Lightweight Car Body and Application of High

Strength Steels
Mingtu Ma and Hongliang Yi

Abstract
Improvement of safety, reduction of energy consumption, and reduction of emission become
one of the most highlighted issues for automotive industry in recent years. One of the most
significant solutions, i.e. lightweight car body has been described in this paper. Design,
implementation, and characterization of parameters of lightweight car body are reviewed as
well. In the later part of this paper, the development of high strength steels (HSS) and
advanced high strength steels (AHSS) and their typical properties and microstructures are
introduced. The application of these high strength steels for lightweight car body can largely
improve safety and performance of vehicles.

Keywords
Lightweight car body  High strength steel  Advanced high strength steel

international oil climbs fast and the requirements of the

1 Introduction
The automotive industry is developing fast worldwide,
especially in China. The annual output of automobiles
increases more than 10% in China since 2000. In China,
13.64 million units had been produced in 2009 and more
than 15 million units are expected to be produced in 2010.
Automotive industry promotes the progress of human
civilization. However, it leads also to the problems of
safety, fuel consumption and emission of pollutants [1]. Due
to increasing number of the retaining and annual output of
automobiles, emissions of CO2 and other environment
pollutants become ever worse. Energy consumption and
environment pollutants due to automobiles have been seri-
ous problems. At the same time, because the price of
M. Ma (&)
China Automotive Engineering Research Institute,
Chongqing 400039, People’s Republic of China
e-mail: mingtuma@126.com
H. Yi
Graduate Institute of Ferrous Technology, Pohang University of
Science and Technology, Pohang 790-784, Republic of Korea
whole performance by customer are much higher, auto-
motive lightweight becomes more and more significant.
This paper illustrates the signification, conception, and
comprehension of automotive lightweight. Characterization
of parameters, and execution methods of realization of
lightweight car bodies are also clarified.
2 Tendency of Automotive Industry:
Lightweight
Seventy-five percent of the energy consumption is related to
the mass of whole car body [2] and the lightweight car body
therefore can reduce the energy consumption and accord-
ingly CO2 emission effectively. For instance, under the
condition of Europe IV emission regulation, gasoline con-
sumption in 100 km (Y) and mass of whole car body
(X) follows Eq. 1 [1] in Ford ‘TRANSIT’ car:
Y ¼ 0:003X þ 3:343 4 ð1Þ
In the case of commercial vehicle, reduction in mass of
1,000 kg can result in decreasing 6–7% energy consumption.

Y. Weng et al. (eds.), Advanced Steels, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-17665-4_20, 187

Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg and Metallurgical Industry Press 2011
188 M. Ma and H. Yi

Fig. 1 Influence of mass on oil consumption [3]

Fig. 3 The specific lightweight coefficient

coefficient L is suggested by Bruno Lüdke from BMW and is

expressed by the formula (2). L is the ratio of structure
weight mGer (excluding glass) to static torsion stiffness Ct
(with glass) and the associated area A (footprint track 9
wheelbase), In Eq. 2, area A is an important parameter for
the design of automobiles. The class of vehicles and the
performance Ct of BIW are determined by this parameter.
L can be also as a customer benefits evaluating parameter.
Increased customer benefits are reflected in a decreased
lightweight coefficient [1, 4].
 
