Design meets function: 60 years of pladur coil-coated steel

Innovations from thyssenkrupp Steel under the brand name pladur have been meeting the highest standards of aesthetics, quality, formability, color variety and cost-efficiency for 60 years. The material is particularly popular with architects and building owners: an organic coated flat steel that opens up unparalleled possibilities for the design of building facades and interiors.

Start of a success story

On May 26, 1959, a former company of what is now thyssenkrupp Steel Europe unveils Europe’s first wide-strip coil coating line for the production of organic coated steel – the start of a success story. At the International Plastics Exhibition in Düsseldorf later the same year the new material is an immediate hit. Its stability, formability and wide range of finishes and colors make it possible to realize even the most unusual ideas. Today, pladur products are manufactured on coil coating lines in Kreuztal-Eichen, Kreuztal-Ferndorf and Duisburg-Beeckerwerth.

Looks are important – and so is eco-friendly manufacture

In addition to high-quality building applications, pladur was also the first coil-coated product to be used in the garage door, appliance and trailer sectors, where it is still a firm favorite today. Over the past 60 years thyssenkrupp Steel has constantly raised its standards with regard to material properties and surface variety, with pladur available not just in painted finishes but also with decorative film coatings. The virtually unlimited range even includes steels with the look and feel of wood for facade and garage door panels. When it comes to appliances, the wide variety of finishes – painted or decorative films – keeps demand for the material high. pladur offers enormous design freedom to engineers, architects and project developers: It is available in over 8,000 color shades , with various coatings and in numerous steel grades. “pladur is our colorful and functional painted finish on steel for premium manufacturers,” says Axel Pohl, head of sales at the Industry business unit. Stability and good formability are key properties of these materials. thyssenkrupp Steel also attaches great importance to eco-friendly production, dispensing completely with the use of chromium in pretreatment and heavy metal pigments in the coating process.

Eye catchers in Bauhaus year

In this Bauhaus centenary year, there is likely to be increased interest in the color collection “bauhaus style natural matt”. These bold colors and pastel shades in a matt finish make the facades of high-end multi-story and industrial buildings into real eye catchers. Design solutions in steel mean that even ideas from the Bauhaus school can be given a modern-day interpretation.