3mm thick 30X stainless steel body panels / exoskeleton

[Mini2nut]

This is one of my top 5 reasons why I ordered a Cybertruck. I love the 3mm thick 300 series stainless steel exoskeleton with a natural finish. It eliminates most door dings/hail damage/dents, scratched paint, pitted paint from road debris, waxing, polishing, etc. There is no other full size truck currently on the market that even comes close in exterior durability. Even the bed will be stainless steel. WOW!!!

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[Newton]

as others have said, this truck will be an icon. for so many reasons.

 

[Cyberman]

It's the URBAN ASSAULT TRUCK!!!

 

[Nightf0rge]

Unfortunately, Elon said in the Jay Leno clips that the door panels will be the "bullet proof" 3mm SS, makes me think that possibly other portions of the CT may NOT be such as the front end as a crumple zone. Wish the whole exoskeleton was this material!

 

[plucas]

This is space x starship skin. Not proof of 3mm cybertruck

Nope here is the full thread screenshot.

 

[TyPope]

As a dedicated firearms shooter with decades of experience Shooting steel for recreation and competition , 1/8” of steel is not Buller proof to 9 mm.

Not even at 30 feet?

 

[Newton]

that tweet confuses, me, nobody would ever make a titanium vehicle, its WAY to expensive, titanium for space related things makes sense.

 

[MEDICALJMP]

Not even at 30 feet?

.22 long rifle, Maybe to yes. Heck, as a kid we used to shoot holes With .22lr through 1930-40s cars that had real steel compared to todays’ tin can cars. It does depend on a lot of factors. Steel blend., bullet Caliber, distance from muzzle, bullet shape, powder charge, Barrel length, etc. I wouldn’t put an AR type round up against CT at 50 meters and expect it to save me. I’ve shot through tread plate steel 1/4” thick with an AR at 50 meters. Like hot knife in butter.

I can’t wait to see what happens to CT though. It will be awesome tests and I have faith in Tesla to make outstanding stuff.

The plates we use in body armor are often 1/2” (125 mm) thick or more. The stuff Tesla is using is damn impressive regardless. Will be even more impressed if I am proven wrong.

 

[Newton]

I shoot ar500 steel.
1/8inch stops 22lr, 22 mag.17 hmr. Dents but stops 9mm at around 30yards
"Manufacturers recommend at least 1/4" thickness (6.35 mm) with 500 Brinell value for pistol shooting with common calibres such as 9 mm, .40 S&W and .45 ACP, with a safety distance of 10 yards (approx. 10 m "

 

[Cyberman]

As a dedicated firearms shooter with decades of experience Shooting steel for recreation and competition , 1/8” of steel is not Buller proof to 9 mm.

Seems like we're comparing apples to oranges here. The steel plate you've been shooting is soft steel, hot rolled. Cybertruck steel is cold rolled and stainless.

 

[Jedat]

This is one of the earliest reference I could find to 3mm.


https://www.motortrend.com/news/tesla-cybertruck-electric-pickup-bulletproof-stainless-steel-body/

Hey Mini2nut, love the visual of 3mm. I have been on a search for where 3mm thick came from but can't find it. I have quoted the same figure of 3mm think but then when I went looking for it I can't find it. I thought I saw it or herd it on the original Cybertruck presentation video but I can't find it there. Anyway yes it is nearly 1/8", 3mm = .118" decimal, where as, someone else has pointed out, 1/8" is .125" decimal... It does seem too think and yes, even regular mild steel that is 1/8" will be bullet proof to a 9mm hand gun (I think). But I think I got something wrong here. 3mm is just too thick for all the body panels to be that thick.

 

[Mini2nut]

Ultra hard cold rolled 300 series stainless steel. Roughly 1/8” thick. Bare finish with zero paint. Armor Glass standard. Super durable stainless steel bed with a standard locking tonneau cover. The Cybertruck will be a family heirloom that we can hand down to our kids!

