Innovation & Tradition

Dillinger heavy plate used in the world's largest offshore heavy-lift cranes: High-strength heavy plate from Dillinger is indispensable wherever the format, strength and quality of the steels used are of existential importance. In Type MTC 78000 offshore heavy-lift cranes, for example, which are among the largest of their kind in the world, with a lift capability of 2,000 tonnes. Their use for some of the world's largest heavy-lift vessels, such as the OSA Goliath, in the Gulf of Mexico, approaches the load-bearing limits of both machine and material. In addition to the out-of-the-ordinary range of properties, with yield strengths of up to 690 MPa, the unique thickness and dimensional diversity of our heavy plates gave the conclusive impulse in the decision to use these high-performance steels for the MTC 78000. Read more...

140 mm thick TM plates with national technical approval (NTA): Our advances on the materials side have now been rewarded by national technical approval. Dillinger is the only producer capable of supplying thermomechanically (TM) rolled plates in Grade S355 M/ML in thicknesses up to 140 mm. These plates provide a double benefit: on the one hand, the NTA assures safety up to 140 mm tested in accordance with state building regulations while, on the other hand, the extra thickness provides designers with new creative potentials.

Use of waste-heat for Slab Pusher Furnace 3: The production of heavy plates is extremely energy-intensive. For this reason, we constantly pursue the aim of operating our processes and facilities as efficiently as possible. One example of this is the installation of evaporators in the slab pusher furnaces, by means of which an additional annual approx. 50,000 tonnes of steam are generated. This steam is sufficient, for example, to heat 2,000 private households. The steam is fed directly into our steam system to be used for heating of buildings, plant facilities and tanks. Steam generation in this way at the same time protects the environment, since it will, in future, no longer be necessary to generate this steam by combusting fuel. The sophisticated waste-heat utilisation system installed on Slab Pusher Furnace 3 is a showcase example of active environmental protection and of maximisation of energy-efficiency.

Environmentally friendly energy generation: Innovative steel products such as wind-power installations and modern power-generating plants save six times more CO2 than their manufacture causes. This is the conclusion of a study performed by the Boston Consulting Group. At Dillinger, we make an important contribution to environmentally friendly energy generation with, for example, the delivery of some 62,000 tonnes of steel for the Westermost Rough (North Sea) and EnBW Baltic 2 (Baltic Sea) offshore wind farms, which supply more than 150,000 British and 340,000 German households, respectively, with environmentally friendly electricity. This makes it possible to save more than one million tonnes of CO2 each year.

The focus of our heavy-plate research is on application-orientated research for special customer wishes which are not included in our standard delivery program. The aim of Dillinger's researchers is to achieve the capability, by means of improved understanding of steel microstructures, and using computer-assisted models, of designing new property combinations – without time-consuming, cost-intensive operational tests. Our materials-science knowledge and modern aids, such as the scanning electron microscope (SEM), enable us to push back the limits of the possible even further.

Support for the Department of Materials Science and Engineering of the Saarland University: Here at Dillinger, our aim is to constantly improve the already high quality of our heavy steel plate even further by means of joint research work. The foundations of offshore wind-power installations and oil drilling rigs around the globe provide excellent examples of applications in which high-performance steels from Dillinger are used. The heavy steel plates utilised in these structures must assure safe operation even after many years of exposure to extreme stresses. Innumerable small adjustments are necessary in the production of such special steels in order to meet the extremely high requirements set for these foundations. It is our intention to further optimise this complicated process jointly with the Saarland University.