Stainless steel is indispensable for these parts in the automobile manufacturing industry

In the past ten years, stainless steel has been widely used in public transportation vehicles such as buses, subways, and high-speed railway vehicles in my country. The lightweight and high-demand development of rail vehicles will be the main development direction of rail vehicles in the future.

Stainless steel not only has corrosion resistance, but also has good physical properties and surface quality. It has been widely used in automobile manufacturing. 

Most automobile exhaust systems are ferritic stainless steel, which is the main component of automobile stainless steel applications. 409L stainless steel and 436L stainless steel are commonly used stainless steels.

From the viewpoint of economy and practicability, 0Cr11Ti type ferritic stainless steel is often used in the exhaust system of some European and American countries. Japan basically uses 13Cr~17Cr ferritic stainless steel and its improved type.

The fuel tank made of stainless steel has no risk of fuel leakage and has good corrosion resistance and good formability. The painting process can also be omitted or simplified, and it is easy to recycle. 304L stainless steel, JFE-SX1, etc. are commonly used stainless steels.

The combination of the modular car frame design and the excellent performance of stainless steel materials can make the manufactured car have good impact resistance, light weight, high safety and reliability, and long life.

In addition, such a frame can also be completely recycled. 409L stainless steel, 3Cr12 stainless steel, 304L stainless steel, etc. are all commonly used stainless steels.

Automobile stainless steel parts mainly include stainless steel sealing rings and heat exchangers. The sealing rings generally use 301 stainless steel. The heat exchangers generally use stainless steel materials such as SUS304, SUS430 and SUS409L. Cr-Ni austenitic stainless steel is also used for some parts; 0Cr17, 0Cr18 Ni9 and other stainless steels are used for oil cooler plate heat exchangers, 0Cr17 stainless steels are generally used for headlight guard rings, large passenger car handrails, safety railings, etc.

Stainless steel moldings, antennas, wheel covers, etc. are used on small cars, and stainless steel is also used on handrails, safety railings, and booms of large buses and vehicles.

In order to reduce costs, rearview mirrors are mainly made of SUS430J1L series stainless steel, some expensive car rearview mirrors are made of SUS436J1L series stainless steel, car wipers are mostly made of stainless steel such as SUS430, SUS304, SUS301, and headlight guards are made of steel such as SUS430.

Stainless steel is often used in safety devices in automobiles. For example, the seat belt tensioner is made of SUS301 stainless steel, the airbag sensors and booster pumps are mainly made of SUS304 and SUS304L stainless steel, and the ABS induction ring is made of SUS434, SUS444 and other steel grades.

The car frame or the overall car shell is made of stainless steel with a chromium content of 11% to 12%. The commonly used brands are 00Cr11Ti, 0Cr11Ni4Ti, 00Cr12NiTi, etc. Some countries have successively used stainless steel in large buses, coal transport vehicles, and urban subway vehicles.

The automotive industry is currently a fast-growing application area of stainless steel. As the market’s demand for high-demand vehicles has greatly increased, taking into account the costs of manufacturing, maintenance and energy consumption, stainless steel vehicles are much lower than aluminum alloy vehicles and carbon steel vehicles, so stainless steel vehicles are economical vehicles, which also makes The use of stainless steel in the automobile manufacturing industry is showing an expanding trend and has a large potential market.