The main objective of the NEXTsteel Project is to develop “premium” steel components, which are more sustainable and that offer advanced properties. To achieve this, it will focus on the development of secondary metallurgy assisted by plasma heating technologies, the definition of new sustainable heat-treatment itineraries and the adoption of green energy sources.
The equipment used by the large-scale mining sector is subjected to significant workloads that lead to their accelerated deterioration. Said equipment requires components of considerable size, with particularly complex geometries and which, while in service, are exposed to extremely severe stresses. For this reason, high-strength steels are used for their production.
However, as expalined by David Aristondo, AZTERLAN researcher specialized in cast steel, “the presence of gases and the difficulties posed by the mass heat treatments to which they are subjected during their manufacturing process, result in certain limitations on the properties that can currently be achieved”. Extending the useful life of these components and equipment is one of the great challenges facing the mining sector, linked to efficiency and sustainability.
With this aim, the NEXTsteel project consortium, participated by the companies Piezas y Rodajes, S.A. (PYRSA), coordinator of the project, and Industrial Furnaces INSERTEC, S.L., along with the AZTERLAN Metallurgy Research Centre and the National Center for Metallurgical Research (CENIM), is aimed at developing a new generation of sustainable steels with improved properties, with which new advanced components for the large-scale mining sector will be manufactured.
High-strength steels and new heat treatment routes to develop ‘premium’ steel components
In order to face the aforementioned challenges, the project team will work on the mechanical properties of the materials, acting first on the metallurgical quality of the metal in its liquid state and, later, on conferring specific properties to it in the solid state through ad hoc heat treatments. “One of our main objectives will be to minimize the presence of dissolved gases in the molten steel up to low-risk values”. In addition, “we will work on secondary metallurgy, ensuring that we avoid the trace elements present in the metal represent a problem for subsequent applications”. For the liquid-state metal preparation process an innovative technology based on plasma heating will be used.
Once in solid state, the research team will also develop new heat treatment routes to maximize the mechanical properties of the material, in order to obtain structural transformations of a bainitic nature.
In the words of PYRSA CEO Fernando Hernández, “we are aware that in order to continue to maintain a leadership position in our sector, we have to continue innovating and evolving our product portfolio. Through this project, we want to develop ‘premium’ and sustainable steel components for a highly demanding sector such as large-scale mining. We will develop new manufacturing routes that allow us to exceed the mechanical properties offered by current components, while improving their sustainability. An aspect that, for sure, the industry keeps demanding more and more strongly”.
The members of the consortium agree in affirming that this outstanding project has been configured as a technological leap in terms of collaboration and innovation, to develop knowledge applicable to the design and manufacture of cast steel components through mastery of metallurgy, a strong bet for advanced manufacturing technologies and minimizing environmental impact.
The NEXTsteel (CPP2021-008415) project is funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union NextGenerationEU /PRTR.
