Salzgitter and Corus cooperate on new steel product with outstanding properties

Salzgitter and Corus announce today their successful cooperation in product development of High Strength and Ductility (HSD®)-steels. The new HSD®-grade will be developed for a variety of applications. These refer in particular to parts with complex geometrical structure combined with high strength requirements.

Salzgitter and Corus have been working together since 2005 on identifying opportunities for the application of High Strength and Ductility (HSD®)-steels in selected market sectors. Good progress has been made in the last four years, and program results are promising.

Salzgitter and Corus announce today that they will continue to join their forces and intensify their joint product development co-operation in the area of High Strength and Ductility (HSD®)-steels based on high manganese content in the range of 15%.

This agreement will be of significant benefit to customers in the Automotive and other industries. The Cooperation Agreement signed today governs scope of work for both companies on sharing complementary R&D expertise to develop and optimize these products.

The new HSD®-grade will be developed for several applications. Examples are sophisticated components for mechanical engineering applications. In the Automotive sector substantial benefits could be achieved in mass reduction, improved crash resistance and by providing the automotive engineer with enhanced design freedom. This will also enhance future designs, such as electrical and hybrid architectures. Progress updates will be provided in the course of 2009.

Hans Fischer, Member of the Board Salzgitter AG, comments: “Salzgitter is looking forward to continue the very effective and synergy creating cooperation with Corus regarding the development of these outstanding innovative steel grades. HSD®-steels will intensify the Salzgitter strategy to be a niche first class supplier for high quality steel products, meeting market demands of the future. Next to the Automotive market where Salzgitter already has promising cooperation projects with key OEMs and tiers, the excellent properties of this product provide new and promising applications also in markets related e.g. to engineering and transportation. Salzgitter plans to produce these HSD® steels using the Belt Strip Casting Technology to be erected and qualified for the production of these grades at our Peine works.”

Marjan Oudeman, Executive Director Corus Strip Products Division, said: “Corus welcomes this great opportunity to work further with Salzgitter on the development of this new and innovative product. The HSD® steel product represents a new era in the material application to the automotive industry and will significantly contribute to the ever increasing requirements of our customers. Through this cooperation, Corus demonstrates its commitment to invest in new and innovative products. I am convinced that this alliance with Salzgitter enables improved product offerings with a better value proposition to our customers. This is a positive step for both our companies, but the real winners are OEMs’ and developers who rely on our products. This product will help them to build lighter yet safer vehicles enabling lower CO2 emissions, contributing to a greener environment.”