PITTSBURGH — Alcoa Inc. has announced what it described as a revolutionary breakthrough in its campaign to replace steel in cars with aluminum, unveiling a process that in minutes converts molten aluminum into sheet metal that is lighter and stronger and has wider applications than aluminum currently in use.

The company said Thursday it has conducted successful customer trials with metals produced from the process, which it is calling Micromill. The tests were done at a pilot plant in San Antonio. Alcoa said it is qualifying the material for use in the next generation of automotive designs.

“It will allow our customers to redefine the boundaries of vehicle design, supporting the creation of lighter, more fuel-efficient, safer, and more stylish vehicles,” Alcoa chairman and CEO Klaus Kleinfeld said in a statement.

For years, Alcoa and other aluminum producers have been eyeing the automotive industry, long the bastion of the steel industry. They have been slowly chipping away at steel’s dominance. Their progress has been accelerated by tougher government fuel-efficiency standards, which increase the automotive industry’s interest is using lighter materials that boost gas mileage.

This year, Ford unveiled an aluminum-intensive version of its popular F-150 pickup.

The move into a mass production vehicle signals that aluminum is gaining increasing acceptance among automakers.

The next update of the Jeep Wrangler, which is now built in Toledo, is expected to have an aluminum body.

The aluminum sheet content of North American light vehicles is expected to increase elevenfold between 2012 and 2025, according to research firm Ducker Worldwide.

Micromill aluminum is 30 percent stronger and 40 percent easier to bend into intricate forms than aluminum sheet currently provided to the automotive market, the company said. Alcoa said the new product is 30 percent lighter than comparable parts made with high-strength steels.

The improved ability to form the new aluminum makes it possible to use it in the inside panels of doors, external fenders, and other car parts that aluminum previously could not be used for, Alcoa said.

“We really feel we’re positioned well for the next wave of automotive growth,” said Ray Kilmer, Alcoa’s chief technical officer.

Mr. Kilmer declined to say how much the company has spent developing the technology. Some of the Micromill work was done at the company’s technical center in Westmoreland County in Pennsylvania, he said. Work has been going on at the San Antonio pilot for several years to scale the process up to low level production volumes, he said.

Alcoa has been working on the project with more than one automotive partner, but it has been collaborating more closely with a strategic development partner that Mr. Kilmer declined to identify.

The plan is to work with designers who are developing the next generation of vehicles, he said.

Micromill can be made at a plant that is one-quarter the size of a traditional mill using 50 percent less energy, the company said.

The process reduces the time it takes to convert molten metal into aluminum sheet from 20 days to 20 minutes, Alcoa said.

The Block News Alliance consists of The Blade and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Len Boselovic is a reporter for the Post-Gazette.

Contact him at: lboselovic@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1941.

First Published December 6, 2014, 5:00 a.m.