Tesla can’t start spitting these out fast enough and will easily convert die hard Chevy, Ford and Ram truck owners.

 

[fritter63]

Ultra hard cold rolled 300 series stainless steel. Roughly 1/8” thick. Bare finish with zero paint. Armor Glass standard. Super durable stainless steel bed with a standard locking tonneau cover. The Cybertruck will be a family heirloom that we can hand down to our kids!

Tesla can’t start spitting these out fast enough and will easily convert die hard Chevy, Ford and Ram truck owners.

It's gonna be like that 40s era band saw that's solid as hell.

 

[TruckElectric]

The sheet specified for Cybertruck has been described as "ultra-hard 30X cold-rolled stainless-steel,” indicating an alloy variant developed from 300-series stainless steel. (Tesla)
Tesla’s Cybertruck is audaciously austenitic
2020-06-19 LINDSAY BROOKE
A proprietary 301-series stainless steel gives Tesla’s first pickup truck unique sales attributes while saving tooling cost.

Not since Ford’s epic switch to aluminum for its F-Series body structures has an automaker’s materials strategy created such a buzz. Tesla’s decision to use stainless steel for its upcoming Cybertruck, as part of what CEO Elon Musk calls an “exoskeletal” structural design, aims to give the new electric pickup strength and durability beyond that of its competitors. The vehicle is slated to enter production in late 2021, with the tri-motor AWD version following a year later.

Musk described the corrosion-resistant, 3-mm-thick (.118-in) sheet specified for Cybertruck as "ultra-hard 30X cold-rolled stainless-steel,” indicating an alloy variant developed from 300-series stainless steel. This popular class was used by Delorean (304 alloy) in its roughly 10,000 DMC-12 sports cars, and by heavy-truck maker Autocar (302 alloy) in a small-volume run in the 1960s. During the same period Ford also experimented with a few stainless-bodied Thunderbirds and Lincolns, also in 302 alloy. Today’s exhaust pipes typically use ferritic stainless steels.

“Tesla’s strategy with this truck is very interesting,” observed Dr. David Matlock, professor emeritus at the Colorado School of Mines’ Advanced Steel Processing and Products Research Center. Reviewing Musk’s public comments on Cybertruck online, Matlock surmises that the material is “very likely a modified version of the lean-alloyed austenitic 301 alloy.” When this alloy system is deformed or cold-worked, it transforms into a microstructure that includes austenite and martensite, primary constituents for a strong and tough metal.

“The more you deform it, such as cold rolling, the more martensite you get. And that contributes to a significant increase in strength,” he explained. Martensitic high-strength (non-stainless) steels are increasingly used in vehicle structures to increase strength, but they achieve their hardness through heating and quenching as is done in press-hardening steel commonly used in automobiles today. By comparison, the lean austenitic stainless alloys can create martensites by cold-roll-induced transformation at room temperature, Matlock noted.

But while Tesla’s proprietary 30X-alloy stainless skin may endow Cybertruck with industry-leading dent resistance, the material spec and the exoskeleton design force tradeoffs. “Cold rolling makes this material very strong but sacrifices ductility and formability. That means a minimum subsequent metal forming is possible and dictates mostly flat panels and straight character lines,” Matlock said. The truck’s outer body contributes to the strength of the vehicle structure, unlike a conventional body-in-white whose strength comes from controlling the A- and B-pillar geometries and using combinations of press-hardened steels.

As a result, the Tesla truck’s polarizing “planar” styling is either Blade Runner-cool or high-school-metalshop crude, depending on your aesthetic sense. The material characteristics and robust 3-mm sheet thickness (typical steel door panels are on the order of 0.7mm to 1mm) spurred Musk to claim that the “ultra-hard 30X” can break a stamping press. Hyperbolic or not, Tesla has engineered a material and manufacturing solution that requires minimal forming operations, enabling huge potential savings in presses, dies and related operations for its radical new pickup.

