Global steel giant ArcelorMittal has announced that it has signed an agreement with Austrian steelmaker voestalpine AG to combine their expertise to globally market voestalpine’s ‘phs-directform’, a new range of galvanized, press hardened steels for hot-formed automotive components.
According to ArcelorMittal’s statement, voestalpine's press hardened steel, phs-directform, is a high-strength steel, coupled with lower material weight, while at the same time maintaining an excellent level of crash performance. Furthermore, phs-directform can be produced by direct stamping, the most cost-efficient process. The product has been developed in response to the need for today’s automotive steels to be extremely robust, highly formable, corrosion resistant and lightweight.