(Slide presentation). Product development activity in steel continues to flourish, taking advantage of the intrinsic ability of the iron-carbon system to generate diverse structure-property combinations to meet new application challenges. However, examination of three non commodity steel products made in this paper, namely rails for mainline track, tyre cord for truck tyre reinforcement and tin-plate for carbonated beverage cans, exposes very different rates of product evolution. Despite the various improvements in rail production practice and economics up to the present day, the predominant structural solution is essentially the same, namely a fine high carbon-manganese steel pearlitic structure demonstrating good wear, fatigue and fracture resistance. Given the lengthy average service life cycles of rails coupled with the understandable design conservatism and safety orientation of the industry, it is not surprising that despite the recent development of a range of novel steel variants offering attractive and cost efficient property combinations, take-up is relatively slow. In comparison, the use of high carbon steel cord as a reinforcement medium for pneumatic radial tyres is a relatively recent innovation dating from 1951. Although alternative reinforcement materials such as rayon, polyester, high strength aramid and oriented PE abound, steel has been able to maintain a predominant cost performance position through continuous improvement, with higher strength metallurgical options available to be deployed in future as required. The pace of product development for can making has been unremitting, resulting in a 42% reduction in steel can weight between 1973 and 2004 in response to constant competition and innovation from established (glass, aluminium) and new (PET) materials formats, supply chain consolidation and the growing cost pressures exerted by major brands and retail outlets. It can therefore be seen that the pace of product development, and the strategies required of the primary steel producers to satisfy evolving market requirements, differs radically dependent on market / value chain characteristics and product cycles. The good news for steel is that the potential for product development through improved structure-property combinations is far from exhausted, and thus steel is ideally placed to meet the needs of the future as ably as it has those of the past.
21st century steels for 21st customers: Flat and long steel product development
Stähle des 21.Jahrhunderts für Kunden des 21.Jahrhunderts: Entwicklung von Flach- und Langwalzprodukten
2007
5 Seiten, 6 Bilder
(nicht paginiert)
Aufsatz (Konferenz)
Englisch
High Quality Steels for the 21st Century
British Library Conference Proceedings | 1994
|New rail steels for the 21st century
IuD Bahn | 2008
|Development of tube steels and production technology in 21st century
Tema Archiv | 2001
|British Library Conference Proceedings | 1997
|