Steel Division

Automotive

Looking for the lightweight automotive design of tomorrow?

The automotive industry is undergoing unprecedented change. Technological developments are progressing at an enormous pace. The demands on efficiency and safety are enormous and are being completely redefined in ever shorter periods of time. In this highly innovative environment, anyone who believes that today's solutions must be valid tomorrow will be proven wrong by the competition. voestalpine is working now on the solutions of tomorrow. Whether for crash components, exposed panels that meet the highest surface requirements or body-in-white components, voestalpine provides the best solution for every demand of the automotive and automotive supplier industries. That is why leading OEMs and automotive component suppliers place their trust in voestalpine.

Let your ideas fly! That's ultralights

Transforming ideas into lighter, stronger and more corrosion-resistant components. That is the credo of ultralights made by voestalpine. The ultralights made by voestalpine offer a comprehensive range of steels for lightweight automotive design, from advanced high-strength steels (ahss) for cold forming to innovative solutions for the hot forming of galvanized press-hardening steels (phs). That is how voestalpine pushes the limits of what is efficiently feasible in the automotive industry.

Lightweight AND crash-safe!

Weight reduction is a central objective in the automotive industry. Less weight results in advantages in performance and efficiency. But does reduced weight also mean less stability? Results from the voestalpine crash simulator prove otherwise. This is where the high-strength and innovative car body steels of voestalpine are tested to the limit so they can be used in demanding applications, even in the most extreme cases. The results speak for themselves. The progressive buckling behavior and energy absorption values are excellent in spite of the light weight of the material.

Who's Stella?

Stella Sustainable is a testimonial to the sustainable future of the automotive industry. Holistic corporate social responsibility (CSR) is of particular importance to voestalpine. There are many other issues in addition to climate protection, future steel production, ecological logistics and transparent supply chains. Because we care. Stella stands for a vision of the future in which mobility and the environment do not contradict each other.

Ready for a new Xperience?

The ahss high-ductility, complex-phase steel CP1400HD made by voestalpine redefines the limits of what is feasible in lightweight automotive design. Impressive formability and light weight in a strength class of 1400 MPa. The next level of cold forming.

Electrical steel for the drive

In addition to lightweight design and safety, the need for highly efficient electrical steel for rotors and stators in the drive train is becoming increasingly important in electromobility. There are already more than 100 electric motors installed in conventional cars. New drive motors present the industry with completely new challenges. isovac® is the electrical steel made by voestalpine and meets the challenges of highest energy efficiency.

corrender is convincing throughout the entire car body, even in exposed panels.

The performance of corrender can be applied throughout the entire car body. corrender optimizes every structural or internal component, including those that are forming-critical or highly corrosive. The potential savings in the corrender metallic surface coating offers greater corrosion protection when compared with classic galvanized steel strip.


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Steel strips

Electrical steel strip

Electrical steel strip

isovac®, electrical steel made by voestalpine, offers best magnetic properties and provides highest energy efficiency.

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Electrical steel strip

isovac® is the non-grain-oriented electrical steel made by voestalpine and stands for highest energy efficiency. Electrical steel is a material used in many different forms in the construction of magnetic cores in electrical appliances and machinery. voestalpine is Europe's market leader for non-grain-oriented semi-finished electrical steel.

Applications

isovac® made by voestalpine is a high-quality electrical steel for electric motors, generators and transformers of all kinds. 

The high demands of motors in general and especially drive motors in the field of e-mobility are met by isovac® with respect to efficiency and performance, highest permeabilities, lowest losses and, where required, high strength. 

Together with the pole plates of voestalpine, isovac® electrical steel makes a significant contribution in generator design with respect to increases in the efficiency of a wide range of generator types and sets new standards in terms of performance and sustainability.

The specialists of voestalpine are continually developing and optimizing special high-quality isovac® grades for static machines such as transformers, reactance coils or magnets for particle accelerators.

Product portfolio

Customized solutions are indispensable in a dynamic market marked by a wide variety of individual demands. With respect to compact engine design and high efficiency, voestalpine has just the right product for each customer.

