thyssenkrupp Steel has put a new slitting line for electrical steel into operation at Motta Visconti, Italy. It will produce especially thin dimensions starting at 0.2 mm for energy-efficient electric motors driving electric mobility.
The new line can slit up to 500 metres of material per minute and allows thyssenkrupp Steel to double the production capacity for electric strips at the Motta Visconti site. The plant is designed to slit highly difficult-to-produce, extremely thin electric strips – starting with a thickness of 0.2 mm: This material is then processed further by stampers and finally used in the construction of high-performance traction motors for electric vehicles. The plant also features a state-of-the-art laser-guided measuring unit, which continually measures the thickness and width of material, as well as a component for cutting products with highly sensitive coatings, for example adhesive insulating varnishes.
With this investment, thyssenkrupp Steel seeks to strengthen its competence in the mobility and energy transformation. Within its 20-30 strategy, the corporation continues to especially transform its Bochum site into a competence centre for electric mobility with investments in the low three-digit million area. Investments in other sites, such as Motta Visconti, complement the electric mobility portfolio within the steel segment of thyssenkrupp.
New steel quality for more reach in electric mobility
The plant at Motta Visconti is capable of slitting the newest quality made by thyssenkrupp Steel, NO25. This is characterised by excellent magnetic properties, for example a guaranteed transformation loss of only 12.5 W/kg, at a thickness of 0.25 mm. This is known as magnetisation change loss. It’s influenced by the thickness of the sheet-metal strip, the coating and the production process of the material, and is an important property of the electric strip: It determines how efficiently a motor uses electric energy to transform it into rotation energy. A low magnetisation change loss indicates a high efficiency rate of the motor. A higher efficiency rate allows an electric car to drive more kilometres with a single battery charge, or to reduce battery capacity while achieving the same distance. This reduces the weight of the battery and the vehicle alike – and therefore the production costs for vehicle manufacturers.
As a consequence of the electrification of mobility, the demand for difficult-to-produce, extremely thin products with a high content of silicon increases. thyssenkrupp Steel offers these under the brand name powercore® Traction. “We are happy to be at our customers’ side during their transition towards electric mobility, being able to offer them products like our NO25 steel", says Arrabal. All products are also available as bluemint®, the carbon-reduced steel by thyssenkrupp Steel, which further increases the sustainability of this raw material.
thyssenkrupp Steel will present the new types of electric strip at Coiltech 2024, the international professional trade fair for the coil and motor industry, which his held this year from 20 to 21 March in Augsburg.
Source: thyssenkrupp Steel
