The increased use of high strength steel, the introduction of automated transfer presses, the change to waterborne paint systems make that the steel sheet topography becomes a major factor in the car manufacturing process. The introduction of Electron Beam Texturing has been a breakthrough in the development of steel sheet surfaces. The SibetexcircleR sheet is produced by applying an EBT texture during the last reduction in the cold rolling operation and in the temper mill. The main characteristics of the SibetexcircleR surface are the low waviness components, the high bearing area and the constant density of peaks and valleys. The present paper reviews the investigations on the improvement of paint appearance and the tribological behaviour of EBT textured steel sheet. Both characteristics are optimised by the so-called 'Fine-Deterministic' SibetexcircleR texture. Large scale tests with several European car manufacturers, clearly demonstrate the potential of this steel sheet surface texture.
展开▼
