Stainless be used in the automotive field
In the past ten years, the consumption of stainless steel for automobiles in Japan has increased from 10 kilograms to 30 kilograms, and in the United States has exceeded 40 kilograms. Stainless steel is also widely adopted in public transportation vehicles such as buses, subways, and high-speed railway vehicles. The urban rail transit of Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan, and Chongqing chooses aluminum alloy cars; Tianjin Binhai Express Rail Transit chooses stainless steel cars; Beijing hosts the 2008 Olympic Games, mainly using stainless steel cars; Qinghai-Tibet Railway considers adopting stainless steel passenger cars.
At the end of 2010, the Beijing Metro Line 15 will use the first domestically developed stainless steel metro vehicle products. The total number of vehicles on the entire line will reach 15 trains, two of which will be complete trains. In 2011, my country successfully produced duplex stainless steel for important parts of railway passenger cars, which replaced imported products and has been successfully used in subway cars. The requirements for lightweight and high-grade development of rail vehicles will be the main development direction of rail vehicles in the future.
Stainless steel not only has corrosion resistance but also has good physical properties and surface quality. It is widely used in automobile manufacturing. At present, the main application parts are as follows:
(1) Stainless steel for exhaust system:
Most of them are ferritic stainless steel, which is the most used part of automotive stainless steel. 409L, 436L, etc. are commonly used stainless steel grades. From the viewpoint of economy and practicability, 0Cr11Ti type ferritic stainless steel is often used in the exhaust system of some European and American countries. Japan basically uses 13Cr~17Cr ferritic stainless steel and its improved versions.
(2) Stainless steel for automobile fuel tanks:
The fuel tank made of stainless steel has no risk of fuel leakage and has excellent corrosion resistance and good formability. It can save or simplify the painting process and is easy to recycle. 304L, JFE-SX1, etc. are commonly used stainless steel grades.
(3) Stainless steel for automobile frame:
The combination of the modular automobile frame design and the excellent performance of stainless steel can make the automobile with good impact resistance, lightweight, high safety and reliability, and long life. In addition, this frame can also be completely recycled. 409L, 3Cr12, 304L, etc. are all commonly used stainless steel grades.
(4) Automobile stainless steel parts:
Mainly stainless steel sealing rings and heat exchangers. The sealing rings generally use 301 stainless steel. The heat exchangers generally use stainless steel materials such as SUS304, SUS430, and SUS409L; Cr-Ni Austrian is also used for some parts. Stainless steel; 0Cr17, and 0Cr18Ni9 are used in oil cooler plate heat exchangers; 0Cr17 can generally be used in headlight guard rings, large passenger car handrails, safety railings, etc.
(5) Stainless steel for car decoration:
Stainless steel moldings, antennas, wheel covers, etc. are used on small cars, and stainless steel is also used on handrails, safety rails, and booms of large buses and vehicles. In order to reduce costs, rearview mirrors are mainly made of SUS430J1L series stainless steel, and some luxury cars use SUS436J1L series stainless steel; car wipers mostly use SUS430, SUS304, SUS301, etc.; headlight guards use SUS430 and other steel grades.
Stainless steel is often used in safety devices in automobiles. For example, the seat belt tensioner is made of SUS301 stainless steel, the airbag sensors and booster pumps are mainly made of SUS304 and SUS304L stainless steel, and the ABS induction ring is made of SUS434, SUS444, and other steel grades.
(6) Automobile frame or automobile integral shell:
Automobile frame or automobile integral shell made of stainless steel containing 11% to 12% Cr, commonly used brands are 00Cr11Ti, 0Cr11Ni4Ti, 00Cr12NiTi, etc. Some countries have successively used stainless steel in large buses, coal transport vehicles, and urban subway vehicles.
The automotive industry is currently the fastest-growing stainless steel application field. Stainless steel is also widely used in public transportation vehicles such as buses, subways, and high-speed railway vehicles.
The market’s demand for high-end vehicles has greatly increased. Taking into account the costs of manufacturing, maintenance, and energy consumption, stainless steel vehicles are much lower than aluminum alloy vehicles and carbon steel vehicles.
Therefore, stainless steel vehicles are the most economical vehicles and have great development. The prospects make the use of stainless steel in the automobile manufacturing industry show a worldwide expansion trend, which has a large potential market.