During the 8th Platts/SBB Steel Markets
Europe conference held in Brussels on May 21-22, J.M. Van der Hoeven, vice president and chief marketing officer of
ArcelorMittal Flat Carbon
Europe, discussed the current changes the auto market is going through and the response of the leading global steel producer to these changes.
The
ArcelorMittal official stated that the car is no longer a status symbol in western
Europe, amid changing mobility concepts and the impact of CO2 legislation, taxation and insurance. He went on to say that the auto industry must find quick answers to this new situation, both in the commercial and production fields. In the latter, he said, the keyword is research of new steel grades in order to slim down car bodies and chassis. Indeed, in order to comply with the most recent EU directives on CO2 emissions and fuel consumption, cars will have to lose hundreds of kilos in weight over the coming decades.
Mr. Van der Hoeven said
ArcelorMittal believes that a proper anti-pollution policy must embrace the whole CO2 footprint through a full life-cycle analysis, while today only CO2 emissions are under the spotlight. According to the figures provided, in fact, steel cannot be beaten in terms of overall CO2 footprint ranking by carbon fiber or aluminum, and for this reason the Luxembourg-based steel giant has decided to increase its research around new high-tech steel grades in order to transform a threat into an opportunity.
The forecasts by
ArcelorMittal, as Van der Hoeven pointed out, indicate that use of advanced high strength steels (AHSS) in cars will reach 32 percent by 2020, compared to six percent in 2005, nine percent in 2008 and an anticipated 14 percent in 2013. Despite this, certain grades such as dual phase, TRIP steels and martensites require a costly and difficult cold forming process.
Against this background, as a solution Van der Hoeven put forward
ArcelorMittal's Usibor® steel, which is a boron-alloyed steel with an Al-Si coating, with the advantages of 10 percent cost savings thanks to its hot stamping process and an extremely high strength up to 1,500 MPa. According to the
ArcelorMittal official, the product has a 30 percent weight-saving potential. The company plans to produce around 2 million mt of Usibor steel per year by 2020, while it is preparing to further develop Usibor steel with a strength of 2,000 MPa.
Closing his speech, Van der Hoeven stated that
ArcelorMittal's strategy involves a close working relationship with technical developers, suppliers and customers in order to provide the most attractive product in the field of auto steel sheet.