m kg 3
L ¼ Ger  2
 10 ð2Þ
Ct  A Nm=  m

In order to reflect more directly the lightweight effect, a

Fig. 2 Relation of 10/15 mode fuel efficiency with vehicle weight [1] lightweight exponent Li is presented and suggested based on
Eq. 1. Lightweight exponent Li is expressed in Eq. 2,
Except the air dynamic resistance, all the other resistance L 1  L2 mGer2 Ct1  A1
is related to the mass of car body, such as rolling resistance Li ¼ ¼1  ð3Þ
L1 mGer1 Ct2  A2
of wheel, resistance of gravity during slope climbing,
resistance for acceleration, etc. [3] (Fig. 1). That is proven Li is non-dimension factor.
by experimental results (Fig. 2) [1]. L1 represents the lightweight coefficient of the original
vehicle, and L2 represents the lightweight coefficient of the
lightweight vehicle. When the properties of BIW are
3 Characteristic Parameters invariable, Eq. 3 can be simplified as Eq. 4,
of Automotive Lightweight (Fig. 3) mGer2
Li ¼ 1  ð4Þ
mGer1
Lightweight design should include weight reduction of the
body-in-white (BIW) and performance improvements. The Similarly, when the weight of the vehicle is invariable,
functional requirements for stiffness, crash and car lifetime but the properties of BIW are enhanced, a vehicle is also
have to be considered in selection of the materials for a body lightweight, and then Eq. 3 can be expressed as Eq. 5,
in white. The stiffness of a structure can be influenced by the
Ct1  A1
E-modulus and panel thickness and construction. Crash and Li ¼ 1  ð5Þ
Ct2  A2
vehicle lifetime are controlled by the strength of the material
and thus affected by high strength steel grades. In order to In order to reflect comprehensively the influence of
express lightweight effect, a specific lightweight coeffi- lightweight on the whole performance, the ratio of loads for
cient L is suggested in Ref. [4]. The specific lightweight front axes to loads of rear axes must be kept to be 1:1, and
Lightweight Car Body and Application of High Strength Steels 189

Table 1 The targets of ULSUB and ULSUB-AVC

2000BIW ULSAB ULSAB-
AVC
Crash 2000 Year’s 2000 Year’s 2004 Year’s
requirements law law law
BIW mass (kg) 270 203 218
BIW costs 979 947 972
(US$)

Manufacturing
– Tailored Blanks
– Deep Drawing, Hydroforming
– Castings
– Spot Welding, Laserwelding, Targetof BMW:
– Self Pierce Riveting
Dynamic
Minimized Weight, Axle Load Distribution
– Passive Safety
– Service Life and Life Time
– Acoustic and Comfort
– Static and dynamic Stiffness
Engineering
– optimized Package
– optimized Load Path
– homogenous Structure
– optimized Geometry
Materials
– High Strength Steels
– Aluminum, Magnesium
– Mixed Material Aproach
– Carbon Fibre
– Composite
Fig. 6 Typical mechanical properties of steels for automotive
application
Time and Cost
requirements, (2) mass relative to original vehicles should
Weight optimized reduce 20%, (3) no additional cost, as seen in Table 1.
Body in White
4 Lightweight Design Approaches

Fig. 4 Lightweight design approaches
the functions, cost and weight reduction all should be
considered. Take a ULSAB-AVC for instance, three factors
were required, i.e. (1) lightweight of BIW must satisfy crash
Lightweight design approaches are shown in Fig. 4. From
Fig. 4, a lightweight design should be a superior integration
of different materials, a superior integration of different
specialties, a superior integration of design, materials and
advanced manufacturing technologies. A lightweight design
can be performed by optimizing geometry. But the better

Fig. 5 Standardized crash

simulations
190
Fig. 7 Optical micrographs
(a) and SEM photo of dual phase
steel (b)
Fig. 8 TEM micrographs of dual phase steel
effect of lightweight can be able to perfect only by the
dominant integration of design, materials and manufacture.
The parameter of mass is related to the strength of mate-
rials, specific strength, ductility, modulus, geometry and
forming technologies of materials. The choice of advanced
forming technology is important, for the application of
Fig. 9 Twin island of martensite
(a) and crystal lattice fringe (b)
M. Ma and H. Yi
SHSS (super high strength steel) to improve the safety per-
formance. Due to the poor formability of SHSS, the hot
forming must be used in order to attain the strength more than
1,500 MPa. The high strength floor panels of vehicle body
can be manufactured by roll forming. TWB (tailored welding
blanks) technology can reduce the numbers of parts and weld
points, resulting in improvement of the fatigue performance
and sealing performance as well as reduction of weight.
Hydro-forming can reduce the numbers of parts and improve
the performance of parts (for example, sub-frame of engine).
These form the foundation of the design [5, 6].
The computer simulation is an effective method in exe-
cution of approaches of automotive lightweight. The load
paths for crash and formability for a part can be simulated,
and thus reasonable technological parameters can be
attained for lightweight design and selection of materials
and advanced forming technologies.
5 Lightweight and Passenger Safety
Standardized crash simulations such as the EURO NCAP or
the North American NHST tests are for enhancing the
requirements for passenger safety in case of collision, which
including frontal impact, side impact, etc. (Fig. 5). USA
Lightweight Car Body and Application of High Strength Steels 191

