NSSMC’s Titanium Steel Sheet is Adopted for the Fuel Tanks of Honda’s Motocross Bikes

Aug. 31, 2016

Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation

NSSMC’s Titanium Steel Sheet is Adopted for the Fuel Tanks of Honda’s
Motocross Bikes

Titanium steel sheets made by Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (NSSMC) have been adopted for making the fuel tank of the motocross bike of Honda Motor, the CRF450R. The CRF450R is Honda’s leading mass-produced motocross bike and has many noteworthy features. This is the first time in the world that titanium was adopted for the fuel tank of mass-produced bikes. 

Working with Honda, NSSMC developed  a technological proposal for processing titanium sheets to match the special requirements of fuel tank manufacturing, such as for press formability, weldability, and anisotropy*. As a result, the outstanding properties of NSSMC’s pure titanium (JIS 1), TP270C, enabled it to be approved for adoption for the fuel tank. Its advantage of having high specific strength means titanium contributes to weight reduction compared to plastics used as conventional material for tanks.   

Titanium has distinctive features such as being lightweight, strong, and highly corrosion resistant. Leveraging on these features by adopting titanium for the fuel tank has contributed to reduce the weight of the fuel tank. NSSMC looks forward to helping other companies in the automotive sector  to use titanium..

* Anisotropy means that properties and features are different, depending on directions of a product. In case of the sheet, there are longitudinal, width, and through-thickness directions.

	Photo from Honda