Insulating varnish systems

The insulating varnish applied to the strip surface is a key factor in the highest performance of machines made of isovac® electrical steel. This is why voestalpine also relies on the highest quality of the insulating varnish systems. In close collaboration with leading European varnish manufacturers, voestalpine supplies insulating varnishes that contain no toxins, carcinogens, mutagens, formaldehyde or chromium compounds. The coatings meet all applicable EC directives (RoHS Directive 2011/65/EC).

Processability

Consistent mechanical properties across the entire length of the strip and clean surfaces that cause minimal abrasion on the punching tool are prerequisites to optimized punching processes.

The result of our stable and continuous rolling process is a reduction in the steel strip thickness tolerance value. Subsequent continuous annealing reduces material stress to a minimum. This enables voestalpine customers to manufacture components with the highest precision.


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Electrogalvanized steel strip

Electrogalvanized steel strip

Electrogalvanized steel strip made by voestalpine offers highest corrosion protection, best surface quality and excellent processing possibilities.

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Electrogalvanized steel strip

With its excellent properties, electrogalvanized (EG) steel strip is a premium product of voestalpine. The strengths and properties of electrogalvanized steel strip are suited to a wide variety of applications, even beyond the automotive segment. The material exhibits exceptional strengths in terms of strength, coating quality, functionality, formability and joinability.

Highest strength

The many available ahss high-ductility grades reach strengths of up to 1180 MPa. Ultra-high-strength grades with improved formability are available from 980 MPa. In spite of these high strengths, electrogalvanized steel strip is also ideally suited for exposed panels.


Typical applications

  • Rocker panels
  • Tunnels
  • A and B pillars

Best surface and coating quality

The most prominent advantage of electrogalvanized steel strip made by voestalpine is the uniform quality of the surfaces and coatings. Its characteristic properties are ideal for further processing.

  • Minimum zinc layer thicknesses possible
  • One-sided galvanization possible
  • Improved adhesiveness as compared to HDG/Z
  • Especially suitable for new coating strategies as a result of improved coatability
  • Improved adhesive bondability

Extended functionality

The basic material offers many functional advantages, and other properties can be added.

  • Inline phosphating (ZE+P)
  • Temporary corrosion protection
  • Minimized wear
  • Direct coating

Advantages of inline passivation (ZE+C)

  • Improved resistance to transport and warehouse corrosion
  • Good overcoatability
  • Free of Cr IV

Excellent formability

The special forming quality of the material withstands extreme deep-drawing stress. Additionally, the adhesive tendency of electrogalvanized steel strip is significantly lower than that of comparable materials.


Typical applications

  • Large exposed panels in car body design
  • Oil-filter cartridges

Excellent joinability

Thanks to its excellent spot welding and laser brazing properties, electrogalvanized steel strip is ideally suited for joining and leads to significantly lower electrode wear than conventional steel grades.

Typical applications

  • Back hatches
  • Roof and roof attachments
  • Side wall frames

Applications

Electrogalvanized steel strip is versatile and finds its application in a number of different industries. Reflectors for headlights, interior design, room partitions, exposed cable ducts, railings, light reflectors, doors, gates, frames, filter cartridges, oil filters, directly coated components such as radiator covers, claddings and structural members. All one-side-galvanized (joined) components that provide benefits to customers, such as auto roofs, tubes and sections. Exposed panels on white goods such as washing machines, refrigerators and switch cabinets.

 

 

Functional surfaces

Electrogalvanized steel strip can be given a variety of functional surfaces that further optimize the material.

Surface quality

  • Delivered with one of two surface types: A (formerly O3) or B (formerly O5). 
  • DIN EN 10152 illustrates the quality limits of various surfaces.
  • Same internal sorting standard as for cold-rolled steel strip

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Hot-dip galvanized steel strip

Hot-dip galvanized steel strip

Hot-dip galvanized steel made by voestalpine is characterized by high corrosion resistance, excellent working properties and a wide spectrum of applications.

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Hot-dip galvanized steel strip

An excellent all-rounder

Hot-dip galvanized steel made by voestalpine is characterized by high corrosion resistance, high-quality appearance, excellent working properties and a wide spectrum of applications. The portfolio of steel grades ranges from super deep-drawing grades to grades with highest strengths (advanced high-strength steels). Depending on customer requirements, voestalpine supplies a comprehensive range of available widths and thicknesses with tailor-made metallic coatings. A variety of surface finishing treatments also make it possible to extend the range of applications. voestalpine supplies high-strength steels with unique exposed-panel quality and offers a ZF coating for this purpose. The world's only hot-dip galvanized press-hardening steels made by voestalpine round off the extensive portfolio.

