BlueOx

Nano steel...
http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dl...ght-steelmaker

Slynky

I wonder if GM has already been experimenting with this some (and decided to make an investment based on expected future use) and if so, how long before we could see something like this on a production vehicle...

Jinx

Almost certainly not for C7:

But C8 could be quite the flyweight

KLRBEE2

Not for the base C7; possibility for the C7Z06 or ZR1?

BlueOx

If it is supposedly cheaper than aluminum, I don't see why it wouldn't be used in the base C7.

Jinx

Why not the base C7? The material is still in development and C7 is just months from production.

I bet this shows up first on a redesigned unibody vehicle.

BlueOx

The time is now for GM and Corvette to lighten up without huge cost increases. NanoSteel (as a company) has been around since 2002 and boast in this video that they are going to be ahead of 'new' steel estimated release dates (2017-2025) by three to five years earlier than that. This tells me they will be ready for C7 in 2014 or soon thereafter into that generation. Note the chart dates and statements at about :50 sec.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r24dL...yer_embedded#!

I have to believe this is going to be used for the C7, the new Silverado and others since they will be in play for the next step of CAFE in 2016.

Making this kind of investment now to help in final phases of development would seem to allow for time if you aren't going to start production for over a year from now.

PLUS, NanoSteel appears to be an American company!

Jinx

You honestly believe they're going to go back and redesign C7's chassis in the next few months to use this new material? Wow.

Did you ever read All Corvettes are Red?

Almost There

GM very well could use this new metal. Mind you the aluminum frame Vettes were designed after the c6, and also Ford just announced it will be using mostly aluminum in its body-in-white next gen F-150 trucks.

BlueOx

You honestly believe they haven't taken a material that can be substituted for steel and aluminum into account? You honestly think GM makes a $100 million investment these days to wait 8 years for it to be used?

BTW, why the fixation with C8? You appear to be using it to beat on the C7 consistently.

JoesC5

The aluminum frame used in the 2006^ Z06 was designed at the same time as the steel frame. It was not an afterthought.

Reciprocal

Then you did not build that. Somebody else built that.

Jinx

You honestly didn't answer my question. You honestly believe they're going to go back and redesign C7's chassis in the next few months to use this new material?

I honestly believe substitution is more than feeding a different material into exactly the same molds and plates. I honestly believe that GM builds other vehicles besides Corvette and, just occasionally, introduces new technologies without vetting them through our favorite sports car.

I honestly believe that C7 is past the design engineering phase and into the tuning/validation and production planning phase. I honestly believe that significant new technology that requires reengineering the chassis will be held in reserve and won't show up until the next-generation car barring drastic shifts in the market. I think the C6 aluminum frame is an example -- GM built it as a hedge and didn't end up needing it for the base car. I bet they engineered it earlier than August 2003 (the generational equivalent to today), so unless the plan for the C7Z was to wait more than a year and not begin engineering its chassis until now, I doubt this steel gets any further than selective bolt-in replacement in C7 -- for the roof or halo or door crash bars, for example.

I don't beat on the C7 -- I just don't hold onto the dream that it's still in the clean-sheet design phase of its life.

.Jinx

Bill Dearborn

They may have already designed the manufacturing facilities to work with it and accounted for its capabilities in the design of the product. It would make sense to introduce new technologies on a low volume product like the Vette. GM has done that time and time again over the life span of the Vette.

Bill

BlueOx

You are acting as though you know when they decided on what materials they are using. You don't. They very well could have been involved with NanoSteel for quite some time.

Given this company has been around since 2002, it could be the material of choice since before the final design. The fact that GM is just now investing doesn't mean they haven't been working with this company and material for some time. I never said it would only be for the chassis either. They could be using this material for all kinds of parts in all kinds of cars.

And of course they would be using this for more than the Corvette. I said so myself that the Silverado and others would be candidates.

As I said originally, it is a clue to how they are going lighter and this is a big investment, so I find it hard to believe they would invest $100 million to wait 8 years to use it in Corvette, Silverado, etc.

Again, the 2016 CAFE requirements aren't waiting for the C8s.

k wright

Went to the factory yesterday and the front of the building is getting a significant addition. Structural steel framing going up now.

Who knows what this additional space will house.

Jinx

I'm posting based on what's most likely. You act as though no possibilities are remote. I know it's said that Corvette is the stuff dreams are made of, but they don't mean it's made of dreams...

Except that the material isn't ready for production yet. It's possible that it's so close it could show up in C7, but is it likely? Is it likely that the development cars to date are using a different material?

No, but you opened with "another clue to lighter C7 materials." Where else in C7 but the chassis is this interesting, nevermind likely?

But you got pissy when I suggested it was too late for C7.

You started with C7, that's what you're pissy about, but now to defend your point you've tacked on "Silverado." Let's stay focused on your original contention, C7. Do you find it hard to believe that it arrives too late for use in C7? Do you find it hard to believe that GM wouldn'treengineer significant parts of the platform midcycle?

Surely you don't suggest that the C7 wasn't designed with those requirements in mind... or that this new miracle steel is the car's only hope to avoid doom.

Lots of things are possible; start with what's likely. Or, if you prefer, the simplest explanation of what GM's investment and the announcement means.

.Jinx

Reciprocal

I don't I think I want to be the first beta user for nanosteel before I knew something about its anti-corrosion properties. Do you make a monocoque frame with it? Body panels? How does it conduct noise vibration harshness? Doom.

BlueOx

You post based on nothing. I show you a video they did with a date of 'new steel' in 2017 and NanoSteel says they will be 3-5 years ahead of that. Hmmm, sounds like they think it will be ready...I guess you know better.

You say chassis and then push that this is what I said or meant.
So let me see, you determine that the only place NanoSteel is "interesting" is the chassis so that is what I MEANT? Way to make it all up.

You got pissy because you want us to forget the C7 and live in C8 land.

Hmmm, last I looked this is a C7 forum so that might be why I originally mentioned it here. I also said C7, Silverado and others in my post. Deal with it.

You yammer on about the C8 and now want to talk C7 "mid-cycle" when I already mentioned it could be into the C7 generation "2014 or soon thereafter".

The idea that they would be using NanoSteel as a lightweight material in helping with CAFE would obviously be part of the design.

Sure lots of things are possible. Big surprise.

thelastchromeurai

was it NANO-structural steel