Application Study of an Automotive Structural Part with Nitrogen-Alloyed High Strength Austenitic Stainless Steel

The current study is a trial to validate the possibility of using high strength stainless steels, for automotive structural parts. The studied material is a nitrogen-alloyed, high manganese austenitic stainless steel, 204M. The material behavior was compared to that of the conventional metastable austenitic stainless steel 301L. This study shows that the mechanical properties and the formability are very similar for these two steels. A feasibility study for the production of an engine cradel for a medium size passenger car with both stamping and hydroforming was conducted. Lower part weight can be achieved by using thinner gauges than for the conventional carbon steel part. The stainless steel part also showed the potential for higher collapse resistance. These features reveal that high strength stainless steel with high ductility has great potential for use in automotive structural design.