New generation steels for light weight vehicle safety related applications

Vehicle lightening efforts, low fuel consumption and low CO2 emission have become an important target in the automotive industry without compromising safety and comfort. By reducing vehicle weights, fuel consumption and CO2 emissions are significantly reduced. In this context, the next generation steels are constantly being developed in terms of high strength, forming, weld ability, low cost in matters such as vehicle lightening and impact safety. In this study, side-impact performance of the next generation steels that can be used for the body B-Pillar part as part of vehicle lightening was examined. In finite element analysis, Usibor 1500, TWIP 980, TRIP 800, DP 1000 materials and three different metal sheet thicknesses (1.3–1.5–1.8 mm) were used for the B-Pillar part. All results obtained were compared in terms of energy absorption ability, formability, weld ability, cost and weight.