Duplex stainless steel is a combination of ferritic and austenitic stainless steel which combines the properties of both of these types. The key feature of duplex stainless steel is its incredible tensile strength and toughness.
The high tensile strength of duplex stainless steel means that folding it involves the use of expensive tools but a new and efficient folding process using lasers has recently been developed. The process has been named ‘Lightfold’ and has been used by Swedish start-up company Stilride to produce a prototype of a sustainable, low-cost electric scooter. Dubbed ‘industrial origami’, the Lightfold process is set to have dramatic impacts on the method in which vehicles are produced in the future.
Duplex stainless steel sheet is made by a cold rolling process. The cold rolling work acts to significantly harden the material, giving it a high tensile strength that makes it strongly resistant to bending. In the new Lightfold process, lasers are used to heat the duplex along the desired fold line with extreme accuracy, enabling the steel to be more easily folded into 3D shapes.
