|
Product
Technology - Overview
| The
Product Technology Division is responsible for product and process
development related to the manufacture and use of all steel products
supplied by U. S. Steel. These products include: sheet products used in
automobiles, appliances, metal buildings, and electric motors; tin-mill
products used for food containers and general line containers; plate
products used in bridges, heavy equipment, ships, military vehicles, and
offshore oil platforms; and tubular products used in oil and gas
drilling and recovery, oil and gas transmission, and structural
applications. Many of our developmental programs are done cooperatively
with key customers to ensure that the final products will meet the
intended end use requirements. In addition, the Product Technology
Division provides technical support to U. S. Steel plants in resolving operating
problems on finishing operations and to customers in the use of our
products.
|
 |
There has
been a dramatic increase in the use of both low and high-strength
coated-sheets for automotive body applications to obtain corrosion protection
sufficient to sustain extended car manufacturers' warranties. The Product
Technology Division is very active in investigating processing modifications
to improve the quality of hot-dip and electrolytically deposited zinc and
zinc-iron alloy coatings.
|
Efforts have been centered on improving the quality
of galvanneal product, a hot-dip iron-zinc alloy coating, through optimization
of the coating microstructure, composition, and morphology as it relates to
coating formability, surface appearance and weldability. Additionally, U. S.
Steel is the only domestic producer of an exposed quality automotive
electrolytic iron-zinc alloy coated product, which was developed by personnel
in the Product Technology Division. Research projects are underway to improve
the CAROSEL electroplating process and produce new electroplated products. To
support these product development programs, pilot facilities are available for
electroplating processes. Additionally, an extensive corrosion evaluation
capability is maintained wherein samples of new coatings and paint systems can
be evaluated in accelerated laboratory tests and long-term exposures,
including atmospheric test racks and the U. S. Steel-developed highway trailer
test simulating actual on-vehicle environments.
|
The ability
of a flat sheet of coated or uncoated steel to be formed by plastic
deformation into a non-planar section depends upon a number of interacting
factors. These include the chemical composition, microstructure, mechanical
properties, crystallographic texture, and surface topography of the steel
sheet. These factors in turn depend on various processing steps such as
steelmaking and casting, hot rolling, cold rolling, and annealing; therefore,
Division personnel must work closely with the personnel of the production
facilities. The combined talents of a diversified group of mechanical and
physical metallurgists, mechanical engineers, and chemists, making use of
support services and specialized testing equipment such as the
limiting-dome-height tester and Bending-Under-Tension tester, are leading to
the development of new grades of highly formable low-carbon sheet products,
high-strength sheet steels, improved processing, and new technology in sheet
production. The efforts of these specialists keep steel sheet in a favored
competitive position in regard to both quality and cost.
|
 |
In the area
of tin-mill products, new coatings and lacquers are evaluated, and
environmentally friendly application techniques are developed to provide
superior corrosion resistance for tinplate cans. One tool used in this
research is a two-piece canmaking pilot line representing a multi-million
dollar investment to determine optimum designs for lighter, stronger, lower
cost steel cans and to reduce can manufacturing costs.
|
Research
programs are also conducted to improve the processes utilized in the finishing
of sheet and tin-mill products, such as hot rolling, pickling, cold rolling,
annealing, hot-dip coating, and electroplating. In addition to extensive
pilot-line facilities for conducting experimental programs in these areas,
mathematical models are used to gain understanding of the basic processes and
to predict process changes. All of these process models are aimed at improving
the productivity and quality during flat processing.
|
| Another
major responsibility of the Product Technology Division is to develop plate,
tubular, and hot-strip-mill products that meet the performance needs of
customers at a cost and quality competitive with products manufactured by
other domestic and foreign producers. To fulfill this responsibility requires
an in-depth understanding of the interrelated effects of steel composition,
deformation schedules, cooling rate, and heat treatment on the properties and
production costs of these steel products. A vacuum-induction-furnace melting
and ingot-casting facility with a new solid-state power source, a unique,
computer-controlled, thermomechanical-processing mill, extensive heat-treating
facilities, and state-of-the art metallographic facilities are the primary
tools used at the Technical Center for such investigations. Because new
products often require new processing schemes in addition to new chemical
compositions, an integral part of this effort is developing and/or
implementing state-of-the-art processing technology, preferably adapting the
technology so that it can be used with present facilities to achieve new
product requirements.
|
|
In addition to developmental programs, the Product Technology Division
has the responsibility to provide technical support to U. S. Steel
operating plants in the area of finishing processes. Division personnel
provide extensive training in finishing processes to Operating and
Quality Assurance personnel to ensure that the most up-to-date technical
know-how is made available to our plants. Because of considerable
expertise of Division personnel, the Product Technology Division is
called upon often to assist customers through the Sheet Technology
organization in new uses for and in resolving problems related to the
forming, painting, fabricating, joining, and processing of U. S. Steel
products. |
|
