Thyssenkrupp supplies ‘Bluemint’ steel for truck wheels

Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe will be supplying its CO2-reduced “Bluemint” steel to wheel manufacturer Accuride for the production of truck wheels, Kallanish hears from the steelmaker.

The wheel, which can exploit the advantages of the new material concept over its entire lifecycle, will now be presented for the first time at the IAA Transportation trade fair in September.

To improve the carbon footprint of the wheel for Accuride, several parameters in flat steel production have been optimised with regard to sustainability, tk Steel explains. Compared with conventional steel, Bluemint offers emission savings of 70% up to the hot strip production stage, achieved by using hot-briquetted iron in the blast furnace. This enables less coal to be used for the reduction process.

In this way, the CO2 intensity of each tonne is reduced by 1.5t to 0.6t. This calculation methodology as well as the produced quantity of Bluemint has been confirmed by international certifier DNV. The weight-optimised Bluemint wheel can also score points in terms of sustainability compared to a much lighter forged aluminium wheel of the same size, tk claims.

Christian Koehl Germany