High strength meets high protection for solar

In collaboration with ArcelorMittal, OCAS has developed Magnelis®-coated HyPer® steel grades to answer the solar market needs for ever stronger and more ductile, yet lighter and thinner, steel grades – all with enhanced corrosion resistance.

Arunim Ray

Today’s interest in metallic-coated structural steel grades for solar markets is shifting towards increasingly stronger – yet lighter, thinner, more ductile and corrosion-resistant – steels in order to build structures that are more reliable, strong, durable, and affordable. In collaboration with various ArcelorMittal plants across Europe, OCAS is currently developing an extended family of metalliccoated high-strength steel grades to meet the manufacturers’ ever-increasing demand.

MAGNELIS®-COATED HYPER® HIGH-STRENGTH STEEL

Starting from small lab-scale experiments, OCAS has developed high-performance ‘HyPer®’ steel grades with robust and flexible metallurgical concepts using tightly controlled chemical compositions and micro-alloy strengthened fine-scaled microstructures. Moreover, Magnelis® is one of the best-in-class coating solutions, with excellent in-use properties and a wide range of feasibility as well as being the most costeffective for photovoltaic solar structures. In recent months, successful industrialisation of the metallurgical concepts and coating solutions at different ArcelorMittal plants has led to the first commercial Magnelis®-coated HyPer® highstrength steel – with more than 700MPa yield strength showing excellent ductility and in-use properties. This steel provides industry-leading corrosion protection, with thicker coatings – up to 430 g/m² and even more – further enhancing the durability of the solar structures. OCAS is currently optimising the metallurgical routes to extend the ArcelorMittal ‘Magnelis®+HyPer®’ offer for the various strength levels at different thicknesses, combined with a range of coating weights for multiple ArcelorMittal galvanising lines. This extended competitive offer will allow differentiation – and ‘Magnelis®+HyPer®’ is likely to become the reference material for solar structures.