High-strength rolled steel products are defined as having a yield strength of more than 300 MPa and a tensile strength of up to 2,500 MPa as delivered. High-strength steel plates are widely used in various industries due to their lower steel intensity, longer service life, and lower production and operating costs compared with products from conventional steel grades. Strength properties of steel are achieved through alloying, special hot-rolling conditions (controlled, normalised or thermomechanical rolling) and heat treatment (quenching and tempering, normalising). Aside from high strength, the steel has a higher impact toughness (at negative temperatures as well), good ductility and weldability.

Quenched and tempered (Q&T) and thermomechanically rolled high-strength products are most in demand in this segment.

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High-strength steel applications

The use of high-strength quenched steel with a higher wear resistance to manufacture and repair steel structures and machine components has numerous advantages:

  • Reduced weight of products and structures while maintaining strength characteristics

  • Increased payload capacity

  • Reduced cost of transportation, assembly and installation

  • Reduced cost of repair and maintenance

  • Combined wear, crack and deformation resistance

Given the aforementioned properties, high-strength steel delivered in a quenched and tempered condition is widely used in heavy engineering, construction and other industries. The manufacturing of heavy-duty above-ground, underground and lifting machinery accounts for more than 70% of quenched steel plate consumption.

 

Application of high-strength quenched and tempered steel

Examples of applications

Manufacturing of heavy-duty above-ground machinery

Excavator buckets and other attachments

Dump truck bodies

Smoothing plate for an asphalt machine

Grader blade

Manufacturing of underground machinery

Connecting parts of conveyors

Reinforcement of the load-carrying parts of mining machines

Attachments of mining equipment

Manufacture of lifting equipment

Harbour crane clamshell

Load beading parts of bridge cranes

Crane booms, etc

Mining industry

Receiving bins and screens

Buffer tanks and vibration feeders

Cone crushers

Heavy and general-use machine-building

Wear parts of concrete plant equipment

Plates for concrete mixers, tanks for gravel charging

Lining of railcars and buckets and bodies of wheeled equipment

Wear parts of machines and equipment

Construction

Load-bearing parts of offshore platforms

Elements of wind-power generator towers

Elements of bridges and trestles

Repairs, distribution

Refurbishment of individual wear parts of the aforementioned equipment at end customers’ premises or specialist repair workshops

 

High-strength steel allows for significantly longer service life of equipment and machines, less frequent replacement and repairs of machinery, and less downtime.

The advantages of thermomechanically rolled products come from their key properties, such as low carbon equivalent, high strength and high impact toughness. Compared with conventional steels, ТМСР rolled products demonstrate greater efficiency during processing: reduced costs for welding consumables, no need for preheating steel and additional heat treatment, reduced overall steel intensity of structures, and shorter project implementation time.

High-strength steel is used mainly in the construction and different engineering industries.

 

Application of high-strength thermomechanically rolled steel

Examples of applications

Industrial and civil construction

Construction steel structures – columns, trusses, elements of floors, etc

Elements of bridges and trestles

Offshore structures

Load-bearing parts of offshore platforms

Components of offshore drilling rigs

Wind generators

Elements of wind-power generator towers

Heavy and general-use machine-building

Booms of mobile cranes, frames of trucks and agricultural equipment, strength members

Lining of side and end walls of railcars, open railcar frames

Components of turbines, hydrogenerators and turbogenerators

Repairs, distribution

Refurbishment of individual wear parts of the aforementioned equipment at end customers’ premises or at specialist repair workshops

 

Using high-strength thermomechanically rolled steel instead of regular structural steel grades substantially reduces the steel intensity of civil structures due to the use of columns with thinner walls and flanges, yet the same compression strength performance. For example, the use of TMCP plates to make welded columns of modern commercial high-rise buildings enables 20-30% savings in rolled steel products. When used in open wagon structures, TMCP plates make them lighter (and increase their payload capacity correspondingly) by 30-35%.

High-strength steel classification and properties

High-strength steel delivered in a quenched and tempered condition is manufactured in accordance with the standards EN 10025-6, DSTU EN 10025-6, ASTM A514/А514М, ASTM A517/А517М, GOST 19281, etc, as well as manufacturers' internal regulations.