Fig. 12 TEM and SEM micrograph of Q&P or Q&PT steel [12]

Fig. 10 SEM micrographs of TRIP steel (ferrite, bainite and remind

austenite) [15]

Fig. 13 TEM and SEM micrograph of nano-bainite steel with nano-

size austenite film

government even increased the velocity from 64 to 80 kph

in frontal test recently and enhanced the loading from 1.5
times of mass of car body to 2.5 times of that for roof crush
test. Lightweight by applying high strength steels in BIW is
one of the most effective solutions for the combination of
energy reduction and safety improvement.

6 High Strength Steel (HSS)

and Advanced High Strength Steel
(AHSS)

6.1 Concept of HSS and AHSS

Many attentions have been focused onto the development of

HSS and AHSS (Fig. 6) in recent years, whose application
Fig. 11 TEM micrographs of TWIP steel: a before deformation and on vehicles plays important roles in lightweight of BIW and
b after deformation [12] enhancement of safety. Conventional HSS includes C–Mn,
192 M. Ma and H. Yi

Fig. 15 Formability of high strength steels. a Instant n value and

b forming limited curves measured from sheet with 1.2 mm thickness

Fig. 14 Optical micrographs of hot press forming steel. a Before hot ultra-advanced HSS [11], twining-induced plasticity (TWIP)
press forming; b after hot press forming steels [12], and extra-advanced HSS [11] including
quenching and partitioning (Q&P) [13], quenching and
bake hardening (BH), high strength interstitial free (IF) and partitioning tempering (Q&PT) [14] and super bainitic steels
high strength low alloying (HSLA) steels [6]; AHSS [9, 11].
includes dual phase (DP) [7], transformation-induced plas- Dual phase steel has been developed since the end of
ticity (TRIP) assisted [8, 9], complex phase (CP) and mar- 1970s and widely applied for commercial auto parts formed
tensitic (M) steels [10]; next generation of AHSS represents by cold pressing. Its microstructure consists of soft ferrite as
continuous matrix and hard martensite island (Fig. 7),
which performs many advantages for application such as:
Table 2 Typical mechanical properties of high strength steels for high initial work hardening rate, high ductility and high
automotive application [13, 16]
strength, low ratio of ultimate tensile strength to yield
Code YS TS YPE n (10%- TE
(MPa) (MPa) (%) UE) (%) strength, and high bake hardening ability. TEM micro-
graphs of dual phase steel are shown in Fig. 8. Twin island
IF 150 300 0.24 46
of martensite and crystal lattice fringe are shown in Fig. 9.
DQSK 170 300 0.22 43
BH340 220 345 0.19 37
IF-rephos 220 345 0.22 38
Table 3 Static and dynamic mechanical properties of high strength
HSLA340 350 445 2.6 0.17 28 steels
DP600 340 600 0.17 27 Steel, Gizrfe YS UTS A B n C
DP800 450 840 0.11 17 BH300 312 419 363 701.22 0.725 0.020
DP1000 720 100 0.06 11 400w 325 460 403 599.06 0.593 0.0214
TRIP600 380 631 0.23 34 HSLA350 352 443 370 684.6 0.594 0.0188
TRIP800 470 820 0.6 0.23 28 HSS590 409 589 455 1006.8 0.663 0.0146
Q&P 950 1,080 0.12 18 DP600 448 660 478 741.5 0.399 0.0141
Q&PT 900 1,600 0.18 27 TKIP590 428 329 472 1024.7 0.676 0.0119
HPF 1,200 1,500 10 DP800 547 827 583 900.17 0.357 0.0095
Lightweight Car Body and Application of High Strength Steels 193

