Steel in everyday life
Our colleagues at thyssenkrupp Steel produce steel for a wide range of applications. But what steel has to do with art, good wine and farms is what we want to tell you about in this article:
When you hear steel, you think of cars, food cans, bridges and gigantic structures that hold up skyscrapers and plants. But steel is not only to be found in industry, but also in many everyday things in our lives - in places where we don't even suspect it at first.
Steel in art and handicraft
Art in your own garden or in a park landscape is particularly beautiful to look at, but unfortunately also exposed to wind and weather. Metal artists in particular are therefore faced with the challenge of providing a solution against premature corrosion and decay. Patinax® from thyssenkrupp Steel makes it possible.
Although patinax® sheets are delivered sparkling clean and with a flawless steel-gray appearance, unlike untreated steel, patinax® does not gradually decompose when exposed to the elements. Instead, the material changes its structure and appearance after two to three weeks of contact with moisture, cold or heat.
Over time, patinax® forms a natural and attractive rust-brown protective layer - a so-called patina - and is thus particularly weather-resistant, durable and, above all, versatile. Whether for bridges, building facades or in the form of a sculpture in your own garden, you can enjoy it every day. But garden art is not the only area characterized by innovative steel solutions. Another area that counts among the beautiful things in life only becomes what is commonly understood by "a fine wine" through steel: Wine.
So wine barrels are not only heavy because of their contents, there are also 10 kilograms of steel in the barrel rings needed for a single wine barrel. Steel from thyssenkrupp Steel therefore ensures pure enjoyment! Who would have thought it? But even when it's not a matter of enjoyment but of hard field work, steel offers effective solutions - for example in the form of a very special "lawn mower".
An extraordinary "Lawn mower"
Malicious tongues would claim that mowing the lawn is the Germans' favorite pastime, so meticulously do they look after the greenery outside their front door. In agriculture, however, mowing faces completely different challenges than in our front yards. Here, particularly powerful and durable equipment is needed. The most important tool here is the cutter bar. The expert teams at thyssenkrupp Steel have developed MAX CUT to meet the particularly high demands placed on agricultural mowers.
MAX CUT is a cutter bar made of steel. Cutter bars usually contain the drive train on the inside and the cutter discs on top, which cut the crop with their blades. However, the cutter bar is subjected to high stresses due to crop flow, contamination and high speeds.
Martin Ober, mower designer at agricultural machinery manufacturer CLAAS, was looking for a material that would make the cutter bar significantly more robust and durable. He chose the steel grade HSM 700 HD from thyssenkrupp Steel at the Hohenlimburg site. The special steel grade HSM 700 HD has a single-phase, ferritic microstructure due to its precisely defined, low carbon content. This means that even more complex forming operations can be carried out on the innovative material without any loss of quality or stability.
Steel: A universal material
These were just a few of the many applications in which steel finds its way into our everyday lives. Whether in kitchen appliances, as barrel rings or the foundation pillars of a skyscraper - steel is a universal building material that is undergoing a transformation: From an industry that is one of the world's biggest CO2 emitters to climate-neutral steel production using hydrogen. What's more, steel is one of the few materials that can be recycled almost endlessly. So it's worth learning more about steel.
If you want to read more about steel, steel production and solutions, you can find out from our colleagues at thyssenkrupp Steel!