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Mittal Steel operates two primary research and development centres – one in East Chicago, USA, focusing on steel-making and with strong emphasis on flat products, and one in Gandrange, France focusing on long products.
The research undertaken in both centres spans process technologies, the development of steels with special properties, and product research and applications. Besides the work done for their local companies, numerous projects are also undertaken each year on behalf of other Mittal Steel subsidiaries, including activities on raw materials usage, furnace design, processes and productivity.
For example, in 2004, the East Chicago centre handled more than 300 investigations on behalf of other Mittal Steel subsidiaries.
To build on its technical leadership, and to support the work of its two dedicated research centres, Mittal Steel is also developing a number of centres of excellence around the world. The role of these centres will be to capitalise on the diverse expertise that exists both within Mittal Steel companies and in local research and development institutes and academia. The first centre of excellence has been established at the Mittal Steel Ostrava plant in the Czech Republic, specialising on coal and coke. A second centre specialising in refractories technology will
be established this year in South Africa, drawing on the exceptional expertise in that area within Mittal Steel South Africa.
Work is also progressing on the establishment of a third R & D hub, the Central and Eastern European technical centre (CEE), to be located in Poland. This new organisation will have a strong focus on process research and will draw on Poland’s rich tradition of metallurgical science by accessing the skills and expertise available within its research and academic institutions. CEE will manage the research programmes already defined by Mittal Steel Ostrava, provide technical assistance to other subsidiary companies in the region, and participate in the diffusion of the advancements made by other Mittal Steel companies.
Product development in Mittal Steel during 2004 saw a number of landmark advancements for flat products. New advanced high-strength dual phase steels in tensile strengths ranging from 500 MPa to 980 MPa were launched; this included the first North American electro-galvanised, dual-phase 500 MPa product, containing both softer ferrite and hard martensite phases, for automotive body panels. The new steel – DI-FORM T500 – uniquely offers improved dent resistance at lighter gauge and was adopted by Ford Motor Company for the 2003 Mustang model. And Mittal Steel remains the only North American steel-maker capable of manufacturing martensitic steels of up to 1,540 MPa for use in key safety-critical applications.
In the area of cold rolled and coated products, Mittal Steel introduced another revolutionary steel offering, transformation-induced plasticity steels - called ‘TRIP’. Launched in both 590 MPa and 780 MPa minimum tensile strength versions, Mittal Steel’s TRIP steels are unique among advanced high-strength steels in providing excellent ductility in the forming process while retaining all the qualities of an ultra-high-strength steel once formed. The 590 and 780 MPa TRIP steels are aimed principally at structural automotive applications.
And for higher strength requirements a dual-phase 980 MPa tensile strength product was launched, aimed for automotive seats. This market recently has seen substantial transformations in design and manufacturing requirements for integrated seats; with the anchor for seat belts having to absorb more energy than in the past, using ultra-high-strength steels becomes unavoidable.
These advanced products have been well received in the automotive community.
And since Mittal Steel was one of the first steel companies to participate directly in the product design process of its customers, it has also solidified a leadership position in product development not only of the above mentioned new generation of advanced high-strength steels, but also of innovative products for the appliance and electric motor industries, amongst others. And Mittal Steel engineers continue to work closely with customers in areas such as crash management systems, weight efficiency, motor design efficiency and global sourcing issues, helping them find solutions to manufacturing challenges. Examples of that effort include compliance with new government safety or fuel economy standards and the use of finite element analysis techniques on behalf of automotive customers, the latter of which last year allowed Mittal Steel to propose $55 million of savings for an individual automotive programme.
And the expertise of Mittal Steel’s research engineers is widely acknowledged: For the second year running, one of the most coveted awards in the industry, the 2004 Society of Automotive Engineers/American Iron and Steel Institute (SAE/AISI) Sydney H. Melbourne Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Automotive Sheet Steel, went to a member of the Ispat Inland research team.
Activities for long products have also led to significant progress. The Gandrange, France, research laboratory completed four major product development projects in 2004. These involved micro alloyed steel for truck crankshafts offering high torsional fatigue strength, high strength low carbon bainitic steel (TS > 1000 MPa) for tire cord applications and two new high-strength micro alloyed steels for cold heading applications. As a result of this work, Mittal Steel is also a recognised leader in spring steels for sophisticated applications such as automotive suspensions. And among 34 projects currently underway in the long products area, the Gandrange laboratory is developing steels with tensile strengths in excess of 2,100 MPa, for valve applications. In the area of wire drawing, it is developing high-strength silicon grades with tensile strengths in excess of 2,000 MPa, for offshore use.
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