Tokyo – JFE Steel Corporation announced today that it has developed cold-rolled steel boasting 1470MPa-grade tensile strength and that it is now supplying commercial vehicle makers with bumper reinforcements that achieve the world's highest tensile strength of any cold-formed automotive part currently available.

JFE Steel is producing its 1470MPa-grade cold-rolled steel on its proprietary “JFE-CAL” water-quenching continuous-annealing line, which is located in the Fukuyama facility of the company's West Japan Works. The water-quenching process facilitates a high cooling rate of more than 1,000℃ per second, which helps to strengthen the steel and minimize the need for alloy, a cause of delayed fractures.

JFE Steel plans to use its new cold-rolled high tensile strength steel for additional automotive parts requiring extra strength, including door impact beams and structural parts (see next page).

Bumper reinforcements must be made with high strength steel sheet to minimize damage in collisions and thereby protect vehicle occupants. Extra-strong steel sheet, however, is difficult to form into desired shapes and increases the likelihood of delayed fractures. Conventionally, carmakers use steel with 980MPa-grade tensile strength. Some bumper reinforcements are hot pressed but they do not offer high productivity or cost effectiveness. Extra-strong steel, in addition to improving collision safety, also helps to cut vehicle weight, which leads to reduced CO₂ emissions. As such, JFE Steel's 1470MPa-grade steel was selected as the winner of the Japanese Trade and Industry Minister's 2016 Award for eco-products on November 8.

Going forward, JFE Steel will continue to develop high-performance high strength automotive steel and related technologies to satisfy market demands for increasingly lighter steel.

Bumper reinforcement made of JFE Steel's 1470MPa-grade ultra high strength steel	Section of bumper reinforcement

About JFE Steel

JFE Steel Corporation, one of the world's leading integrated steel producers, was established through the consolidation of NKK Corporation and Kawasaki Steel Corporation in 2003. The company operates several steelworks in Japan and numerous branch offices and affiliates throughout the world. JFE Steel leverages world-class technologies and know-how to produce a wide range of products based on its “Only One, Number One” strategy of focusing on unique and best-in-class products. The company reported consolidated sales of 2,445 billion yen and consolidated crude steel output of 29.75 million tons in the fiscal year ended March 2016. For more information, please visit https://www.jfe-steel.co.jp/en.

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