Lighter journeys ahead as Hong Kong University team develops steel for car frames that is just 1mm thick
Innovative 1mm car frames could offer range of environmental benefits
Five years from now the frame of the car you ride in could be made from steel 1mm thick, but it will still give the same protection, if not more, than what is now on the market.
Not only will it be safer, the next generation of steel will also be lighter, achieving better fuel efficiency with lower carbon emissions through by halving the current 2mm-thick frame.
A research team led by a University of Hong Kong academic estimated a private car could weigh 30 per cent less, consume 20 per cent less fuel and produce 20 per cent fewer emissions.
"We made the new steel with special chemical compositions combined with a proper heat treatment," said Dr Huang Mingxin, from the department of mechanical engineering.
He said one of the new steels, known as transformation- induced plasticity steel or Trip, had an ability to resist fracture 50 per cent higher than the best automotive steels now available, while remaining as ductile.
