The 2003 Cadillac CTS sports sedan is the first unibody production vehicle to feature an acoustically integrated application of Quiet Steel™, an engineered metal-laminate designed to significantly reduce vehicle NVH levels without the use of add-on sound deadening materials.

Quiet Steel™, a patented multi-layer laminate from Material Sciences Corporation (MSC), replaces the standard steel in vehicle body structures while simultaneously providing a significant reduction in vehicle sound and vibration levels. Developed by MSC’s Engineered Materials and Solutions Group, Quiet Steel™ consists of an engineered viscoelastic layer sandwiched between two cold-rolled layers of steel. The viscoelastic layer is a “tunable” formulation, allowing vehicle designers to attenuate specific frequencies depending on where in the vehicle they use Quiet Steel™. The laminate may be further engineered with corrosion resistance or other value-added processing. When this initial processing is complete, OEMs may form, stamp, and weld Quiet Steel™ as they would any standard steel. Unlike steel treated with other damping material, 100% of Quiet Steel™ can be easily recycled.

MSC’s Quiet Steel™ application for Cadillac has been selected by Automotive News as a finalist for 2003’s prestigious PACE Award.

Quiet Steel™ was created to provide a dramatic savings to OEMs in terms of build-time, costs, and vehicle weight. In most cases, it can eliminate typical add-on sound treatments such as mastics, foams, carpet padding, rubber mats, and other costly and labor-intensive measures. Furthermore, Quiet Steel™ serves as an integral component of the vehicle body structure, saving weight and additional tooling.

In the Cadillac application, the CTS utilizes a full-length dashboard panel made from Quiet Steel™, which resulted in a significant improvement in vehicle NVH levels. Quiet Steel™ was a logical choice because of Cadillac’s reputation for quiet operation. “The automotive market perceives a quiet vehicle as being of intrinsically higher quality, and expects to pay a premium for that luxury,” says Mark Gresser, MSC’s Director of Automotive Marketing. “But the weight, cost, and manufacturing advantages we’re seeing mean that Quiet Steel™ can help vehicles across a manufacturer’s entire line achieve luxury levels of noise and vibration reduction.”

Material Sciences Corporation is a leading provider of material-based solutions that solve customer-specific problems, overcome technical barriers, and enhance performance. Headquartered outside of Chicago, Illinois, the company’s Automotive Noise and Vibration Technical Center is located in Farmington Hills, Michigan.

For more information contact Greg Corda, Marketing Manager at 800.832.6737 ext. 4440 or email greg.corda@matsci.com. You may also visit the company’s Quiet Steel™ website at www.quietsteel.com.

MSC – Material Sciences Corporation, 39303 Country Club Drive, Suite A-11, Farmington Hills, Michigan 48331, USA.