In many ways the world is in a new "iron age," with global sheet
steel consumption up nearly 70 percent over the past decade.
Steel is a logical material choice, given its low cost relative
to alternative materials combined with its good strength-to-
weight ratio. So it is no wonder that steel continues to be the
material of choice for many manufacturing industries, especially
for automotive production. In fact, the average light vehicle
today weighing approximately 4,000 pounds contains nearly 2,600
pounds of steel, representing 62 percent of the mass. As a
material, steel is, at times, both simple and complex. For
automotive applications, metallurgical science has continued to
advance in the development of new chemistries and
microstructures that create the properties needed to meet
changing customer needs, something that has been happening since
hand-formed steel sheet began to supplant wooden car bodies a
century ago. For example, when the automotive industry needed to
address the issues of corrosion and v