Steel is the main component of cold-formed body parts such as those produced by Kirchhoff Automotive, located in southern Westphalia. Through the collaboration, Kirchhoff’s safety-relevant structural components will be manufactured with SSAB’s proprietary SSAB Fossil-free Steel. The automotive supplier announced earlier this year a similar cooperation with ArcelorMittal (see Kallanish 2 March 2023).
Kirchhoff’s crash boxes, lower beams and closure plates are manufactured using the cold forming process, and the individual parts weigh between 300g and 1.3kg. By using SSAB Fossil-free Steel, Kirchhoff expects to cut almost 40% of emissions in the production of a front bumper.
SSAB Fossil-free Steel uses direct reduced iron and is produced without using fossil energy. Instead, biogas and fossil-free electricity are used. The quality and properties of this material are just as good as those of the steel conventionally produced by SSAB, the steelmaker points out.
Christian Koehl Germany
