Page 14 - MetalForming March 2011

Materials & Coatings
Stainless Supplier Fires Up New CTL Line
Virtual Passenger-Car Optimization Reduces Mass by 15-20 Percent, Without Compromises
A joint project of the U.S. Automotive Materials Partnership and Auto/Steel Partnership to use computer modeling to optimize use of advanced-high-strength steels in a vehicle passenger compart- ment illustrates no-compromise light- weighting by as much as 20 percent. The model, which calls for new load paths (transverse tubes that directly absorb side-impact forces) within the front seat, simultaneously optimizes geometry, grade and gauge. An important note: not only were researchers able to consider- ably reduce mass without compromising structural integrity, but they also achieved cost parity—“We used a higher grade of steel, but we used less,” says project co- chair Joe Polewarczyk. More at www.uscar.org and www.a-sp.org.
Penn Stainless
Products, Quaker-
town, PA, a supplier of
stainless-steel sheet,
plate, bar, structural,
pipe and tubular prod-
ucts, has installed a
heavy-gauge cut-to-
length line from Herr-
Voss Stamco. The
line, which includes
a precision leveler
(with 4-in.-dia. work
rolls), overhung man-
drel-type uncoiler,
three-roll breaker and
bilities on surface-critical 2B sheet finish, and corrective leveling on 0.375-in. mate- rial, according to Penn Stainless president Jim Seward. Line capacity: 50,000-lb. coil weight, 78-in. wide, material thickness 0.090 to 0.375 in.
Besides precision leveling, Penn Stainless offers plate and sheet shearing, plas- ma and waterjet cutting, and machine and saw cutting.
Penn Stainless: 215/536-3053; www.pennstainless.com
Herr-Voss Stamco: 800/380-3180; www.herr-voss.com
12 MetalForming/March 2011
www.metalformingmagazine.com
entry-crop shear, will allow the firm to expand its leveling capa-