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Steel Developer Enters the AHSS Ring

In a statement, NanoSteel said its AHSS is both strong and formable – it claims a tensile strength of 1,200 MPa and says 50 percent elongation is possible. The steel was created through under a multi-year development program with U.S.-based AK Steel Corp.

"We are pleased to partner with NanoSteel to bring this exciting new product to the market, said AK Steel chief executive Roger Newport in a statement.

“As the first steel producer to manufacture this unique product using traditional slab casting, we are proud to add this accomplishment to our long and successful track record of innovation,” he said.  

A privately held company, NanoSteel was spun out of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory in 2002. Its primary focus is on developing alloys for use as automotive sheet steel in lightweighting applications.

It’s indirectly affiliated with General Motors – one of its lead shareholders is GM Ventures, the automaker’s venture capital arm.

NanoSteel president and chief executive said its AHSS is designed to be both easy to produce, using conventional alloys and standard slab casters, and easy to use, allowing for room-temperature stamping and forming.  

“We are confident that the exceptional properties of NanoSteel’s sheet will enable automakers to affordably meet the ever-changing requirements of vehicle design and foster a new era of steel competitiveness in the battle of material choice,” he said.