ArcelorMittal (Luxembourg, Luxembourg):

Ludkovsky G., Vice President, Head of Research & Development, e-mail: press@arcelormittal.com

Many key innovations in steel products and solutions in the past 10 years have come from ArcelorMittal’s R&D teams. 10% of all building envelopes will be solar-panelled by 2020 as compared to the less than 0,5% today, permanently altering the structure of the construction market as we know it. In anticipation of this, ArcelorMittal’s research and development teams are undertaking a new research project — Phoster, which stands for photo-voltaic steel roof. This is to develop steels which will serve as construction materials while producing energy at the same time. While this future project is still in the test phase, we are working at a different level for automotive steels. Developing automotive steels means to become an integrated partner in the development of a given vehicle. ArcelorMittal is working on three key aspects: implementing new products, investing to enable production of these materials in key countries, and holding discussions with carmakers to ensure these products are correctly used in new models. With the current solutions ArcelorMittal offers, the company calculates that carmakers can reduce the weight of the steel body of a car by up to 19−20%. Similar solutions are available for doors. Part of the weight savings in both the short- and medium-term solutions is achieved by using thinner steel for the outer door panel. Known as down-gauging, this technique is only possible with steels that exhibit increased yield strength while ensuring the doors will pass industry standards for dent resistance. ArcelorMittal’s car door study demonstrates that compared to aluminum, cost savings of more than 30 % are possible with both the short- and medium-term solutions. Moreover, weight saving to reduce emissions is at the heart of Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), an approach which gains more and more importance. It shows several advantages of steel compared to competing materials.