Tata Steel is fighting
back to reclaim lost ground following successful trials of its XPF product
range. XPF800 is a new hot-rolled steel for demanding chassis applications.
Tata
claims the new steel offers an “unprecedented mix of strength and formability” and
these give manufacturers increased design freedom and weight-saving potential,
while still being able to create components that guarantee stiffness and
fatigue resistance in the chassis system.
XPF800, produced at a tensile strength level
of 800MPa, is the first grade of the product family to be commercially
available. It will be followed by XPF650 and XPF1000 which are in development
and set to appear also.
Tata Steel claims it is the first-to-market in
Europe with a hot-rolled product offering high strength combined with
exceptional formability characteristics. A hot-dip galvanised range is also in
development, which will allow thinner gauges to be used effectively, without
running the risk of corrosion that is a concern with thinner steel
applications.
The XPF800
steel product has been homologated by a major tier supplier and an OEM, both of
which are looking to incorporate the product into their upcoming projects. As
yet, no date has been given for start of production (SOP) at the Ijmuiden
facility in the Netherlands where it is planned the steel will be made, however
those companies which have seen it already are looking to incorporate it in
upcoming projects. Trial materials will be with interested parties in the
coming weeks.
Sources suggest
that the homologations are effectively global homologations of two companies
with global footprints, so at least have a UK presence. Out of the prospective
customers to be trialling the product there is a number of UK-based companies,
as well as NAFTA ones too.
According to Tata Steel the superior
formability of XPF800 enables light weighting of complex vehicle components,
while achieving the same fatigue performance as standard equivalent complex
phase steels and high-strength low-alloy steels (HSLA).
From a vehicle weight perspective, the XPF
range, with its nano-precipitation strengthened single-phase ferritic
microstructure and its superior product characteristics, allows manufacturers
to create parts that can be more than 15 per cent lighter than those produced
with equivalent advanced steel grades – even compared to HR CP800.
The improved stretch flangability of XPF800,
with an average Hole Expansion Capacity of 90 per cent, enables geometric
changes to a part’s design that increases stiffness while delivering mass
reduction.
When compared to HR CP800, the new hot-rolled
XPF800 steel combines this higher stretch flangability with higher tensile
elongation. These product characteristics ultimately lead to reduced risk of
edge shearing, allowing additional flanges and deep sections to be incorporated
in the design to maintain, or even improve the end-product performance.
These factors all support automotive
manufacturers to optimise their total cost of ownership (TCO). Not only does
the formability of XPF800 enable light-weighting potential, but it also gives
the opportunity to create new designs that help with parts consolidation and
press shop yield.
The characteristics of XPF, compared to CP800,
create less material waste and less downtime of the production line when making
complex parts.
Other Tata Steel body-in-white (BIW) products
include MagiZinc, Serica and HyperForm.
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