In the wire industry, voestalpine Wire Technology stands for excellent, customized wire solutions that meet and exceed even the most demanding requirements. Our modern R&D infrastructure and digital product simulations enable us to develop products impressively quickly and efficiently. Today, we are pleased to present the innovation of the 2023/2024 financial year that we are proud of. It includes a number of benefits for our customers.
The Research & Development department at voestalpine Wire Technology has been significantly expanded in recent years to give innovative product developments the space they need. These investments are bearing fruit, as our latest innovation shows: a virtual product development of a brand new wire alloy with a reduced CO2 footprint.
From the initial idea to the market launch, we used our state-of-the-art R&D infrastructure to develop the new alloy virtually. Steel development took place in the TechMet/MetLab, followed by wire development. Through trial rolling and various tests in the technical center wire, such as cold heading tests, relaxation tests and step-load tests, we were able to achieve the target values for the tempering properties and ensure that our new alloy meets the highest standards.
The innovation of the year 2023/2024 is the new development of an alternative upsetting grade to the standard material 42CrMo4. This customized steel alloy was developed virtually on the computer and offers significant advantages over 42CrMo4.
Particularly noteworthy is the direct formability without prior soft annealing, made possible by microalloying elements that form the finest precipitates and promote the ferrite content in the alloy.
Project manager Katharina Ragger worked on this innovation in close cooperation with the University of Leoben, customers and application engineers over a period of three years. The first orders for concrete screw anchors for the construction industry have already been received, and other interested parties have expressed great interest.
The team has also been strengthened in terms of personnel: two graduates of Montanuniversität Leoben, Katharina Halwax and Stefan Monschein, made a significant contribution to the development and market launch of this CO2-reduced alloy and are now valuable members of our team.
The successful development shows the good cooperation across the entire value chain, from the idea to implementation and market launch, which was only possible by using the newly created research infrastructure.
Our core values of quality, flexibility, innovation and sustainability are the basis for our PERFORMANCE IN WIRE in all process steps. Together, we design perfect wire technologies for a safe and sustainable tomorrow.
