In the research and development sector, voestalpine is pursuing a cooperative, decentralized R&D strategy. It conducts research and development at both its European and international sites and, in the course of the past decade, has created a global expertise network. National and international research and development collaborations with universities as well as other research institutions and competence centers form a back-up structure that has proven itself over the course of many years.
At the operational level, ongoing investments in development and testing centers are the basis for successful innovation. For example, the testing center in the Seamless Tube business segment was recently expanded to include a sour gas laboratory, where the durability and service life of oil and natural gas field tubes are tested directly at the plant in order to create a basis for even more sophisticated quality in the future.
The Steel Division expanded its development center at the Linz site, Austria, to include a new hot forming simulator that calculates how to achieve optimal results from the direct hot forming process by way of highly structured simulation tests. This simulator, which is unique worldwide, was designed, developed, and built in voestalpine’s own research and development facilities.
Current research focal points within the Special Steel Division include further development of high-performance tool steel, special materials for the oil and natural gas industries, for the energy generation and aviation industries as well as new concepts for hard coating tools, including the necessary coating facilities.