Cold-rolled high-strength steels offer keeps growing Following the successful introduction and positive customer feedback of ArcelorMittal HC500LA and S550GD HyPer® cold-rolled high-strength steel grades, industry manufacturers are asking for ever better performing steel products: lighter, thinner, more reliable and sustainable products to build strong and long-lasting structures more economically. At the same time, market interest is shifting more towards coated grades for applications that require additional corrosion resistance, such as housing and solar frames, roofing and cladding.
MEETING MARKET NEEDS There is huge potential in the construction market for high-strength low-alloyed coldrolled steel grades – both bare and coated, which could extend the cold-rolled product offer above 500 MPa. OCAS is developing an extended family of ever-stronger yet ductile cold-rolled microalloyed high-strength steel grades by using robust and flexible metallurgical concepts. In collaboration with different ArcelorMittal cold-rolling-annealing and galvanising lines
across Europe, the OCAS lab concepts have been industrially realised and high-strength steels with yield strength ranging up to 700 MPa (coated) and 850 MPa (bare) are now industrially feasible. These new cold-rolled grades have a tightly controlled chemical composition and microstructure that allow reliable performance. The high level of yield strength is a result of the addition of micro-alloying elements, contributing to fine carbide precipitations, substitutional
and interstitial strengthening, and grain refinement. These grades are perfectly suited for cold-forming, such as bending, tubing, rollforming. They provide a very high strength while maintaining excellent formability. Such grades allow thickness and weight reduction and provide a smart solution for sustainable development: environmentallyfriendly, light, durable, and cost-effective. These grades have already found their way to the manufacturing of automotive Materials for the Future 127