Materials for cold forming

Some steel grades are available as galvanized hot-rolled strip:

  • Hot-rolled low-alloyed or microalloyed steels
  • Hot-rolled ferritic-bainitic steels
  • Hot-rolled complex-phase steels

Materials for hot forming

Press-hardening steels for hot forming are available in various strengths and are coated with zinc or zinc-iron. Best crash behavior, high dimensional accuracy and very good joining properties are the hallmarks of components made of these materials.

Metallic coatings

  • Zinc (Z) for applications subject to average corrosion (galvanized)
  • Zinc-iron (ZF) for corrosion protection with highest weldability requirements (galvannealed)
  • Zinc-magnesium (ZM) for best cathodic corrosion protection (corrender)

Metallic coatings Z and ZM are available with normal (N) and small spangles (M). The surface of zinc-iron coating is spangle-free. Upon customer request, voestalpine supplies different zinc coatings per side (differential galvanizing).

corrender is the high-performance zinc-magnesium-aluminum coating made by voestalpine.

This surface treatment provides excellent corrosion protection and processability, offering a high-performance alternative to conventional protective coatings for hot-dip galvanized steel strip. Corrender has been supplied in series since 2007, and voestalpine has established comprehensive product know-how and expertise in this area.

Coating
Thickness/mm
Width max./mm
Coating
Z and GI0.45 – 4.001730Z70 - Z600
ZF and GA0.45 – 2.301730ZF70 - ZF140
ZM (corrender)0.45 – 2.301730ZM90 - ZM200

"At the Linz site, we manufacture a very extensive product mix in five different hot-dip galvanizing lines. We apply zinc coatings in various surface qualities on mild to high-strength steel grades. Our team of specialists meets the challenge with a high level of commitment and quality awareness every single day. We set the standards with additional chromium-free and environmentally friendly treatments such as clearcover® or multiface®.

Maximilian Kaiser, Main Process Manager, Hot-dip Galvanizing

Surface quality

  • As-coated surface (A)
  • Improved surface (unexposed and B)
  • Best surface (exposed or C) for special requirements such as exposed panels (IF steels) in the automotive industry for additional benefits:
  • Minimum waviness
  • High contour sharpness in reflections
  • Also for ZM (corrender coatings)
  • Optimum forming properties
  • Efficient painting
Design for Z and ZM
Mean roughness value Ra [µm]
Standard0.6 – 1.9
Roughness: especially smooth0.5 max.
Roughness: smooth0.9 max.
Special option: half matt0.7 – 1.3
Special option: matt1.3 – 1.9

Numerous functional surfaces

Functional surfaces additionally improve the existing product properties in comparison to the high-quality base material and provides solutions to special applications:

  • Anti-fingerprint (multiface®) for the household appliance and construction industries
  • Chemical passivation and/or corrosion protection oils protect against white rust formation and are free of chromium. (clearcover®)
  • Forming aids such as a phosphating or passivation layer 
  • Optimized tribology and excellent oil distribution (prelube2)

Further processing

Hot-dip galvanized steel strips available in a wide range of widths and lengths:

  • Wide strip
  • Slit strip (slit)
  • Cut-to-length sheets
  • Blanks

Supply pursuant to EN 10346 and VDA 239100 Deviations upon agreement.


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Cold-rolled steel strip

Cold-rolled steel strip

Cold-rolled steel strip made by voestalpine combines best surface appearance and narrowest thickness tolerances for a wide range of applications.

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Cold-rolled steel strip

Outstanding surface quality, excellent cold formability and high uniformity of mechanical properties are characteristic of this material.

Portfolio

The comprehensive steel grade program makes cold-rolled steel strip a genuine all-rounder. These materials are used in applications ranging from simple sections to complex deep-drawn parts. Cold-rolled steel strip is used in the household appliance industry in washing machines, dishwashers, tumble dryers, refrigerators, ranges and hot water tanks. Cold-rolled steels are also used in the radiator industry, the automotive industry (car body parts with low corrosion stress), the packaging industry and the tube and section industry.

