SASEFT CORROSION STUDY: DURABILITY OF STEEL FUEL TANKS Drivers for the Corrosion Study: + Calffomia’s Air Resources Board (CARB) has legisiated that a portion of an automaker's vehicle sales in California ~ shall have fuel systems that meet stringent tail pipe and evaporative emission standards and the fuel systems shall meet the emission standards after 15 years of use + Other U.S. states have either passed similar lagislation or have expressed intent fo do 0 + Steel's inherent impermeabilty to hy¢rocarbons is attractive to automakers for meeting the stringent evaporative emission standards in fuel tanks. However, automakers have expressed concern about the durabilty of steel fuel tanks for 15 years. Management of the Corrosion Study: + SASFT established a Corrosion Evaluation Team (CET) to establish and conduct an independent study of the corrosion durability of candidate steel sysiems. The Team was comprised of the following companies: Arcelor Natonal Steel Corp. Bethlehem Steel Corp Nippon Steel Corp. Corus Pilot Industries, Inc. Dofasco ‘The Magni Group Kawasaki Stesl Corp. U.S. Stool Corp. + The CET was responsible for ~ specifying suitable laboratory corrosion tests to assess the abiliy of steel systems to meet a 15-year life under automotive operating conditions. = defining the test specimen configuration and test conditions = contacting various automakers for input conceming laboratory tests. ~ canvassing steel manufacturers worldwide for candidate steel systems to meet a 15-year life seleeting an independent accredited laboratory to conduct the corrosion test *SASFT is a global, diverse group of steel companies, steel tank manufacturers and suppliers. It was organized by the American Iron and Stee! Institute (AISI) i develop and promote new steel systems for the automotive fuel tark market, American fi Iron and Steel TheNew Sigel Institute aeCorrosion Test @ The tests and specimen configuration were designed to assess the corrosion resistance of steel systems to: ~ aharsh EXTERNAL environment of road salt and gravel, together with simulations of a scratched surface, the forming of a steel tank, a weldment, and a potential crevice corrosion site. ~ an aggressive INTERNAL corrosion environment from an aggressive fuel © EXTERNAL TESTS: Two tests were selected ‘Test Specification ~ Neutral Salt Spray ASTM BII7, (with gravel impact every 4 weeks) SAE J2334 = Cyclic Test (with gravel impact every 4 weeks) ~ Test specimen (same for both external teats) Duration 2000 hrs, 120 cycles min 160 cycles max. scribe line (applied at test laboratory) Equivalency 15 years 20 years@ INTERNAL TESTS: ‘Test Specification Equivalency ~ Aggressive Ethanol ‘SAE 1681 15 years (CEI0A) at 45°C (test fuel) ((uel changed every 4 weeks) ~ Test apecimen (drawn cup and flat i) — Teste in progress © Stocls Tested + Various stee! “systems” were chosen and represented the three principal categories of steel being used today for fuel tanks. Steel Supplier Steel Type Metallic Coating Paint Pre-painted steels Bethlehem Low carbon steel EG Zn-Ni ‘Magni A31 (with Cr®) Bethlehem Low carbon steel EG Zn-Ni ‘Magni A36 (without Cr) Thyssenkrupp Low carbon steel HD Aluminized (A Si) ‘Magni ABS (with Cr®) Arcelor Stainless (304L) — Inorganic Post-painted steels Nippon Steel Low carbon steel HD Teme (Pb-Sn) ‘Acrylic anti-chip and topcoat (without Cr8) Nippon Sea! Loweatbon steel HD Tnzine Monte ant chip and topcoat (without Cr8) Arcolor Low carbon stool HD Aluminized (A/Si) Acrylic anti-chip (with C) Kawasaki Stoo! Stainless (438L) Znetich primer Bare steel Arcelor Stainless (304L) Test Location: ‘After an exhaustive evaluation of several independent test laboratories, ACT Laboratories, Hilsdale, Michigan, was chosen to do the testing. ACT Laboratories is fully