Source: SAE International

 

[TruckElectric]

The sheet specified for Cybertruck has been described as "ultra-hard 30X cold-rolled stainless-steel,” indicating an alloy variant developed from 300-series stainless steel. (Tesla)
Tesla’s Cybertruck is audaciously austenitic
2020-06-19 LINDSAY BROOKE
A proprietary 301-series stainless steel gives Tesla’s first pickup truck unique sales attributes while saving tooling cost.

Not since Ford’s epic switch to aluminum for its F-Series body structures has an automaker’s materials strategy created such a buzz. Tesla’s decision to use stainless steel for its upcoming Cybertruck, as part of what CEO Elon Musk calls an “exoskeletal” structural design, aims to give the new electric pickup strength and durability beyond that of its competitors. The vehicle is slated to enter production in late 2021, with the tri-motor AWD version following a year later.

Musk described the corrosion-resistant, 3-mm-thick (.118-in) sheet specified for Cybertruck as "ultra-hard 30X cold-rolled stainless-steel,” indicating an alloy variant developed from 300-series stainless steel. This popular class was used by Delorean (304 alloy) in its roughly 10,000 DMC-12 sports cars, and by heavy-truck maker Autocar (302 alloy) in a small-volume run in the 1960s. During the same period Ford also experimented with a few stainless-bodied Thunderbirds and Lincolns, also in 302 alloy. Today’s exhaust pipes typically use ferritic stainless steels.

“Tesla’s strategy with this truck is very interesting,” observed Dr. David Matlock, professor emeritus at the Colorado School of Mines’ Advanced Steel Processing and Products Research Center. Reviewing Musk’s public comments on Cybertruck online, Matlock surmises that the material is “very likely a modified version of the lean-alloyed austenitic 301 alloy.” When this alloy system is deformed or cold-worked, it transforms into a microstructure that includes austenite and martensite, primary constituents for a strong and tough metal.

“The more you deform it, such as cold rolling, the more martensite you get. And that contributes to a significant increase in strength,” he explained. Martensitic high-strength (non-stainless) steels are increasingly used in vehicle structures to increase strength, but they achieve their hardness through heating and quenching as is done in press-hardening steel commonly used in automobiles today. By comparison, the lean austenitic stainless alloys can create martensites by cold-roll-induced transformation at room temperature, Matlock noted.

But while Tesla’s proprietary 30X-alloy stainless skin may endow Cybertruck with industry-leading dent resistance, the material spec and the exoskeleton design force tradeoffs. “Cold rolling makes this material very strong but sacrifices ductility and formability. That means a minimum subsequent metal forming is possible and dictates mostly flat panels and straight character lines,” Matlock said. The truck’s outer body contributes to the strength of the vehicle structure, unlike a conventional body-in-white whose strength comes from controlling the A- and B-pillar geometries and using combinations of press-hardened steels.

As a result, the Tesla truck’s polarizing “planar” styling is either Blade Runner-cool or high-school-metalshop crude, depending on your aesthetic sense. The material characteristics and robust 3-mm sheet thickness (typical steel door panels are on the order of 0.7mm to 1mm) spurred Musk to claim that the “ultra-hard 30X” can break a stamping press. Hyperbolic or not, Tesla has engineered a material and manufacturing solution that requires minimal forming operations, enabling huge potential savings in presses, dies and related operations for its radical new pickup.

Source: SAE International

After thinking about it some I'm convinced that Elon was a fan of the Delorean and studied it's stainless steel construction. And after all he did put the gull-wing doors on the Model X. I watched a video interview of Elon and he said he regretted adding the gull-wing doors to the Model X because of the complexity. Keeping it simple seems to be something he's learned about building cars, avoiding production delays/tie-ups, recalls and adding to profitability.

Maybe it's just me but I see some design resemblance from the Delorean that was incorporated into the Cybertruck. The slanted windshield/windscreen for example and a little bit of the front end.

As been mentioned before, the Cybertruck will be a winner.