Steel grades

Cold-rolled steel strip

  • Excellent surface quality 
  • Excellent cold formability 
  • Highly uniform mechanical properties 
  • Narrow thickness tolerances thanks to modern production systems

Cold-rolled enamelable steels

Development continues unabated in this area, and high-performance cold-rolled steels made by voestalpine have become an alternative to OC annealed steels used in numerous applications in the household appliance and sanitation industries.


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Hot-rolled steel strip

Hot-rolled steel strip

Hot-rolled steel strip made by voestalpine is tailored to specific customer needs, and the product portfolio ranges from mild steels to meet the highest forming requirements to ultra-high-strength steels for the most demanding applications.

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Hot-rolled steel strip

Hot-rolled steel strip made by voestalpine is characterized by high product quality and is a true all-rounder. It is as versatile as its many applications.

Portfolio

Hot-rolled steel strip to meet every customer requirement We supply strip widths up to 1,750 mm and thicknesses up to 20 mm. Our products are available in both pickled and unpickled condition, as slit or wide strip or as cut sheets. Consistently high quality and production within the narrowest tolerances are our claim. Hot-rolled steel strip made by voestalpine is available in a wide variety of grades. A variety of different alloys and rolling programs provide our customers with just the right steel for their specific applications.

Steel grades

  • Mild steels
  • Structural steels
  • Micro-alloyed steels
  • Case-hardening and heat-treatable steels
  • Martensitic steels
  • Complex-phase steels
  • Dual-phase steels
  • Ferritic-bainitic steels
  • Pole and rim steels
  • Steels for enameling
  • Steels for gas cylinders
  • Weather-resistant structural steels
  • Wear-resistant steels
  • High-strength and ultra-high-strength steels

Hot-rolled steel strip 

voestalpine builds on partnerships and highest quality claims:

  • Development of customer-specific special grades based on individual requirements
  • High uniformity of mechanical and chemical properties
  • Narrowest tolerances guaranteed 
  • Consistently high product quality based on precise rolling process in which temperature and forming are precisely matched
  • Material and processing expertise from a single source

Mild, unalloyed steels for cold forming

These steels are generally delivered in accordance with EN 10111. They are used in applications in which formability is more important than strength.

Structural steels

These steels are included in EN 10025. One of their fields of application is in machinery. The steels are characterized by minimum yield strength, a margin for tensile strength and minimum fracture elongation. They are used for light drawing stress, forming and bending.

alform® steels

alform® is a brand name in the voestalpine Steel Division and stands for hot-rolled fine-grained steel with best cold-forming properties and excellent weldability. alform® steels are available in various grades and strength classes. Whether thermomechanically or normalized rolled, as hot-rolled strip or heavy plate, in coils, slit strip or cut sheets, alform® is an indispensable material in mechanical engineering, automotive design and in the processing Industry.

durostat® steels

durostat® grades are wear-resistant steels that feature high hardness achieved through accelerated cooling directly from the rolling heat. They are characterized by a high degree of wear resistance and are especially suited to applications with high mechanical stress and high levels of abrasion.

Case-hardening and heat-treatable steels

Case-hardening and heat-treatable steels pursuant to DIN EN ISO 683-1 and EN 10084 as well as the voestalpine standard are implemented in direct-processing applications or are used for cold re-rolling. These steels generally undergo heat treatment in order to achieve the desired processing and component properties. They are used in applications that must strike an optimum balance between hardness and toughness.

Pole sheets

Pole sheets are thermomechanically rolled steels with guaranteed magnetic properties. Standard grades are pursuant to Euronorm EN 10265:1995 (corresponding to IEC 404-8-5). Ultra-high-strength special voestalpine grades are also supplied.

Hot-rolled enamelable steels

The narrowest tolerances, high material quality and highly specialized application expertise guarantee products that meet every requirement. Combinations of thick hot-rolled steels and thin cold-rolled steels, for example, are often used in industrial silo designs.

Hot-rolled strip next level

We go one step further with hot-rolled Q for the tube and section industry. Q for even more quality than you would expect as a customer. Q for even more hot-rolled strip grades, especially in the tube and section industry. Characteristics that can all be of great importance to customers or just individually. Hot-rolled Q for the tube and section industry is a package full of quality and efficiency improvements for production as well as for the end product.