accredited, experienced in automotive testing, well known and respected by the automotive community and was instrumental in developing the Cyclic comosion test that led to the SAE J2334 spectiication Corrosion Assessment: © Qualitative — Perforation was adopted as the criterion for failure. — Ratings of none, slight, modorate, ete., for white and red rust wore made for all specimens and at different spocimen locations © Quantitative — Pit frequency and location was recorded — Pit depths (above 0.1mm] were measured ~ Creep back from the scribe line.General results from the Corr @ EXTERNAL TEST! + No perforation occurred in = any specimen (triplicate specimens) ~ any steel system = after 120 cycles (15 year equivalency) = after 160 cycles (20 year equivalency) + Some white and red rust corrasion occurred at: = various locations = for all steel systems + No measurable pit depths (above 0.1mm) were observed in any specimen for any material after 160 cycles. @ INTERNAL TESTS «Tests are ongoing, but preliminary assessments indicate that 15-year life will be achieved. + More specific results, including qualitative (photographs) and quantitative data, will be made available soon in a reportto be issued by SASFI-CET. Ongoing Corrosion Studies: In additon to the INTERNAL (FUEL) TESTING for the above 9 steel systems, the following steel systems are now undergoing corrosion tests: ~ Pre-pannted HUGA (Zn-Fe) Magni pre-paint. External testng Post-painted Aluminized (thicker post-paint coatings). Extemal testing Conclusions: ~ Based on laboratory testing, several steel systems are capable of meeting a minimum of 15-year automotive service lif in fuel tanks. ~The steel systems are readily available today for manufacturelassembly into fuel tanks that are compliant with siringent standards (such as Partial Zero Emission Vehicle or PZEV) required by California's Air Resources Board. ~ Steel's excellent recyclabilty allows other end-of-life environmental ‘ssues to be met using current vehicle dismantling and recycling procedures at no cost to the automaker or to the automobile user. SASFT Participating Companies Full Members ‘Steel Companies - North America Fuel System Manufacturers - Europe Allegheny Ludlum alleghenyluclum com aster Textron kauexcom Defasco ne. Gofaseo.ca Inergy Automotive Systems ‘nergyautomoive com Ispat land ine ispatcom Unipart Eberspacher nipart.couk | Noth American Staness ‘orhamericanetsinleee.con Nucor Corporation| rnucorsteeicom Fuel System Manufacturers — Asia Rouge Stee! Company rougestee.com Donghee industial Co. onghee. co kr United States Stee! Corporation us.com Horie Meta Co,, Li asnohene co, Unipres Corporation snipres.cojp Steel Companies - Europe Corus corusgroup.com MeterialEquipment Suppliers — North America “Tryssenkrupp Stab thyssen-krupp-stah.com Comau Pico ‘omaupicc.com arelr arceiorcom “The Nagni Group, Inc Meter Setenece Corp. ‘atacicom Steel Companies - Japan Nippon Steel Carporation nsccojp MeterialEquipment Suppliers -Ewrope FE Stee Corporation jfe steel co jpien ‘Soudronic Automotive NAFTA, ‘sousronic.2om Sunvigmo Metal nd, Lid Sumitomometals. co, Nain Stee! Ce, Le. risshin steel cop ‘Associate Members (Auto Manufacturers) DamlerChryser Corporation doccom Fuel System Manufacturers — North America Ford Wotor Company ‘orécom Else LLC elsalecom ‘General Motors Corporation gmeom Fuel Systems LUC Use com Nissan Motor Co, Li. Nissan.co,p Harley Davideon hhary.avidson com ITT Fuid Handling Systems ‘uidnanding, om ‘SASFT is orcanized by the American Iron and Stee! Institute Metaisa Towerautomotve.com (iS) wheh 's a non-proft Assocation of North Amencan ‘Marurnea Inieratinal maminnea.con ‘Companies engaged inthe ron and stee! ncusty. Spectra Premium Industries spectapremium.com wowsasftorg | wrmautosteel.org