So far, the hottest steels in the automotive industry were those low carbon boron alloys that are first heated up to about 1650 Fahrenheit and then cooled down quickly while being formed. These boron steels are very expensive, but well worth their price, making an SUV like the Volvo XC90 one of the safest family haulers you can buy:

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Today, grades suitable for cold forming offer up to 1400 MPa in tensile strength, with the industry average being somewhere around 1200 megapascals. Now, Nippon Steel seems to have come up with another grade that offers a strength of 1470 MPa while being lighter as well. Although there are other steel alloys out there with similar capabilities (like AK Steel's aluminized Type 1 Ultralume), the Japanese version is said to improve ease of rolling and crack resistance as well while keeping the price at a reasonable level.

The company is conducting verification tests at the moment and will start marketing the product around 2020. Since carmakers need to continue weight shredding while improving safety, Nippon might be on to something here no matter how popular aluminum construction gets in the next decade.

The highly aluminum-intensive Porsche Panamera under construction in Leipzig. Porsche

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