20–26 Oct 2026
Austria Trend Parkhotel Schönbrunn
Europe/Vienna timezone

The production of sustainable, high-quality thin sheet grades via the EAF route as a new challenge for the steel industry

Not scheduled
20m
Austria Trend Parkhotel Schönbrunn

Austria Trend Parkhotel Schönbrunn

Hietzinger Hauptstraße 10, 1130 Wien
Plenary Talk Technology and Product Development in TMP

Speaker

Dr Andreas Pichler (voestalpine Stahl GmbH (Head of R&D in the business unit Coil))

Description

The transition to sustainable steel production presents a significant challenge for the steel industry in the coming decades. The initial stage involves partially replacing the traditional blast furnace and basic oxygen furnace with electrical arc furnace technology. The type and quantity of raw materials (scrap, direct reduced iron, and hot metal) not only determine the CO2 footprint but also influence subsequent manufacturing steps necessary to produce premium thin sheet grades.
In the presentation, the effects of tramp elements on metallurgical mechanisms such as recrystallization and phase transformations will first be discussed. Subsequently, these effects will be analyzed in combination with the processing parameters detailing their implications on material properties.
Since elevated levels of tramp elements generally result in increased strength—and fluctuations in these content levels within scrap contribute to greater variability in properties—appropriate strategies will be outlined to ensure consistent performance and property uniformity, comparable with outcomes achieved using the blast furnace and basic oxygen furnace routes.

Author

Dr Andreas Pichler (voestalpine Stahl GmbH (Head of R&D in the business unit Coil))

Co-authors

Christian Hoflehner (voestalpine Stahl GmbH) David Wurm (voestalpine Stahl GmbH) Markus Sonnleitner (voestalpine Stahl GmbH)

Presentation materials

There are no materials yet.