In metals industry Mass Flow Analysis (MFA) has a long tradition. Combined with scenario calculation this method can for example be used to estimate the future development of scrap availability and metal composition. Despite the unknown inaccuracy of such calculations what regional distribution of material, lifetime or growth rates concerns highly valuable information can be generated to support the industrial business strategy.
When particular products or metal applications in functional units become the scope of such calculations besides mass flow often energy consumption and emissions appear on the agenda. And, unfortunately, metals are recycled (of course only from a methodological and not from a resource point of view). At that point MFA crosses the border from being a static snapshot of an existing system towards a time depending life cycle approach. Besides volume, quality, and location time is introduced as a fourth dimension and the dilemma starts. In the past one approach was to develop depreciation models to allocate the expenditures of mining and primary metal production of Copper and Aluminium according to the recycled content. But latter is even more disputable since metal recycling cannot be treated as an alternative production route achieving the original properties and chemical composition. And, as a result of its electrochemical behavior, each metal cycle looks completely different compared to any other. Consequently the general acceptance of the existing allocation methods for recycling in life cycle models is still low.
In case of Aluminium the historic primary metal production cumulates to an amount of almost 900 million tons worldwide. With the aid of recycling 75% of this material could be conserved in the current inventory in use. As this stock significantly contributes to todays and future's raw material supply the following question arises: Can metallic materials have a defined history and therewith an ecological hereditary debt, which will be reduced by further recycling cycles? If the answer would be yes, on a highly aggregated level, another more practical question would be whether such a credit should be based on the historic expenditures of primary production or better considering the future recycling potential of the inventory in use. In these cases recycling credits are either overestimated or underestimated depending on the lifetime and herewith the deviation from current End of Life recycling practices.

Life Cycle Assessment is a powerful method to compare the full environmental burden assignable to products, services or processes. In the framework of ULCOS project, this method was chosen to assess the environmental burden of future iron and steel making processes. We propose here a novel methodology which consists in replacing the traditional data collection by a rigorous physico-chemical calculation. Such an approach allows precise environmental assessment of existing or future processes.

The cracking behaviour of the oxide layer formed during hot rolling has been studied together with different combinations of process parameters in order to find their single influence on the surface quality and formation of oxide defects. Several trials have been performed on the CRM pilot line to study in detail the impact of strip reduction, strip temperature, entry scale thickness, roll degradation, lubrication, skin cooling, chemical composition and humidity on the scale behaviour. In general the degree of deformation, entry scale thickness and rolling temperatures are the more important parameters and the importance decreases in that order.

The paper presents the new Mo free duplex stainless steel UR2202 (EN 1.4062) developed to provide a cost effective alternative to 304L (EN 1.4307), concrete, organic materials or galvanized carbon steel in potable water systems, pulp & paper industry and construction applications. The reduction of Ni is balanced by a nitrogen addition in order to obtain a microstructure containing approximately 50% ferrite and 50% austenite. Several industrial heats were produced with 22Cr%, 2Ni% and 0.2N% as the typical composition. The new lean duplex grade UR2202 has better localized and uniform corrosion resistance and twice the yield strength than 304L.

The selective oxidation of three CMnSi steels with different C levels was studied by XPS. The formation of a gradually covering SiO2 film is observed until a transition temperature above which the oxide film disappears, resulting in a renewed appearance of metallic iron at the surface. This change in oxidation behavior is thought to be due to the SiO2 reduction by solute C which is thermodynamically favorable at high temperature. At the same time the precipitation of a BN film on the metallic surface was observed which prevented any further oxidation.

Due to recent nickel price volatility, ferritic stainless steels, having no or very low nickel content, can be very interesting to stainless steels users. Ferritic represents only about 26% of the total stainless steel production nowadays. The paper presents the ferritic stainless steel family: mechanical properties of the grade including drawability as well as corrosion resistance properties. Experimental data of the newly developed 20% Cr ferritic grade are discussed and compared to the properties of existing 200 and 300 series grades. High temperature properties of ferritic stainless steels designed for exhaust systems are also presented.

GI coatings are covered by a very thin aluminum layer that precipitates after wiping. Anisotropic growing of zinc crystals during solidification induces a strong basal texture in GI coatings. Skin-pass induced changes in GI coating surface chemistry, crystallography and reactivity have been assessed. Local coating analyses have been performed (XPS, TOF-SIMS) in order to describe local effects of roughness indentation during skin-pass on coating characteristics. A laboratory bi-crushing device supported by XRD and EBSD has been used to analyze the aluminum oxide behaviour during deformation and ageing. Reactivity of such surfaces has been tested using fatty acids.

