Tata Steel has completed a GBP3.6m upgrade of its corrosion resistant coating line in South Wales to improve and expand the company’s range of high-value, high-formability automotive steels.
The supplier said the automotive industry increasingly require steels that combine high strength with high formability for more fuel efficient and lighter vehicles.
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Increasing the size of the radiant tube section of the line’s annealing furnace, where the steel is given the required mechanical properties ahead of the zinc coating process, has enabled an increase in capacity of about 25% to 500,000 tonnes a year.
Adding a second roll size to the temper mill, which levels the steel strip after coating, has allowed the move into high formability steels while retaining the line’s ability to produce high strength and dual phase steels.
Spokesman Henrik Adam said: “This upgrade has been carried out with the requirements of some of our key European automotive customers in mind.”
