Lighter steel
Lighter bridge to withstand a tough maritime climate
In the little Basque town of Zumaia in northern Spain there is a pedestrian bridge over one of the town’s rivers. For this bridge a distinctive design was chosen in stainless duplex steel and glass fibre, able to resist the tough environmental conditions with the presence of airborne sea salt. Duplex steel from Outokumpu has high mechanical strenth and, for this reason, it is possible to use less steel and achieve a lighter bridge compared with traditional materials. No surface coating is needed and the maintenance requirement is very limited. Compared with ordinary types of bridge significant weight savings were achieved. The bridge is the first of its kind in the world and shall last for 120 years.
LKAB has developed a lighter and stronger railcar that is able to transport more iron ore. The new railcar construction of high-strength steel from SSAB is both lighter and more hard-wearing than previous models. Furthermore, it demands less maintenance and has about 25 per cent better loading capacity. The new railcar is able to carry 100 tonnes compared with 80 tonnes before. This means that energy consumption per transported tonne of ore is lower than previously.
Faster trains
A rail journey from Gardemoen Airport into Oslo city centre now takes just under 20 minutes. In order to achieve this, the weight of the trains had to be cut from 66 to 52 tonnes, i.e. by 14 tonnes. Through manufacturing the passenger seat frames in high-strength steel the weight could be reduced from 72 to 30 kg per seat. The change in construction alone enabled one half of the requisite weight cut to be achieved.
Better loading capacity
with lower weight
Tractor-mounted mowers for the cutting of highway verges help to make the roads safer. Where the unit’s arm is made of high-strength steel from SSAB the weight is diminished by more than twenty per cent while the loading capacity of the arm is raised by twenty per cent. The construction also contributes to lower fuel consumption, better ergonomics and reduced loading on the vehicle.
Lower transport costs through reduced weight
In Spain module-built silos are prefabricated and final assembly takes place on the customer’s premises. A manufacturer has developed a new silo construction of high-strength steel from SSAB that is some 25 per cent lighter and 30 per cent cheaper to transport. The lower transportation costs are largely due to lower fuel consumption that in its turn is due to the lower weight.
