Captainp4 Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 I wonder if this can be repaired as easily as conventional steel..... That was one of my first thoughts as well (along with the thought of a super light, awesome handling, huge HP ecoboost rwd vehicle :D ) . It really depends on the process they use and what 'nano steel' actually is. Nano just refers to the level on which the materials are manipulated/designed/made/changed/etc. More specifically it is a metric system prefix. It is like calling something micro steel, milli steel, kilo steel, etc - it doesn't really make a whole lot of sense or describe what it is too well. Anyway, I guess we will get the answer when/if the stuff comes to market. It will certainly be difficult to work panels back into shape that are a very thing gauge steel, let alone weld on them. Frame stretchers, though, I think would still work if the material is the same/about the same strength (in some circumstances the material doesn't have to be as strong because the vehicles will be lighter overall and therefore require less strength in some areas. Some of these areas include other pieces that could be made from the nano tech steel as well. ) But, like I said, we will see when it comes out.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasonsadler10 Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 Im just wondering how useful a 10% weight loss in sheet metal is gonna make on an F150 in fuel savings and benefits compared to how much the R&D will cost Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twintornados Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 I still don't understand why they had to be able to see the whales in there. Couldn't they have just used regular aluminum and let the whales sit in the dark for a few minutes? Hell it's not like they had much of a view through the transparent aluminum anyway, as if the inside of a Klingon cargo bay would comfort a pair of humpback whales... I'm really curious to see how "Nano" fits into this. Is it laced with carbon nano-tubes? Transparent aluminum was used due to its strength and light-weight characteristics...the fact that you could see through it was a side benefit. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lfeg Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 Nano Steel is but one of the advanced steels being looked at for automotive uses over the next few years. One of the issues getting very much attention is how do you form them. Forming technology is having a hard time keeping up with the advances in materials, in that to keep production costs in line you want to form parts in the new materials as fast as you can with current materials, and use similar tooling and equipment wherever possible. To get a good idea of what is going on material-wise, check out MetalForming Magazine or Stamping Journal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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