Table 4 Fatigue behavior of advance high strength steels

BH300 GI 440W GA HSLA350 GI HSS590 CR DP600 GI TRIP590 EG DP800 GA
rf0 549 84l 806 886 983 813 1205
ef0 0.969 0.468 1.920 0.480 0.211 0.496 0.104
B -0.063 -0.105 -0.098 -0.095 -0.101 -0.063 -0.101
C -0.614 -0.523 -0.668 -0.538 -0.457 -0.572 -0.394
0
K (MPa) 530 966 671 983 1363 871 2104
n0 0.097 0.198 0.133 0.173 0.219 0.109 0.253
Endurance limit, re0 193 2.09 203 230 228 336 307
Notch endurance limit, rn0 120 130 125 144 142 178 147
Kf = r-1/rn at l07 reversals 1.61 1.61 1.62 1.60 1.61 1.89 2.09

TRIP-assisted steels can be considered as a modified dual
phase steel, which consists of allotriomorphic ferrite as
matrix, bainitic ferrite and retained austenite, in some case
containing small amount of martensite. That, like dual phase
steel, achieves high work hardening rate and combination of
strength and ductility, in which the retained austenite
transforms into martensite during deformation and therefore
supplies extra plasticity compared with dual phase steels,
which is the so-called TRIP effect standing for transfor-
mation induced plasticity. The enriched carbon can increase

Fig. 16 Notch fatigue behavior of advance high strength steels

Fig. 17 Strain hardening and bake hardening properties of HSLA,

DP600, and TRIP600, which are baked at 170°C for 30 min after 2% Fig. 18 Drop weight system measuring crash energy absorption a test
uniaxial prestrain sample b drop weight system
194
Fig. 19 Crash energy absorption of HSS and AHSS
Fig. 20 Parameter and sample measured spring back of HSS sheet
Fig. 21 The effects of mechanical properties on spring back angle
M. Ma and H. Yi
the stability of austenite against martensite transformation,
which partitioning into austenite during intercritical
annealing and isothermal holding for bainitic transformation
where the cementite precipitation is retarded by addition of
silicon and aluminium. The retained austenite has to be
sufficient stable to sustain until the large strain. Hot press
forming steel is of full martensite (Fig. 10) and therefore
extremely strong, which is suitable for the application on the
anti-intrusion parts.
The U-AHSS represents TWIP/TRIP steel, which con-
ventionally contains more than 20 mass% of manganese and
some other solutes such as silicon, aluminium, etc. This
kind of steel performs extraordinary ductility combined
with toughness, strength and delayed fracture resistance,
which is achieved by the transformation into e’ martensite
from austenite during deformation (Fig. 11).
The Q&P steel consists of martensite as matrix and
retained austenite with lath morphology and therefore per-
forms strength as high as martensitic steels and combines
suitable ductility due to the TRIP effect (Fig. 12). The
carbide is permitted to precipitate and therefore the tough-
ness of martensite matrix can be improved in the Q&PT
steels.
Nano-size austenite film (Fig. 13) is retained between
bainitic ferrite by low temperature bainite transformation in
the super bainite steels, which behaves excellent combina-
tion of strength and ductility.
Lightweight Car Body and Application of High Strength Steels
Fig. 22 FOA of advanced high strength steel
Hot press forming martensite is of martensite micro-
structure after hot press forming (Fig. 14) and behaves
super strength and some elongation.
6.2 Mechanical Properties and Formability
of HSS and AHSS Steels
Advanced high strength steels achieve better ductility and
high work hardening exponent (Table 2), and accordingly
Fig. 23 Concept of ULSAB-AVC and application of HSS steels
195
better formability (Fig. 15), compared with the conven-
tional high strength steels [13, 16].
6.3 Special Properties of High Strength
Steels
6.3.1 Mechanical Properties under the High
Strain Rate
Crash worthiness is one of the crucial properties of high
strength steels due to its conventional application on
196 M. Ma and H. Yi

