutting tools and increases tool life, even for materials that are difficult to process.

Reduce your tool design time and use the new parameterized cam unit adapter. Parameters such as cam unit models, size, angle or width and much more can be quickly and easily adjusted directly in the CATIA interface window.

High strength, corrosion resistance and excellent forming properties are the benefits of our new hot-rolled and hot-dip galvanized steel grades that are especially recommended in the efficient production of chassis components.

WorldAutoSteel has sponsored the development of a steel body structure for an autonomous electric vehicle. Reinhard Hackl, Project Manager for strategic research at voestalpine Stahl GmbH, provides insights into the features and advantages that are made available to all OEMs.

A dynamic process developed by voestalpine in the bonding of laminations into stator stacks enables 100% media tightness with integrated cooling that is fully bonded with Backlack. This means that the design of electric motors with high power density can be even more compact, lighter in weight and even more powerful.

voestalpine supplies Mercedes-Benz AG with high-quality steel. Highlight: Living a circular economy. Beginning in 2027, voestalpine will also be supplying carbon-reduced steel made in the new electric-arc furnace in Linz to the automotive company.

The challenges in meeting climate and environmental objectives are significant. The steel and automotive industries are working on answers and driving the green transformation. Experts from Audi, BMW, Scholz Recycling, Daxner & Merl and voestalpine presented their path toward a carbon-neutral future.

How far can the steel in question be formed? Forming limit curves provide important information. voestalpine has further developed the existing data collection model. More accurate FLCs can now be created with much less effort, which is precisely what engineers need.

High strength yet excellent formability. The new top product made by voestalpine for cold-rolled, microalloyed steels combines high strength with high formability. Find out more about the macro benefits in the expert interview.

Safe, environmentally friendly, economically efficient. An innovative steel car body concept for autonomous electric vehicles demonstrates the potential of innovative steels for the mobility of tomorrow. As a member of the core team, voestalpine has brought its expertise to the project.

"With full e-nergy into the future" is the motto of voestalpine Camtec. The cam units in this business unit have made the leap into the tooling of several new electric cars in recent years. The advantages of Camtec cam units have convinced OEMs worldwide.

More than 10.09 kg in weight savings with only a few components. The best-of compilation of SLIMulations shows the high weight-saving potential of ultralights steels made by voestalpine.

If you want to be a successful sustainability pioneer, it is important that you focus on complete transparency throughout the entire lifecycle of your products. voestalpine leads the way with EPDs that have been verified by auditing agencies to ensure a solid basis for the ecological assessment data of steel products.

A track report directly from the cockpit. Peter Heinzl, Head of Automotive Sales, hands the steering wheel to Jürgen Lechfellner.

Fasten your seat belt! A fast-paced video clip celebrating the 30th edition of the Automotive Notes newsletter takes a look in the rearview mirror. Pictures of innovations, eMotions, experts flash by and whet your appetite for coming issues.

Highly customized steel strip to even more precisely meet the component requirements of the customer.

Our virtual SLIMulations demonstrate the advantages of ahss high-ductility dual-phase and complex-phase steels when it comes to saving weight.

The only European steel company listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Europe Index, among the top 1% of all participating companies in the EcoVadis ranking, has now also committed itself to the Science Based Targets Initiative.

Five beauty secrets behind the unique surface quality of voestalpine steels open new doors in the automotive industry for innovative exposed-panel applications.

From high-strength steels to the finished component: voestalpine experts talk about our comprehensive material, processing and development expertise.

It's amazing what steel can do! Learn more about it on our new website, where forward-thinkers can find first-class information about sustainability in steelmaking.

voestalpine has big plans when it comes to sustainability, but what are the underlying projects and initiatives? Stella sheds some light on them in an explanatory animation that gives you a glimpse into our promising future.

Steels in lightweight automotive design? What trends are moving us? How green is the future? How does voestalpine support development engineers? Experts from Magna Steyr, the BMW Group, Toyota Motor Europe and voestalpine provided highly interesting insights.

voestalpine is installing photovoltaic systems on the roofs of all the buildings on its Linz site to generate environmentally friendly solar power for an even greener future.

