Steel continues to develop

Germany’s first hot strip mill goes into operation at August Thyssen-Hütte a decade after the end of World War II.

The first hot-dip galvanizing line opens in Finnentrop, Germany. Here, zinc coatings are applied to strips. The new, special finishes and coatings developed here will be used to make many premium products in the future.

Schwelgern I, the largest blast furnace in the Western world, begins Operation.

For the first time ever, sheets of different types of steel were welded together with lasers in mass production. Later on, steels of different thicknesses and with different coatings were joined together as well. This enables certain parts of the composite metal to be imbued with certain characteristics, which in turn saves on weight and cuts costs. The Business Area responsible for these activities was sold in 2013.

Schwelgern II, Europe’s largest blast furnace, begins Operation.

The international steel industry continually works on developing new, innovative solutions to ensure that automotive manufacturers keep choosing steel. The ULSAB program has resulted in the first lightweight car body made from multi-phase steels, and thyssenkrupp’s Steel division played an active role in this development.

TAKO, a tandem mill combined with a pickling line, opens.

Modern, high-strength multi-phase steel development began in the 1980s – in 2002, it spread to the automotive industry. That year, various types of multi-phase steels with various properties were used in car bodies and chassis for the first time.

thyssenkrupp’s Steel division created its own lightweight steel construction concept for the first time, using the body in white of a real vehicle produced on a large scale as a benchmark. This concept, known as NewSteelBody (NSB), combined high-strength steels, wight-optimized tailored products, and tube-intensive construction method, enabling a 4 percent reduction in weight.

Mass production begins on hotform blanks for hotforming.

This further development in hot forming technology makes it possible to manufacture components with locally varying elongation and strength properties in a single step. The secret behind this new technology: varying cooling speeds in different areas of the forming tool.

Building off of 2009’s InCar® development project, InCar®plus was a Group-wide effort that resulted in the development of more than 40 innovative solutions for drives, chassis and steering controls, and car bodies. These solutions were tested along the entire value-added chain and set standards for lightweight construction, electrification, energy efficiency, safety, and comfort.

thyssenkrupp is the first steel manufacturer in the world to offer clients in the automotive industry mass-produced zinc-magnesium coating for visible outer paneling parts on car bodies. This coating, which provides highly effective corrosion protection, is called ZM EcoProtect®.

thyssenkrupp’s Steel division has been developing hybrid materials since the 1960s. The first of these was BONDAL®, which consists of a vibration-reducing plastic layer sandwiched between two sheets of steel. The Steel division is currently working on developing LITECOR®

and TRIBOND®. TRIBOND® is a composite material that consists of three layers of steel, while LITECOR® is a hybrid material that consists of a polymer core layered between two steelsheets.

Ready for mass production: SCALUR®+Z

On the market: TRIBOND®

On the market: new types of PowerCore®-brand electrical steel

1955 have been there 255, 2014 1.800.