TK Stainless

78 MaGaZine stainless steel
CoMMerCiaL KiTChens are
a major area of application for
the new materials from italy.
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superFerriTiC sTainLess sTeeLs FroM Terni
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An extended product portfolio thanks to the use of innovative technology: In
2008 ThyssenKrupp Acciai Speciali Terni invested in a VOD converter to provide
new ways of exploiting market potential. Work processes have been optimized,
and in particular the company’s portfolio of ferritic steels has been expanded to
include special grades. For example, the Terni plant has been producing new
superferritic steels since mid-2008.
Two of the latest material innovations are 470LI-24 Cr and 460LI-21 Cr.
Potential applications include commercial kitchens, oven hobs, industrial
washing machines, restaurant equipment, inner paneling for elevator cabs,
street furniture and boilers. “Thanks to their unique production process and
their special chemical composition, they offer greater corrosion resistance
than austenitic stainless steels,” says Dr. Alfred Otto, ThyssenKrupp Nirosta
Executive Board member responsible for strategic product development and
thus for product development in the entire Stainless group. The 470LI-24 Cr and
460LI-21 Cr grades are produced as flat-rolled steel. Both deliver outstanding
yield and tensile strengths, good elongation and deep-drawing properties as
well as a uniform and homogeneous microstructure. Dr. Harald Espenhahn,
Executive Board Chairman of ThyssenKrupp Acciai Speciali Terni, emphasizes
the additional advantage of the new AST production route: “By dispensing with
the use of nickel and thanks to the higher yield strength that allows thinner
gauges, the two innovations 470LI-24 Cr and 460LI-21 Cr offer economically
attractive alternatives to the standard materials 316(1.4301) and 304(1.4401).”
Market studies carried out by ThyssenKrupp Acciai Speciali Terni
show significant potential for the new material types on the European market.
Additional demand is expected from the Asian market.
The two newly developed materials were produced for the first time
in the late summer of 2008. In September 2008 ThyssenKrupp AST launched
a national and international advertising campaign to present the two new
innovative materials and other superferritic steels produced in the VOD converter
and market them successfully. ---