The world's first Sn-added ferritic stainless steel grade NSSC FW 1 (Forward One) produced by Japanese steel giant Nippon Steel has been awarded a‘Nikkei Business Daily Award for Excellence' within the scope of the ‘2010 Nikkei Superior Products and Services Awards'.
Nikkei Superior Products and Services Award is one of the most prestigious and time-honored prizes in the field, given each year to only one distinct product screened from among numerous new products and new services reported to Japanese media group Nikkei Inc. during the year, Nippon said. The prize is only given after overall evaluation, regarding such aspects as R&D novelty, cost-effectiveness, contribution to business, growth potential, uniqueness and impact on industry and society.
NSSC has steadily received expanding orders for its NSSC® FW1, marketed from July last year, receiving over 2,000 inquiries in half a year.
NSSC proposes that these new FW-series products could be great candidates for a new general-purpose grade, overtaking the two leading types of steel available (SUS304 and SUS430), which account for more than 50 percent of all distributed stainless steel. Furthermore, the FW-series products contribute to the conservation of rare metals because they utilize ultra fine-grain steel with low alloy elements (no added Ni, Mo, or Cu, and with a reduction of Cr); thus, they are also stable in cost by minimizing the effect of the fluctuations of raw material prices.