Elemental Tesla: Elon Musk-led EV maker patents ‘new metal alloy’ for the Cybertruck

It seems that Tesla is planning on going all out with the production of its upcoming EV truck. That is, wherever they indeed start production. The Tesla Cybertruck, like SpaceX's Starship, will be constructed of steel. For the manufacturing of its electric pickup vehicle, the EV giant has developed a new alloy, made of ultra-hard cold-worked steel. Musk has dubbed this alloy as a “new metal.”The Tesla Cybertruck will be constructed of a stainless steel alloy, the same as the outer shell of the SpaceX Starship launch. This means that its external shell will be extremely immune to harm and corrosion, requiring no painting. What this means is that Tesla will literally be using space-age materials for their upcoming EV truck.Also read: Tesla’s Investor Day: Musk may announce many things, but an affordable Tesla is what fans wantOverdelivering on their promise?“It is literally bulletproof to a nine-millimeter handgun. That's how strong the skin is—it's ultra-hard, cold-rolled stainless steel alloy that we've developed. We’re going to be using the same alloy in the Starship rocket, and in the Cybertruck,” said Tesla CEO Elon Musk during the pickup’s unveiling in 2019.Tesla will, however, use a unique steel alloy in the manufacturing of the Cybertruck. The "Ultra-hard cold-worked steel alloy" patent was released on February 23, 2023, revealing more details about it. The invention details a high-performance steel alloy with increased hardness and corrosion protection.Also read: WATCH: SpaceX and NASA call off Crew-6 mission to ISS just 2.5 minutes before takeoffThe new alloy was developed in part by Charles Kuehmann, who has been the VP of Materials Engineering at SpaceX & Tesla since 2015, and is responsible for delivering materials innovations. The cross-pollination between these two companies is one of Tesla’s many advantages. Before he worked at Tesla and SpaceX, Charles was Director of Product Design at Apple.All about the new alloyTesla stated that there are many types of corrosion-resistant "stainless" steel, including a family of professionally made "3xx" series stainless steel alloys. The most prevalent alloys are 301, 304/304L, and 316/316L, which are available in a range of product shapes.Other stainless steel goods are distinguished by their microstructure and technique of strength, such as Austenitic (3xx series), Martensitic (4xx series), Ferritic, Duplex, and precipitation hardenable (PH).To improve hardness, martensitic steels usually require regulated heat treatments and hardening cycles. However, such extra processes raise the cost of the alloy, necessitate costly machinery, and, depending on the final shape, may cause a warpage of the target product. Furthermore, for corrosion resistance, corrosion-resistant martensitic steels generally contain a comparatively large quantity of costly cobalt, which raises the cost of using martensitic alloys.Also read: WATCH: How big is SpaceX Starship 'the most powerful launch vehicle ever-built' when compared to other rockets?Tesla outlines various steel alloy compositions and manufacturing techniques to accomplish the desired outcome. Meanwhile, it is explicitly stated that the exterior portion of the vehicle body can be manufactured from such an alloy, which does not require any extra corrosion protection treatment.The innovation revealed via the U.S. Patent Office follows some of the most detailed looks of the new Cybertruck since its launch. At Tesla’s HQ2 announcement at the end of this week, the Cybertruck made many appearances, both online and in person, both of which garnered incredible media attention.Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.