Safe&Clean Project

This European consortium evaluates whether low-CO₂ steels with high recycled content can meet the quality and safety requirements of the automotive industry.

The project focuses on demonstrating that these sustainable steels can safely satisfy the stringent demands of modern automotive safety components, maintaining the balance between strength, durability, and environmental efficiency that characterizes steel as the most widely used material in automobiles.

Challenges and Benefits for Society

Safe&Clean addresses fundamental challenges to accelerate the transition towards more sustainable steel and automotive sectors:

• Greenhouse gas emission reduction: Directly contributes to EU goals for emission reduction.
• Transition towards sustainability: Generates scientific and technological knowledge to accelerate sustainable material adoption.
• Climate-neutral industry: Supports the Clean Steel Partnership and European Green Deal towards a climate-neutral industry by 2050.
• Resource efficiency: Promotes efficient use of recycled materials while maintaining quality and safety standards.

Methodology and Use Cases

The project evaluates the safety of sustainable steel solutions through two real-world use cases, developing and validating automotive safety components using innovative steel grades produced through low-CO₂ emission processes.

The research is structured on three fundamental pillars:

• Crash behaviour: Analysis of high strain rate phenomena, fracture mechanics, and advanced modelling.
• Fatigue performance: Evaluation of residual element effects and edge quality influence on fatigue behaviour.
• Structural integrity: Studies of welding, manufacturing, fatigue behaviour of welded joints, and sub-system crash testing.

Through advanced simulations and real-condition testing, the project evaluates formability, mechanical strength, corrosion resistance, and overall quality of these sustainable steels.

Applus+ IDIADA's Participation

APPLUS+ IDIADA is part of this European consortium of 9 entities from 5 countries, coordinated by Eurecat technology centre. Our participation focuses on several key tasks that leverage our expertise in automotive component testing and validation:

• Component Selection and Requirements (T2.1): IDIADA collaborates in defining demonstrator components (anti-intrusion part for body-in-white and lower control arm for chassis) and their technical requirements, contributing specialized knowledge in automotive applications.
• Material Characterization for Modelling (T4.1): We develop and design subsystem crash test configurations, coordinating this development with crash model development to ensure coherence of proposed scenarios.
• Dynamic Crash Behaviour Model Development (T4.2): We provide advisory support in developing advanced plasticity and damage mechanics models for recycled steel.
• Component Performance Testing (T7.4) - Leadership: As leader of this critical task, IDIADA performs subsystem tests according to previously defined configurations, demonstrating sustainable steel capabilities under real-world conditions and validating their performance against current industry standards.