SSAB is crafting a global niche in high strength steel market
Bangaluru: SSAB Swedish Steel is showcasing its range of High strength steels at the upcoming India EXCON from 10-14 December 2019 at the Bangalore International Exhibition Center, world renowned steel products like Hardox wearplate used typically in tipper bodies and buckets will also be available on site at Hall 3.
SSAB is a highly-specialised global steel company that develops high-strength steels and provides services for better performance and sustainability. The company is a leading producer on the global market for Advanced High-Strength Steels (AHSS) and Quenched & Tempered Steels (Q&T) strip, plate and tube products. SSAB’s steels and services help to make end products lighter, stronger and more sustainable.
Products like Hardox wearplate - the global brand of wear steels, has the highest awareness of all brands in the global steel market. Since the introduction in 1974, the Hardox range has grown into thinner, thicker and harder qualities without sacrificing the all-important toughness. Originally intended as a wear plate, Hardox is tough enough to double as a load carrying part in many applications. It allows for the design of structures that are wear resistant, strong and lightweight at the same time.
In order to differentiate genuine Hardox produced only by SSAB Swedish Steel, the end user can check the Hardox wearplate for a marking which is printed over every plate’s red surface. The marking will also tell which steel batch it comes from, the serial number, its length, width and thickness. It’s like each Hardox wearplate has its own passport. Just by looking, you know you are getting the real thing. All genuine Hardox are supported by mill test certificates from SSAB.
Another remarkable application that comes from the house of SSAB are Tippers that are used to transport various types of abrasive material and heavy equipment.
They are designed to be robust and durable to withstand the tough working conditions, and parallelly minimize the cost of building and operating them. The conventional approach is to build the tippers using thick mild steel plate with a large number of stiffeners. While this gives the appearance of robustness, it is actually counterproductive. It makes the vehicle weak and inefficient due to poor steel properties and high mass.
SSAB with its sector expertise has introduced a smarter solution to achieve the desired properties by combining the best wear-resistant steel in the market with an optimal design. This has resulted in making a multipurpose tipper with higher capacity which is stronger, lighter, and more cost-effective to build and operate.
Hardox wearplate is produced in a carefully controlled steelmaking process to deliver the best combination of high hardness and high toughness. This allows the construction of a significantly stronger tipper body that is also lighter than a conventional design. By removing the stiffeners, the entire wear plate can absorb shock, making best use of the steel’s properties.
A tipper body built with Hardox 450 grade needs fewer parts and is made of thinner material. This reduces the overall production cost compared to a conventional tipper body made with mild steels.
The new design dramatically reduces the number of pre-manufactured pieces. This results in shorter lead times and reduced risk of production issues that cause expensive secondary costs for repairs, corrections and inspections. The total length of welds in the high-performance design is shorter and more importantly, the welds can be thinner as the material is thinner.