- The Sup3rForm project seeks to demonstrate the industrial viability of third-generation quenching and partitioning steels and medium-manganese steels for the manufacture of high added value automotive parts at low cost and with a lower carbon footprint.
- The outcomes obtained by the project will help to consolidate the role of steel as a cost-effective lightweight solution in future mobility.
- The Sup3rForm consortium is coordinated by the Eurecat technology centre and is made up of eight European partners.
The European project Sup3rForm, led by the Eurecat technology centre, will work on the optimization of third-generation quenching and partitioning and medium-manganese steels to improve their properties and favour their use in light structural applications that respond to the increasing need for lighter, more efficient, safer and economic vehicles in the mobility of the future.
In this sense, Sup3rForm will implement a multiscale material testing and modelling approach to identify the main damage and deformation mechanisms of these new generation advanced steels designed to offer high resistance, as well as to understand the relationship between their microstructures and critical properties in its use such as formability, fracture toughness, fatigue and crashworthiness.
So, in the Sup3rForm project “the industrial viability of third-generation quenching and partitioning steels and medium-manganese steels will be demonstrated for the manufacture of high-value-added automotive parts at low cost and with a smaller footprint carbon throughout the vehicle’s life cycle”, explains the project coordinator and head of the Mechanical Behavior Line of Eurecat’s Metallic and Ceramic Materials Unit, David Frómeta.
In addition, Sup3rForm will develop advanced experimental and numerical methods to accurately predict in-use properties and part performance at early design stages, reducing the time-to-market of new high-performance steel products.
As indicated by the director of Eurecat’s Metal and Ceramic Materials Unit, Montse Vilaseca, “the results obtained will pave the way for the industrial implementation of new qualities of advanced steel in the automotive sector and will help to consolidate the role of steel as a cost-effective lightweighting solution in future mobility”.
Quenching and partitioning and medium-manganese steels, belonging to the third generation of advanced high-strength steels (AHSS), are characterized by showing high mechanical resistance and very good ductility, offering the possibility of manufacturing thinner high-performance components and more complex geometries, which makes them particularly suitable for structural safety components.
The Sup3rForm consortium, funded by the RFCS (Research Fund for Coal and Steel) research program, is coordinated by the Eurecat technology centre and consists of eight European partners covering the entire value chain of the automotive industry, as well as the R&D: Eurecat, ALBA Synchrotron (ALBA-CELLS), voestalpine Stahl, ArcelorMittal, Centro Ricerche Fiat, MA, Luleå University of Technology and Aalto University.