SMS Siemag, Saltzgitter Flachstahl GmbH and the Technical University of Clausthal have received a German Future Award in Berlin for a horizontal thin strip casting of steel project.
According to SMS Siemag, the three project partners 'evolved a new steel casting process that requires much less energy than conventional methods'. it also 'offers the prospect of producing a whole new generation of steel materials...which can, in turn, reduce energy consumption'.
The new process will benefit the use of steel in the automotive industry where 'lightweighting' is the new buzzword.
Focusing on the individuals responsible for the new technology, SMS has name-checked Ulrich Grethe, CEO of Salzgitter Flachstahl; Burkhard Dahmen, CEO of SMS Siemag AG and Professor Karl-Heinz Spitzer, head of the Institute of Metallurgy at TU Clausthal.
According to Ulrich Grethe, "Our nomination for the future prize underlines the high potential of steel as the number-one industrial material in today's key market areas of mobility, communication, demography, and resource saving."
Grethe added that the new process was the result of 'many years of teamwork between scientists and practitioners' and said that it demonstrated 'how excellently this kind of co-operation works in the industrial powerhouse that is Germany.'