 

Standard

High-strength steel grades

Approximate level of mechanical properties as per the standard

Yield strength, MPa

Tensile strength, MPa

EN 10025-6

DSTU EN 10025-6

S460Q, S460QL, S460QL1

No less than 460

550-720

S500Q, S500QL, S500QL1

No less than 500

590-770

S550Q, S550QL, S550QL1

No less than 550

640-820

S620Q, S620QL, S620QL1

No less than 620

700-890

S690Q, S690QL, S690QL1

No less than 690

770-940

S890Q, S890QL, S890QL1

No less than 890

940-1100

S960Q, S960QL

No less than 960

980-1150

ASTM A514/A514M

A514-B MT

620-690

690-895

A514-Q MT

620-690

690-895

A514-H MT

620-690

690-895

A514-F MT

620-690

690-895

A514-E MT

620-690

690-895

ASTM A517/A517M

A517-F

620-690

725-930

A517-B

620-690

725-930

A517-Q

620-690

725-930

ASTM A537/A537M

A537, categories 2,3

380-415

550-690

GOST 6713

10HSND

No less than 390

530-685

15HSND

No less than 345

490-685

GOST19281

10HSND

No less than 390

No less than 510

15HSND

No less than 345

No less than 490

09G2S

No less than 350

No less than 500

16G2AF

No less than 450

No less than 600

Spec. 14-1-5334-96

16HGMFTR

No less than 580

No less than 680

Spec. 14-1-5517-2005

16H2GSB

590-835

690-930

Spec. U 77-096-173-2001

25HGSR

No less than 620

No less than 800

Spec. U 27.1-26416904-150:2005

06G2B

No less than 440

No less than 540

06GB

No less than 355

No less than 450

 

High-strength steel delivered in a thermomechanically rolled condition is manufactured in accordance with EN 10025-4, DSTU EN 10025-4 and EN 10149-2, as well as other regulatory documents and under own brands of manufacturers.

 

Standard

High-strength steel grades

Approximate level of mechanical properties as per the standard

Min yield strength, MPa

Tensile strength, MPa

EN 10149-2

S315MC

315

390-510

S355MC

355

430-550

S420MC

420

480-620

S460MC

460

520-670

S500MC

500

550-700

S550MC

550

600-760

S600MC

600

650-820

S650MC

650

700-880

S700MC

700

750-950

S900MC

900

930-1200

S960MC

960

980-1250

EN 10025-4,

DSTU EN 10025-4

S275M, S275ML

275

370-530

S355M, S355ML

355

470-630

S420M, S420ML

420

520-680

S460M, S460ML

460

540-720

Production of high-strength steel plates

High-strength steel is manufactured in reversing mills by hot deformation of semi-finished steel products such as continuously cast or rolled slabs. Plates undergo strengthening treatment either in the final stages of rolling and cooling in the mill or by heat treatment offline.

 

 

Quenched and tempered (Q&T) high-strength steel

Thermomechanically rolled
high-strength steel

Technology and properties

Heat treatment offline or direct quenching

Increased wear resistance of rolled products

Combined wear, crack and deformation resistance

Special in-line rolling conditions

Low carbon equivalent

High strength and impact toughness

Benefits to consumers

Reduced weight while maintaining strength properties

Increased payload capacity

Reduced material inputs

Reduced welding time and costs

No additional heat treatment

Reduced weight of steelworks compared with conventional steel grades

Possibility of cold-forming

 

Quenching is heating steel above the temperature of phase transformation with consequent quick cooling at a speed above the critical (in water, oil, polymer or ether mix, etc). A heating temperature and cooling medium are selected based on the chemical composition and required structural condition of steel. After quenching, steel acquires non-equilibrium metastable structure and has greater strength (up to 2,500 MPa), hardness (up to 600-650 Vickers), wear resistance and brittleness. Quenching can involve the dedicated heating of steel after rolling or the use of rolling heat (known as direct quenching).

The thermomechanical controlled process (rolling; TMCP) requires meticulous control of the plate temperature and deformation during rolling. Properties obtained after TMCP cannot be accomplished by normalising or other types of heat treatment. The final fine-grained microstructure of steel is obtained by micro-alloying, rolling in a certain temperature range and controlled cooling (as well as accelerated cooling using an air-water mix).

Due to their high strength, weldability and resistance to brittle cracking, TMCP steel products can be applied in structures with operating temperatures of up to -50 °C with guaranteed values of impact strength.
 

Buy high-strength steel from the manufacturer

Metinvest produces low-alloy and alloyed high-strength steel in accordance with the requirements of international standards and customers' specifications. The products can be delivered after special types of rolling (controlled, thermomechanical and normalised rolling) and heat treatment offline (quenching and tempering, normalising, etc). High-strength steel can be purchased through the global sales network of 38 sales offices in Europe, Asia, Africa and America, as well as 16 metal service centres in Ukraine, and authorised dealers.

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