Two providers of special steels for hot forming, voestalpine and ArcelorMittal, are combining their expertise and have signed an agreement to globally market phs-directform, a new range of galvanised, press hardened steels for hot-formed automotive components. voestalpine's press hardened steel phs-directform is a high strength steel, coupled with lower material weight while at the same time maintaining an excellent level of crash performance. Furthermore, phs-directform can be produced by direct stamping, the most cost efficient process. The product has been developed in response to the need for today’s automotive steels to be extremely robust, highly formable, corrosion resistant and lightweight.

Philippe Aubron, CMO ArcelorMittal Automotive Europe, commented: “ArcelorMittal has been developing press hardened steels for more than a decade, to offer the most advanced and complete range on the market. With this agreement with voestalpine on phs-directform, we have the widest range of hot stamped steels in the world, with products accommodating any kind of hot stamping process: Usibor, Ductibor and phs-directform for direct stamping, as well as galvanised press hardened steels for indirect stamping.”

Hot forming has become very important to the automotive industry in meeting specific crash-performance criteria and ensuring low overall weight. Numerous automotive manufacturers use the process to produce structural automotive parts such as B-pillars, roof frames and roof bows, bumpers, stiffeners, sills and cross members.

ArcelorMittal, Luxembourg