High cycle thermal fatigue due to the mixing of hot and cold fluids may initiate cracking in pipes of safety related circuits. A method has been developed to identify such fluid mixing zones subjected to potential thermal fatigue damage. This method is based on a loading model and a mechanical model that depend on the main characteristics of the mixing zone and on the material properties. It is supported by a large experimental program. This method has been applied to all the mixing zones of safety related circuits of the EDF pressurised water reactors, allowing to identify sensitive zones and to apply an appropriate inspection program that ensures the control of the risk due to this damage mechanism.

The equivalent fatigue approach is a method for transforming complicated loadings into simpler ones, equivalent in terms of damage, without information about the geometry of the structure. It has been used for the design specifications of metallic structures, for the conditions of their tests trials, and finally for the characterization of customers and markets. The case of the one input equivalent fatigue approach has been thoroughly investigated at PSA. The current work treats the extension of the equivalent fatigue approach to the case of multi-input loadings. Especially the aim of this paper is to develop Markov chain models for the equivalent fatigue loadings.

An approach is proposed for the evaluation of surface fatigue damage of hot forming tools that undergo severe thermo mechanical loading. Fatigue crack propagation in a hot work tool steel X38CrMoV5-47HRC is investigated using singleedge cracked tension specimens with 3 different thicknesses (2.5, 1, 0.6 mm) and two R-values. The stress intensity factor is evaluated with ABAQUS®. Paris curves are established for the crack propagation experiments.

Among the local impacts which are considered within the Sub Program 9.3 of the ULCOS project for the assessment of technologies sustainability, air quality is a key issue for the evaluation of the environmental impact of a steel plant in its surrounding area. In this paper a method based on the use of air dispersion modelling is proposed for the assessment of the ULCOS technologies on the basis of the concentration in the atmosphere of the main pollutants (NOx, SO2, TSP, PM10, PM25, CO, Pb, PCDD) produced by the plant. For performing this task the AERMOD model, a widely used model belonging to class of Gaussian models, was used. For exploiting AERMOD it was necessary to characterize the case base plant specifying the positions and dimensions of its main parts and its stacks as well as the characteristics of their emissions. Furthermore it was necessary to collect information on the meteorological conditions and the terrain of the considered zone. The results, measured in terms of average concentration of the pollutants at ground level, show that such concentrations are below the limits established by current legislation. In the future these results will be used for comparisons of the case base with new technologies.

A new grade of the 200 series has been defined for the European market as a candidate alternative to austenitic grade EN 1.4301 (AISI 304). The grade was recently assigned a material number by VDEh (1.4618 - X9CrMnNiCu 17-8-5-2). The paper presents mechanical properties of the grade including drawability and corrosion resistance characteristics. The newly designed grade has mechanical properties slightly superior to those of EN 1.4301 (AISI 304) and equivalent to those of EN 1.4310 (AISI 301) grade. In terms of corrosion resistance, the grade is close to that of grade EN 1.4301 (AISI 304), upgrading the classical 200 series.

RWTH Aachen University has a long history as a research organisation and as an institution of education. It is known as a progressive, modern and forward-looking institution among students, industrial partners and citizens. RWTH Aachen University recognises its responsibility towards society, it has established and demonstrated flexibility and adaptability over the years and it is determined to improve its international visibility.
Within the Excellence Initiative of the German federal and state governments, RWTH Aachen University has been awarded funding for its future concept. This allows a greater concentration on the clear stated goals and principles of the university, one of which is to train a highly-qualified and responsible new generation of academics for the benefit of business and society, research and teaching. RWTH Aachen University has developed a strategic plan which is reflected in the Institutional Strategy and leads to a super ordinate goal: In contrast to a university primarily characterised by the coexistence of individual strengths, especially in engineering, RWTH is developing into an integrated interdisciplinary university of technology that is able to meet global challenges.
Six interdisciplinary forums at RWTH (e.g. Forum Materials Science, Forum Technology and Society) are engaged to provide a better integration and cooperation among all scientific areas. Working groups within the forums and the different departments at the university collaborate in order to make a faster progress in cross-cutting research fields. Interdisciplinary pathfinder project proposals were submitted and doctoral theses, e.g. “Development of materials and technologies in the mirror of literature” and “Material design against the background of technology and society”, are begun at our Department of Ferrous Metallurgy, Chair for Metallurgy of Iron and Steel. In cooperation between different departments of Material Sciences and the Humanities we have set up a project relating to “Materials, symbolic meanings of materials and identity construction”. The speakers of the Forums support the dialog between academic world, industry, society and politics.
The best researchers are supposed to contribute and collaborate. That is why the social surroundings and environment should be appropriately arranged. Modifications in organization and structure at RWTH Aachen University have been made. With its large number of projects for integration and support for newly-appointed researchers and their families, Dual Career Programme, Parent Service Office, efforts to internationalise all the faculties and to inspire young people to be the future generation of engineers, scientists and leaders in industry and society, demonstrates the strong will to learn and teach.
RWTH Aachen University is looking ahead with a great optimism that it will succeed in Meeting Global Challenges in the next 10 years and that it will bring valuable information, research and development to the SOVAMAT Initiative.