Kaltwalzer - Warmband mit einem Plus an Qualität

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Schieber und Gleitelemente

Schieber mit Gleitelementen

Cam units

Slide units made by voestalpine are predominantly used in the automobile component supplier industry. The patented system features a long service life as well as high speed and precision.

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Cam units

Basic units

Our standard cam slide units are used to punch, cut and form sheets and plates. Cam slide units make it possible to punch, cut and form sheets as they are pressed into the various shapes of auto bodies.

Premium cam units 

Thanks to the hardened sliding surfaces and a cast material of at least GJS700-2, our premium slides are specially designed for high force levels  and precision in very high quantities.

Customized cam units

If a suitable slide unit cannot be found in our standard program, we will be glad to manufacture one that meets your specific requirements. We use standard components in our units. This makes it possible for us to offer the greatest possible availability of spare components.

LOCCAM®

LOCCAM® was developed to optimize yield, increase part quality and output, and ensure precision and quality in your operation. In (deep) drawing operations, LOCCAM® mechanically maintains the distance between the blank holder and the flexible binder/floating pad, which helps to avoid deformations when opening and ejecting the component. A savings in raw material of up to 8% is possible.

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Maintenance-free sliding elements

Maintenance-free sliding elements

voestalpine Camtec Linz GmbH supplies ready-to-install sliding elements and bushings in a wide variety of designs and bronze materials.

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Maintenance-free sliding elements

Areas of application

  • Automotive industry (tool guides, auto body presses)
  • Plastic injection molding machines and injection molding tools
  • Mechanical engineering, steelmaking plants and rolling mills
  • Construction and brick industries
  • Dam systems and hydro-power engineering
  • Shipbuilding
  • Welding technology
  • Packing industry
  • Crane and conveying engineering

 

Custom-made products

voestalpine Giesserei Linz GmbH supplies ready-to-install sliding elements and bushings in a wide variety of designs: Slide plates up to 1300 x 500 mm, bushings, rings and cast parts up to a unit weight of 1 ton. All sliding elements can also be manufactured in a wide variety of different bronze materials.

Orders

Each sliding element is assigned a serial number. Indication of this unique sliding element number is sufficient when placing orders.

Maintenance-free sliding elements WF 750

  • Maintenance-free 
  • Wear-resistant 
  • Low friction 
  • Short-term top temperature up to roughly 200 °C 
  • No lubricant contamination 
  • Environmentally friendly 
  • Corrosion-resistant 
  • Resistant to impact loads 
  • Especially suitable for oscillating sliding movements 
  • Stick-slip-free sliding 
  • Long service life
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corrender®

corrender®

corrender® is a hot-dip galvanized steel strip with a zinc-magnesium coating for best corrosion protection and optimal workability.

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phs ultraform

phs-ultraform®

For galvanized press hardened components in indirect hot forming suitable for particularly complex component geometries and large components.

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ahss high-ductility

ahss high-ductility

The further development of ahss-classic dual-phase and complex-phase steels with a previously unattained balance of properties

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ahss classic

ahss classic

ahss classic steels made by voestalpine are dual-phase and complex-phase steels with property profiles for a wide range of applications.

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phs-directform®

phs-directform®

For galvanized press hardened components in direct hot forming suitable for complex components, even in small quantities.

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martensitic steel

martensitic steels

Cold-forming steels of the highest voestalpine quality whose high strength closes the gap to hot-forming steels.

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ahss exposed

ahss exposed

High-strength steels with unique surface quality and excellent corrosion resistance for exposed-panel applications

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hot rolled drive

hot rolled drive

The product family of hot-rolled drive steels is the answer at voestalpine to hot-rolled micro-alloyed steels that impressively exceed the specifications of the VDA 239-100 standard.

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phs uncoated

phs-uncoated

For press-hardened components where corrosion protection is not an issue in the intended area of application.

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phs scalefree

phs-scalefree®

The first hot forming steel up to 2000 MPa with a thin zinc coating.

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isovac

isovac®

isovac® is the electrical steel made by voestalpine and stands for highest energy efficiency in future-oriented sectors such as e-mobility and generator manufacturing.

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