Fig. 24 Development and project of application of AHSS after Fig. 25 SKODA concept design and the car
ULSAB-AVC

structural auto parts, which can be characterized properly
by high speed tensile property measured on a servo elec-
tro-hydraulic universal testing machine or split Hopkinson
bar apparatus (HBST). The data is analyzed using the
Johnson–Cook equation [18] as following:
n Dual phase steels behave much better overall hardening
r ¼ ðA þ Be Þ  ½1 þ C  lnðeÞ
In the range of strain rate from quasi-static to 1,000 s-1,
the elastic module is almost constant and the strength and
energy absorption before necking increase with increasing
strain rate (Table 3) [16, 17, 19, 20, 21].
6.3.2 Fatigue Behavior
The fatigue strength of high strength steels usually increases
with their ultimate tensile strength (Table 4 and Fig. 16) [7,
20]. The TRIP-assisted steels perform higher fatigue
strength and notch fatigue strength compared the other
steels at similar strength level.
6.3.3 Strain Hardening and Bake Hardening
properties including both strain hardening and bake hard-
ening, compared with TRIP-assisted and HSLA steels
(Fig. 17) [16].
6.3.4 Energy Absorption of Auto Parts Made
of AHSS Advanced High Strength Steels
Energy absorption is the crucial property for the anti-crash
auto parts, which can be measured using a drop weight
system (Fig. 18). The parts made from AHSS (TRIP600 and

Table 5 After ULSAB: steelmakers’ developments

ATLAS (‘01 ) NSB (‘02 ) ABC (‘03 )
Target vehicle Cabrio (Karmann) Zafira (Opel) European 5-door, C–D class
Body type Space frame (convertible) Space frame Monocoqne
Forming technologies Hydroforming Hydroforming TWB
Roll forming Tailored tube Patch
Conical tube Roll forming
Double sheet Hot press forming
Roll forming
Davex profile
Materials No special comments on materials Dual phase: 42% TS [ 1,000 MPa: 46%
Complex phase: 15% 600 \ TS \ 1,000: 10%
Microalloyed: 12% 350 \ TS \ 600: 37%
Retained austenite: 8% Mild: 7%
Partial martensitic: 7% Sandwich steel
Deep drawing: 16% Usi-light: spare wheel tub
Quiet steel: dash panel
TWIP: B-pillar reinf.
Usibor1500: B-pillar outer
Results Weight: 19% Weight: 24% Weight: 21%
Stiffness: 9% Stiffness: torsional 12% Stiffness: 9% (torsional)
Cost: 6% Bending: 44% Cost: 9%
Cost: 2%
Lightweight Car Body and Application of High Strength Steels
Fig. 26 Material concept for new model SKODA
DP600 steels) perform much better energy absorption
property compared with the conventional HSS (C–Mn and
HSLA steels) (Fig. 19).
6.3.5 Spring Back
The high strength steels usually behave high yield strength
and high initial work hardening rate, therefore meet trouble
during pressing due to spring back, which can be measured
using a rail specimens shown in Fig. 20. The effect of
mechanical properties on spring back is shown in Fig. 21. The
FOA of advanced high strength steels is shown in Fig. 22.
7 The Application of Advanced High
Strength Steel in Lightweight
Automobiles
7.1 Application of AHSS and HSS
in ULSAB-AVC
The typical example of application of advanced high strength
steel in automotive lightweight is ULSAB-AVC (Fig. 23)
[16]. After ULSAB-AVC, in order to achieve automotive
lightweight the development situation and project of appli-
cation of AHSS are listed in Fig. 24 and Table 5.
7.2 Application of HSS and AHSS
in Developing of New Model
SKODA [22]
New model SKODA are shown in Fig. 25 which have the
major parameters: Weight of BIW, including the door up
covers et all: 373.6 kg; Uncap impact, 5star; static torsion
197
stiffness 21.5 kNm/deg; project area 3.957 m2; the material
concept for SKODA is shown in Fig. 26.
8 Summary
The rapid development of automotive industry is bringing
three serious problems for our life including safety, con-
sumption of energy, and emissions of CO2. Lightweight car
body is one of the significant approaches to solve those
problems. Lightweight design includes not only weight
reduction of the body-in-white (BIW) but also performance
improvements. It can be characterized with either light-
weight coefficient or lightweight index. Lightweight design
must integrate application of different materials, advanced
forming technology, and optimized geometry design.
The development of high strength steel (HSS) and
advanced high strength steel (AHSS) provides opportunity
for the lightweight materials for the development of auto-
motive industry. Their application effectively improves the
performance and safety of lightweight car body.
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