Le projet PREDIT CRISFIS (financé par l’ADEME) consiste à étudier conjointement les aspects crissement et fissuration des freins à disques haute puissance pour le ferroviaire. Dans cet article, les avancées concernant la partie fissuration sont abordées. Une démarche expérimentale et de modélisation est adoptée dans le but de mieux comprendre la fissuration des disques. Des essais de freinage réalisés sur banc d’essai industriel à l’échelle 1 sont présentés. Dans un premier temps, l’influence du type de garniture sur le chargement thermique vu par le disque est étudiée au moyen d’une caméra de thermographie infrarouge et de thermocouples implantés dans les garnitures et dans le disque de frein. Dans un deuxième temps, les chargements thermiques extraits des films thermographiques sont utilisés comme données d’entrée pour des calculs thermomécaniques. Enfin, les résultats des modélisations et des essais sont corrélés aux endommagements observés sur les disques.

The ULCORED coal based concept is simulated based on the production of syngas using existing coal gasification technology. The shifter gives the option to produce CO2-lean H2 from coal/biomass for in plant use. Large CO2 emissions arise on site from the use of natural gas in heating ovens and from the use of electricity in EAF melting. In the case of these coal based systems, production of “excess gas” to be used as fuel gas in various processes will reduce the CO2 emission for the total site.

Non destructive testing techniques, like Eddy Current and Ultrasound, are common practice today in any roll shop. Pomini Tenova, with its considerable experience gained installing more than 350 inspection systems throughout the world, designed its new generation inspection system to meet growing customer demands for system performance, adherence to quality, health and safety. The new Inspektor.NET system is the result of an intelligent manufacturing project which guarantees improved performance in Eddy Current and Ultrasound scans.

The new Mo free duplex stainless steel UR2202 was developed by Industeel in close cooperation with Ugitech - Schmolz + Bickenbach. It can be used in many construction or transport applications, as a substitute for 304 and 304L. With at least the same corrosion properties, the new UR2202 has higher mechanical properties. This provides the potential for significant weight savings for fabricated tanks, pressure vessels etc., when compared to the austenitic grade. Different welding products are considered to achieve homogeneous or heterogeneous welds with the lean duplex base metal and can be selected according to the required corrosion resistance, toughness and tensile properties.

SSSA is involved in the Subproject 9 Scenarios, Sustainability, Dissemination & Training, in particularly in the Work Package 4. This KPI, developed at SSSA, measures the most important effects in the EU/Rest of the World Steel Trade due to the implementation of a new technology: a quantitative approach has been used in order to evaluate the EU raw material dependence from the rest of the world and an approach both qualitative and quantitative has been used in order to calculate the variations in the EU competitiveness. An important consideration in the development of KPIs is the selection of the appropriate measurement categories. The selection is based, first of all, on the quantification of the European dependence through the weight of the non EU supplier countries and through the weight of the most important raw materials in the production process, then on the measurement of the European competitiveness. The article describes the methodology and the algorithms applied in the steel sector. Finally, some results are shown and discussed.

Assessing traditional iron and steelmaking processes from an environmental point of view and developing breakthrough eco-efficient processes for the future are major challenges for the steel industry today. In the framework of the challenging European project ULCOS, which stands for Ultra Low CO2 Steelmaking, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was chosen to assess breakthrough processes that could be part of the future iron and steel making landscape and to compare them to the reference classical integrated steelmill.
To carry out such a study we propose a new methodological concept which combines LCA thinking with physicochemical process modelling.
Physicochemical models were developed for each processes of the classical integrated steelmaking route in order to generate the data required to draw the Life Cycle Inventory of the route. Such a method bypasses the traditional data collection and brings accuracy to the inventory by introducing rigorous mass and energy balances into the methodology.
In addition it was shown that such an approach allows testing and assessing different operational practices of the processes in order to optimise the use of energy and the CO2 emissions, which showed that it can be used as a powerful tool for eco-conception of processes.

The Direct Reduction process can be carried out using syngas from biomass. Mathematical models of the integrated process gasification plus direct reduction have been used to evaluate flow rate, temperature and composition of the gas in the various steps of the whole process. Fluidised bed gasification and operation with technological oxygen at high pressures is the proposed solution to produce syngas. Best candidates for such application are biomass from forest and wood industry and agricultural residues. Both of such type of biomass are present and distributed in many European areas in such amount to make industrially possible their use, taking into account the logistic requirements. A cost between 30-60 Euros/t DRI is roughly estimated.
The characteristics of the syngas implies the adoption of purification steps, before the use of the syngas in the shaft furnace, using technologies permitting hot gas cleaning, to save energy efficiency of the process.