About the project
Introducing 100% scrap-based Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) steel products into mass-market
CiSMA aims to introduce 100% scrap-based Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) steel products into mass-market steel sheet consumer goods, currently manufactured through the integrated Blast Furnace – Basic Oxygen Converter route. The project will help cut CO2 emissions, boost circular economy and reduce EU’s foreign dependency on critical raw materials in key European sectors such as the automotive, laundry equipment, white goods and other engineering industries.
“CiSMA will tackle the challenge of producing high-performance steel with electric arc furnaces, a technology which is currently limited by unwanted trace elements in scrap that adversely affect steel quality”
Jaume Pujante
CiSMA’s technical coordinator, Eurecat Technology Centre
Steel industry
Addressing key challenges
The CiSMA project will address some of the main challenges the European steel industry is facing:
Greenhouse gas emissions
Contributing to achieving carbon neutrality by enhancing the use of electric arc furnace.
Raw materials
Using scrap as a source for raw materials that are becoming increasingly scarce in Europe.
Green high-performance sheet steel
Developing metal applications from low–quality ferrous scrap with a high amount of unwanted residuals.
CiSMA METHODOLOGY
Discover how we work
CiSMA will deeply study how undesired residual elements, such as copper, interact with the base steel to maximise the use of post-consumer scrap as a raw material. CiSMA will develop enabling technologies to facilitate the uptake of the novel, more sustainable products in all value chain, from allowing steelmakers to evaluate their products when using high-variability raw materials, to improving the usability of post–consumer scrap and facilitating the uptake of higher-variability feedstock in mass production.
EAF-based, scrap-intensive steelmaking
Advanced characterisation through synchrotron and Atom Probe Tomography to be used to design steel grades and determine safe residual thresholds to contribute to the transformation the steel industry. Contribution to the steel industry transition from the carbon-intensive blast furnace and Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) route to the more environment-friendly manufacturing via EAF.
Scrap analysis and improvement
Analysis of the scrap and improving scrap quality using PICKIT, an implementation of the automated separation of low-quality scrap for improving the steel stream.
Novel tests and enabling tools
To ensure the CiSMA’s developments can be turned into an industrial reality, a powerful toolbox will be developed including two fast characterisation tests for toughness and forming embrittlement, a rapid fatigue test, two online measurement methodologies, an ML-enhanced methodology and an ML-enhanced digital twin.
Establishing mass market use cases
The project contemplates use cases in two key sectors with direct contact with the European citizens: automotive and laundry machine equipment.
Four steel products with mass market applications
CiSMA will produce four EAF scrap-based sheet steels using safe thresholds of residual products to substitute mass-market products currently produced via blast furnaces, with the aim to improve CO2 footprint and circularity in the steel industry.
high-strength
steels
high–formability steel
interstitial–free steel
These materials will be demonstrated into two use case scenarios.
End users will validate these steel products, ensuring that they accomplish the requirements for their forming processes.
Mass-market use cases
Demonstrating the 100% recycled steels in mass-market products
Volvo Cars vehicle components
EAF scrap-based steels will be tested in two components from Volvo Cars vehicles:
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- a high-strength steel requiring impact toughness and formability for a door sill.
- a high-strength steel requiring impact toughness and formability for a door sill.
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- and a high-formability steel, requiring very high formability, surface finish and compatibility with galvanization, for components such as a cross-member.
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Learn more:
Copyright © Volvo Car Corporation
Electrolux Professional laundry equipment components
EAF scrap-based steels will be tested in components from Electrolux Professional industrial laundry equipment:
- Interstitial–Free steel, requiring high formability, good visual aspect, and galvanization, can be tested in components such as the front panel.
Learn more:
Toolbox of enabling technologies
To ensure that CiSMA developments can be turned into an industrial reality, the project is to develop a toolbox to support steelmakers and components manufacturers in the application of EAF steels into mass market industries.
Fracture toughness rapid tests
to assess the influence of impurities and tramp elements on the fracture properties of studied steel grades.
Fast forming embrittlement tests
using innovative methodologies to evaluate the impact of residual tramp elements on both cold work embrittlement and hydrogen embrittlement.
Fatigue testing
to assess the influence of processing parameters and microstructural features on fatigue performance.
Continuous measurement of formability by machine learning enhanced online tests
to support production control and guarantee the formability of incoming material within a predefined process window.
Data-driven modelling and digital twins enhanced by machine learning
to investigate the effect of scatter in material properties
