Cost-saving materials Processing time is reduced by high and higher strength steels

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Swiss Steel Holding AG

FAULHABER Drive Systems

Trust in technology is one of the essential prerequisites for creating something new today. This applies to both craft and creative industries. And the respective material always plays an important role - especially steel. It plays a supporting role in the truest sense of the word.

For over 30 years, the globally operating Swiss Steel Group (SSG) has been producing high-strength steels. The company offers, according to its own information, a whole range of different special steels with good mechanical properties and machinability. These are the steel grades of the ETG and HSX family. These are high-strength and higher-strength special steels. They allow for high-performance applications and can help to save costs. Machining times with the ETG and HSX steels produced by the SSG subsidiary Steeltec are shortened thanks to their higher machining performance, despite simultaneously longer tool life. Additional operations such as quenching and tempering and resulting subsequent operations such as straightening, grinding, and deburring are no longer necessary. The desired mechanical properties are already present in the delivery condition. This reduces logistical effort and can reduce additional costs. The steels are also versatile and increase productivity. With ETG steels, according to Swiss Steel, more than 20 standard steels can be replaced and production processes optimized. They are also available in Green Steel quality.

ETG steels offer high tensile strengths and yield strengths in the delivery condition, which are in the range of tempered steels. The way the steel is produced at Swiss Steel Group ensures consistent mechanical properties over the entire cross-sectional and dimensional range, according to company information. ETG steels allow very high cutting speeds. This can reduce machining time by up to 50 percent. They have low residual stresses and are dimensionally stable. Their short breaking chips support safer and leaner production processes, thus improving machine running times. Unmanned manufacturing can be planned and operated without worry due to the high reliability of the material.

Saving costs - increasing competitiveness

An example from mechanical engineering is a lock nut. It is manufactured with the higher-strength material HSX 130. The hardness, which is already present in the HSX 130 in delivery condition, is sufficient in this case (approx. 40 HRC). Therefore, no additional heat treatment is required. In addition, there is good machinability at very high strengths. This results in higher cost savings compared to the machining of tempered materials, according to SSG. Cycle times for part manufacture are reduced and tool service lives are extended. The quality is consistent across all batches and there is only minor scrap after machining.

The product portfolio of SSG is much more extensive. For instance, Steeltec also produces materials that are used for the production of drive shafts. Typical for this is the high-strength special steel ETG 100, which can replace traditional quenched and tempered steels in this application. The ETG100 has a high strength and dimensional stability already in the delivery condition and does not need additional heat treatment. Subsequent processes such as straightening and deburring are therefore not necessary. Moreover, the ETG 100 has low residual stresses, which ensures shape stability during part manufacturing. Even at high speeds, the shafts remain calm and low-vibration. Cost savings of between 20 and 30 percent can be achieved here.

Green Steel

Grüner Stahl ist für modernen Automobilbau unerlässlich