ThyssenKrupp Magazin
ThyssenKrupp Magazin
ThyssenKrupp Magazin
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conical tailored tubes – like a fanfare trumpet, their diameter steadily increases<br />
while maintaining consistent wall strength. This form allows the<br />
beams to absorb the energy from a crash much better than a cylindrical<br />
steel beam can.<br />
Working with high-strength steel requires technicians who really<br />
know the material; people who recognize, for example, that when being<br />
pressed into different forms some steels not only take on a new shape<br />
but become stronger. “The structure changes,” explains Markus Weber,<br />
citing the example of a paper clip that is bent back and forth: it eventually<br />
breaks in two, not because the metal gets soft but for the opposite<br />
reason – namely that the stress makes the metal hard, and hence brittle.<br />
Naturally, high-strength steel used in a car should not break in<br />
case of an accident, and the parts are accordingly designed in a way<br />
that their fabrication does not bring them to the limit of their stability<br />
but always leaves a degree of elasticity that in a collision can absorb<br />
energy from a crash. “A lot of auto makers simply don’t have this com-<br />
The way from the<br />
computer to serial production<br />
is not far for the<br />
NewSteelBody: in five years’<br />
time, it could be hitting the<br />
road. A current minivan serves<br />
as the practical example.<br />
TK <strong>Magazin</strong>e | 1 | 2004 |<br />
NEWSTEELBODY 57<br />
prehensive knowledge about our new materials,” says Weber. “But<br />
we’ll be glad to pass it on to them.” The NewSteelBody is a transparent<br />
system, and anyone interested in its applications can receive all<br />
relevant data and technical details from <strong>ThyssenKrupp</strong>. “We make<br />
everything accessible to the auto makers,” and the reaction has been<br />
very positive, Weber adds.<br />
SHAPING THIN-WALLED PROFILES<br />
New materials, including even more stable steels, will mean further,<br />
continuing improvements to the NewSteelBody. Both Weber and Osburg<br />
believe that the steel can be formed and hardened in even more<br />
favorable ratios, and that the thin-walled profile can be shaped even<br />
more effectively.<br />
Whatever changes are made to it, the NewSteelBody is already<br />
assured of a role in helping to make sure that tomorrow’s cars are<br />
lighter and more fuel efficient, while remaining at least as stable and<br />
safe as today’s vehicles. 7
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