Research and development, laboratories

Innovation is Our Philosophy

Special steel is the material of the future. In an ever-evolving world of technology, new types of materials will play an increasingly important role:purer and stronger steels some of which are already successfully commercialized, while others are being tested and verified in our laboratories.

Innovation has always been central to BÖHLER’s strategy; more than 300 patents globally are proof of the successes of our Austrian steel mill’s research and development department.

The modern laboratories in our mills play a major role in the production process, providing vital information for process controls, product certification and environmental impact monitoring.

All materials that become part of the production process of our steels, starting from raw materials to waste material, are subjected to thorough chemical analysis, conducted with innovative methods and instrumentation.

The most advanced technologies and instrumentation are available at our steel mill’s testing laboratories:

  • mechanical and technological materials testing laboratorydetermination of mechanical properties through tensile tests, hot tensile tests, notch resilience tests, fatigue tests, Brinell, Rockwell and Vickers hardness tests on steel and nonferrous metals in accordance with international norms and standards.
  • metallography laboratorydetermination of microstructure parameters of samples and components according to international standards and customer specifications; analysis of material structure, grain size, purity level, etc.
  • Thermal treatment-thermal treatment of samples and components according to specifications
  • physics and metallurgy laboratorycharacterization of materials, creation of TTT and CCT curves, simulation of forging and stamping, differential thermal analysis and dilatometric tests, simulation of heat treatment and subzero, definition of linear expansion coefficient and analysis of precipitation and recrystallization processes and phenomena.

Our mission:

“We continuously develop and optimize our products and processes to offer our customers the best solutions ”

Our steel mill’s R&D department employs highly qualified researchers and a network of experts globally, in cooperation with numerous national and international university and research centers, as well as a number of partnerships with key customers active in a variety of industries.
Böhler’s research and development program is focused on continuously updating expertise in tool steels, high-speed steels, and high-performance materials, with the constant goal of exceeding market expectations and meeting the evolving needs of our customers.

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Certificates voestalpine BÖHLER Edelstahl GmbH & Co KG