In our interviews with various managers at Fiat Group Automobiles the key word is “evolution”, referring not only to materials but also to the relationship with SSAB Swedish Steel.
The three managers of Fiat Group Automobiles we meet in Turin are very straightforward. Although they operate in different sectors (Body Engineering and Design, Materials Engineering, and Purchasing), they all agree on the fact that the traditional customer-supplier relationship between steel makers and car manufacturers has developed into something completely new.
The co-operation between Fiat Group Automobiles and SSAB Swedish Steel started with the side-collision bar for the first version of the Punto; a model of which was even displayed in Borlänge, Sweden, (the headquarters of SSAB Tunnplåt) in an exhibition called ‘’Sweden in Italy’’.
Since then, says Giancarlo Bertoldi, Director for Interiors Engineering and Design of Fiat Group Automobiles, the use of high-strength steels in Fiat cars has increased tremendously, especially since the second version of the Punto. In all these years, these materials have undergone a huge evolution and this accounts for their greater use in the Grande Punto: from 28 percent to 67 percent! This means that, today, a good portion of the car body is made of high-strength steel. Better still, 17 percent is extra and ultra high-strength steel.
Aluminium and plastics have always been said to be the materials of a future which, in spite of that, never arrives. How does steel manage to continually evolve?
Steel has undergone a huge evolution in the last few years. And the same has happened to steel processing technologies.
Just think that, today, the performances of forged steels are 8 times higher than they were ten years ago.
These performances would have been unthinkable with the previous steel grades and, at this point, aluminium is simply not competitive any longer.
Can we make a forecast, let’s say up to 2015? By then, how much will high-strength steel “weigh” in Fiat cars?
From what we can see today, steels are continually gaining ground and, if we manage to use steels with a higher yield strength in the body panels as well, we could reach 75-80 percent.
Within the present 67 percent, the use will concentrate more on the so-called advanced high-strength steels (extra- and ultra- high strength steels). Imagine that the DP600, which was regarded as a top product just a few years ago, has now become a commodity.
Today the material weight/production cost ratio is no longer a linear process. Rather, weight seems to have acquired a higher value than in the past since it is a direct function of C02 emissions.
How important is the environmental issue in the development of a new product?
It is a crucial issue today and it will be the same in the future. By using high strength steels, the body weight of the Grande Punto has been cut by 32 kg. If we consider the whole product lifespan, this corresponds to a fuel saving of 150 litres and up to 400 kg less of CO2 emissions.
The Grande Punto car body is made of extra- and ultra high strength steel.
Will steel reach a point where evolutions will be too difficult or too expensive?
This question can only be answered if we know what steel makers are preparing for their future customers in their Research Centres.
Today the limit is represented by roll-forming and deep-drawing multi-phase steels up to 1000 Mpa, as well as by hot-forging Boron steels up to 1400 Mpa. Every steel maker is preparing their own winning product: some are thinking about austenite instead of ferrite, others are concentrating on lowering the steel density while keeping the same mechanical properties, some want to increase the Young’s modulus, some of them are already producing cold-rolling DP trial lots up to 1400 Mpa.
Finally, some steel makers are focusing their attention on presently used products (i.e. DP600 - DP800 - DP1000) and are trying to increase their cold forming properties.
Steel makers know very well how to solve the technical problems encountered in the development of these products, and costs will not depend so much on raw materials and production cycles as on how many tonnes of scrap will be produced to obtain a ton of usable product.
How important is recycling for materials engineering?
Recycleability has become a key issue in the choice of a material, together with other performance properties such as cost, strength and weight.
Steels are obviously among the most recyclable materials because of the existence of a self-financing scrap recycling industry.
If you had a magic wand, what would you ask a steel maker?
Obviously a steel which has the same density as aluminium and the price of a steel, in fact of steel scrap!
What I really wish for is a steel able to provide solutions both for structural engineers wanting top performances in terms of stiffness, crash and fatigue resistance, and for designers wanting to be free to choose the shapes. Together this will give rise to steel sheeting which can create a car body offering the most aesthetic appearance of the car.
Determining the fair price of steel has always been an irresolvable argument. At least for buyers, what should the fair price of steel be?
This is not an easy issue. It is actually the result of different factors; for instance, product, distribution costs and market.
In the last few years prices have increased, also boosted by the evolution we were talking about before.
Up to the 1990s steel products did not have a great development and high-strength steels were not very common. Nevertheless, the growth of these special steels has surely influenced the steel makers’ pricing policy, also considering the low availability of products on the market. Today we think the price of steel is still too high and it is difficult to make forecasts.
In the last two years steel has led the price increase of raw materials. How much of this increase is due to an imbalance between demand and supply, and how much of it is due to steel makers who, after years of low prices, have pushed up the limits?
It’s a combination of the two factors. In 2004, when the steel price first increased, everybody said that it was because of China, which was in part true. But if we do not consider other factors we cannot explain why today, with China being self-sufficient in steel production, the prices are still at high levels.
What is certain is that there is a strong market demand and, of course, if those who determine the price continue to sell, the others have to do the same and so prices will not decrease.
Nevertheless, I would like to highlight the present concentration in the steel sector: today the main actors are not industrialists but financiers, and this totally changes the approach to quotations.
SSAB Swedish Steel’s main aim is not only to be a steel supplier but to become a real partner with its customers. Does this relationship exist between SSAB Swedish Steel and Fiat Group Automobiles?
We are certainly going that way and we are really interested in developing a sustainable relationship not only from a commercial point of view.
What we are asking SSAB Swedish Steel is, on the one hand, to supply top performances in terms of quality, service, technological innovation and product development and, on the other hand, to provide steel solutions for our applications.
Today 67 percent of the steel in the Punto is high strength and ultra high strength steel.
“The ability to recycle has become a key issue in the choice of a material, together with other performance factors such as cost, strength and weight.”
News International meet three managers of Fiat Group Automobiles who give their view on the evolution of materials and the relationships betweed steel makers and car manufacturers. From the left: Giancarlo Bertoldi of Engineering and Design-Interiors; Rosanna Serra, Engineer of materials, and Sergio Ballarini, Raw Material Purchasing Manager.
Low weight, compact design and good protection performance characterize the roll-formed internal waistline reinforcement developed for the side doors of the new Fiat Grande Punto. The car has been awarded the highest crashworthiness rating in the Euro NCAP test, and the beam was awarded the Swedish Steel Prize 2006 for its outstanding design.
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Winners of the Swedish Steel Prize 2006
Fiat Group Automobiles and Wagon Italia won the Swedish Steel Prize 2006. Findings of the jury: “The winners of the Swedish Steel Prize 2006 have displayed great competence and deliberate determination in their development work. All opportunities offered by advanced high strength steel have been put to use with world-class innovative engineering work. The result is a very competitive design characterized by strength, low weight and lean resource utilization. This is an excellent example of modern design thinking that meets strict user requirements at a time when the focus around the world is on environmental issues.”