No question, the Automotive Dialogue was worth the experience. Here you can take a look behind the scenes with host Peter Heinzl in an interview.

Learn how innovative companies think ahead and meet the challenges of the future: Exciting articles from the Automotive Dialogue can be found here.

See how the innovative ahss classic cold-forming steels of voestalpine save weight in the car body of mid-size cars when compared with conventional steels. The SLIMulations series is constantly being expanded.

Did you know that you can use the Prime Service to quickly and easily order isovac® electrical steel strip for prototyping? The service breaks every record, even when you have short-term requirements.

The LOCCAM unit optimizes output in deep-drawing processes and increases component quality. It also leads to up to 8 percent in material savings.

“Expect more” was the motto of the Electrical Steel Day. Electrical steel experts provided interested listeners with new insights into the world of electrical steel. The focus was on material purchasing, material selection, sustainability and bonding technologies. Customers and partners from over 20 countries took the opportunity to participate in the live event.

SLIMulations show weight savings in high-strength components with innovative ultralights made by voestalpine and provide data and suggestions for engineering designers.

The voestalpine Steel Division leads the way with new solutions, including greentec steel products. The certificate awarded by ReponsibleSteel for sustainable steel production at the Linz site shows our green technology is on the right track.

The first hot-forming steel with a thin zinc coating for press-hardened components and strengths up to 2000 MPa is called phs-scalefree and is supplied exclusively by voestalpine.

Congratulations! The voestalpine steel innovation phs-scalefree sets standards in lightweight automotive design. Peter Heinzl, Head of Sales, Automotive Industry, in an interview on the anniversary of the newsletter

voestalpine is the center competence for additively manufactured components made of steel for the automotive industry, from component development and production to the assembly of hybrid components and their integration into the vehicle design.

Freight trains supply car manufacturers in Bavaria and the Upper Palatinate with steel from Linz in Upper Austria and transport scrap back to production. This saves more than 8000 tons of CO2 every year.

The scalable battery platform with a steel box developed by voestalpine Stahl and Bertrandt sets new standards in economical electric vehicle design.

Carbon-free steel production is our goal at voestalpine. Thanks to process optimizations, the Linz site is already an international leader in carbon-reduced steel production. Customers can benefit immediately.

In response to a demand from the automotive industry, first and foremost Audi, and to a proposal be VDA, a new generation of prelube has been developed in order to provide sustainable advantages in production.

When it comes to battery boxes for electric vehicles, voestalpine is the partner of choice for engineers with comprehensive material expertise. Make a battery pit stop on the website and recharge with a head start on your information.

Supported by voestalpine and other renowned project partners, the "Underground Sun Storage 2030" project has set itself a groundbreaking goal: The underground storage of hydrogen is soon to become a reality.

For voestalpine, responsibility for the climate and the environment means taking a sustainable approach to products and production. A further step in this direction is the optimization of energy efficiency with the avoidance of so-called flare losses.

The newly developed basic cam unit represents an economical alternative to the premium series. With a load-dependent service life of up to one million strokes, its optimized geometry is very impressive. It features high forces and simplified handling. Added value for every customer!

Safety and the protection of occupants in the case of a fire are hotly debated topics when it comes to electric and hybrid cars. With a self-conducted fire test, voestalpine provides refractory data and material expertise.

The automotive industry is on the move. Designers do not spend their time sitting back and relaxing: Safety, weight reduction and economy are driving factors in interior vehicle design. With innovative steel solutions and many years of experience, voestalpine is your partner in the field of seat structures.

In the field of e-mobility, voestalpine specializes in battery box bottom structures and sandwich designs with innovative advanced high strength steels, comprehensive expertise and support. In the field of e-mobility, voestalpine specializes in battery box bottom structures and sandwich designs with innovative advanced high strength steels, comprehensive expertise and support.

Battery boxes for electric vehicles must be crash-resistant and fireproof. voestalpine has systematically established expertise in the field of battery boxes and is a partner that offers more than just optimized steels.

