South Korean steelmaker Hyundai Steel has announced that it has succeeded in starting mass production of 1.8 gigapascal (GPa) premium hot stamping steel, the first time in the world this has been achieved.
The company is supplying new steel types to Hyundai Motor’s next generation electric vehicles. The initial supply to Hyundai Motors began last year and will supply 145,000 units of product annually. This amount can be used for about 30,000 electric vehicles.
The new steel has improved tensile strength by 20 percent compared to 1.5 GPa hot stamping steel and the weight can be reduced by about 10 percent when manufacturing parts.
In addition, in August last year Hyundai Steel was the first producer in South Korea to obtain a hot stamping license, as SteelOrbis previously reported.