The Duplex VARIANTIC® 1400 tool coating has set a milestone in the economical cold forming of AHSS steels. An expert interview reveals how the future is shaped through a Group-wide collaborative effort.

Highly economical cold forming. You too can benefit from the many advantages of ultra-high-strength steels (higher than 1,000 MPa) and a new coating for forming tools that increases tool life by up to 460%.

phs-uncoated steels are setting a new milestone for safety-related press-hardened components where the corrosion stress is low. This voestalpine steel is the new ace when it comes to maximum energy absorption and minimum deformation in a crash.

The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) is an international organization that ranks several thousand companies worldwide every year with respect to their climate protection activities. In two independent rankings, voestalpine improved considerably, showing us that we are right on target. It doesn’t get any greener.

With a high degree of flexibility and stability, voestalpine is your reliable partner, especially in challenging times. In his newest video message, Peter Heinzl, Head of Sales, Automotive Industry, shows you something that voestalpine will never be.

The voestalpine material data for forming simulation are now available online, and crash simulation characteristics are provided as upon request.

The properties of galvanized ahss high-ductility steels are a joy for forming specialists. Welders see this in a more differentiated way, especially with respect to liquid metal embrittlement. Here are top tips for tip-top welding results.

High-strength HD steels and their weldability are essential in the automotive industry. The expert interview hits the welding spot and provides information about the most important current issues of the industry.

voestalpine sets a new standard in the thickness tolerances of hot-rolled wide strip with guaranteed narrowest tolerances across the entire width and length of the strip. The precise advantages will convince you.

voestalpine guarantees the narrowest thickness tolerances in hot-rolled steel strip, thus providing a higher level of quality and economic advantages. You will find out here how this precision mission was accomplished.

Do you want everything just right in lightweight automotive design? With respect to responsibility for the environment, people and the future, voestalpine is a sustainable step ahead. Discover amazing facts on our new website “Stella Sustainable,” where we focus on sustainability and provide you with interesting images and videos.

Xpert Interview on the making of the steel innovation CP1400HD, which sets new standards in cold forming in automotive lightweight design.

The high-ductility, complex-phase steel CP1400HD of voestalpine redefines the limits of what is feasible in automotive lightweight design.

New voestalpine plants in the field of secondary metallurgy and continuous casting voestalpine remains on the fast track in automotive lightweight design. New plants make it possible to produce high-strength steels of the highest quality with the high capacities required by the market.

Highest strip flatness, strength and excellent cold formability characterize the martensitic steel made by voestalpine. This makes it an ideal complement to hot forging steels for crash-relevant components.

Experts attending the Tri-country Corrosion Conference spoke about trends in corrosion research and introduced the new standard corrosion test for the automotive industry. We were there with a camera.

Where does the current of opinions flow with respect to electromobility? An interactive presentation at this year's "Connected by Excellence" provided an overview of further developments in electromobility and insights into the opinions of representatives and experts in the industry.

Hot forming: Materials and production technologies. voestalpine is a hot tip in the field of hot forming. A content overview shows you why different materials and production technologies offer decisive benefits to our customers.

phs-directform®, a world novelty, is directly hot-formed, hot-dip galvanized steel strip to be used in corrosion-resistant light-weight components for the automotive industry. Tailor-welded blanks (TWB) can also be processed without additional expense.

Tubes and sections, corrosion-resistant and with high strength where it is needed. A patented rollform hardening process will soon be a part of auto manufacturing and will open new opportunities.

Construction of the new voestalpine production facility for the innovative field of hot forming is well underway. Production operations in the world's first line for the direct hot forming of phs-directform® are scheduled to begin in Schwäbisch Gmünd in the summer of 2016. The press tool must be installed in the production line before any parts can be pressed.

The requirements of car producers are very diversified with respect to structural autobody components, which feature ever lighter weights, higher strengths and greater stability. As an experienced and innovative specialist, voestalpine responds to the industry with phs-directform®, a material that meets the highest demands of hot-formed galvanized applications.

The next world novelty in the field of hot forming for press-hardened steels is on its way to the customer. Construction work is progressing smoothly on the world's first phs-directform® line in the voestalpine works of Schwäbisch Gmünd.