Come collaborate with us!

ArcelorMittal’s Global R&D team can help you lightweight, create brand-enhancing solutions and deliver greater manufacturing efficiency

Packaging solutions are continuously evolving and are becoming increasingly sophisticated, not least with a strong focus on sustainability. The varied expectations of the packaging manufacturers, fillers, retailers and the end consumer are driving change – as the value chain seeks reduced environmental impacts, less raw materials, and greater manufacturing efficiency, through to increased brand differentiation, customer convenience and value for money.

Watch here the March webinar "Sustainable steel closures: redefining packaging innovation" or click here to watch the October session "Slim and smart 3-piece can bodies made with ArcelorMittal steels". 

ArcelorMittal Global R&D team shone a light on their capabilities in collaborating with customers on sustainable steel closures and 3-piece can bodies earlier this year in two dedicated webinars hosted by The Canmaker - presented by Gilles Mangin, Packaging Product Development Engineer, ArcelorMittal Global R&D.

Steel is already recognised as one of the most sustainable solutions for packaging food and products. It is infinitely recyclable. Its magnetic properties make it the easiest and most economical type of packaging to sort and recover, and no matter how many times it is recycled steel never loses its strength or inherent properties.

At ArcelorMittal we're constantly exploring new ways to innovate steel for packaging, working to support our customers with their current challenges:

• downgauging and lightweighting – lighter gauges, including our Maleïs^®, very high strength steel
• new metallic and organic coatings - improving finishes, enhancing safety and reducing environmental impacts
• new packaging solutions - such as easy-open ends (EOE) or innovative shaped cans
• better industrial processes - for ease of manufacturing efficiency and throughput

“The world of steel closure solutions is diverse and challenging, offering everything from easy-open ends, twist-off caps to crown cork and that is what we have seen in our first webinar” says Gilles. “The real challenge? It is to find the right compromise between reliability, convenience and sustainability. How do we and our customers ensure closures withstand sterilisation, remain easy for consumers to open and minimise material use and impacts without sacrificing performance? Our Global R&D technical teams work on these challenges day-by-day, so if you want a new cutting-edge steel packaging solution…we are here to collaborate and offer our expertise”.

One promising avenue is thinning or downgauging the steel closures. Through clever design and the use of high-strength steel grades like 620, 650 and 700 MPa, we are creating closures that are thinner, yet just as robust, reducing the quantity of steel used, whilst maintaining performance.

In our second webinar Gilles presented solutions for 3-piece can body, the core component for food, aerosol and general line steel packaging. “In fact, the 3-piece can body represents around 2/3 of the total metal packaging weight. It is used in a variety of packaging forms going from the tiny 1/10 food can to the big pail can” says Gilles.

In his presentation Gilles Mangin described the importance of reliability and material usage in packaging, including downgauging, as innovation and lightweighting of 3-piece can bodies have been a motto of the steel packaging industry for a while now. “Nowadays with the need to keep on reducing the environmental footprint of any packaging, the path is far from reaching its end” underlined Gilles.

Digitalisation can deliver faster, more effective product development

Gilles explains in the webinars that at the heart of ArcelorMittal's collaborative approach are its advanced digitalisation capabilities and R&D tools (for example 3D scanner and meshing using Zeiss^®, and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) supported by Abaqus^®). Digitalisation can reduce the time taken to scope out the geometry of a new component from seven days down to one day. Ultimately such advances can significantly speed up product development, slash time-to-market and minimise trial and error. Our Finite Element Modelling (FEM) can model and refine the gauging of steel thickness, and design and manufacturing variables required to match your product requirements, on aspects such as panel pressure tolerance, axial load resistance and rivet forming dynamics. FEM can identify and address potential weaknesses in component integrity even before trial production.

A direct route to carbon reductions

Gilles illustrates the potential CO₂ savings from case studies of downgauging an easy-open end, a twist-off cap and a crown cork solution, compared to typical examples in the market. To get more details, read the full article below. Using ArcelorMittal’s analysis, and proposed downgauging steel thickness by between -15 and -20 µm on these components, would deliver CO₂ savings of circa 8.5 to 12.5%, whilst retaining product and manufacturing integrity.

Component	Typical		Proposal	Lightweighting potential	CO2 savings
	Designation EN10202	Designation ArcelorMittal
Easy open end	TH550	ML550	Maléis® range 600/620/650	- 20 µm	-10.5% (ref. EOE73 0.19/0.18 to 0.16 mm)
Twist-off cap	TH580/620	TH580/620	TH680	- 20 µm	-12.5% (ref. Large Ø 0.16/0.15 to 0.14 mm)
Crown cork	TH580/620	TH580/620	TH700	-15 µm	-8,5% (ref. 0.18 to 0.165 mm)

Captions: About 10% of CO₂ savings available now for steel closures using ArcelorMittal’s high strength steels.

Component	Typical	Lightweighting potential
Food body	YS 480-550 MPa	Case by case
Aerosol body	YS < 340 MPa	- 20 µm or more with TH580/TS550
General line body / Shaped	TS260EX	0.170 mm

Caption: Any steel thickness reduction is a direct CO₂ savings for the component available now using hard strength steels from ArcelorMittal.

Get ready for new coatings

Under the EU’s REACH legislation, Chromium Cr(VI) chemicals must be eliminated from the existing tinplate passivation process by 2027. ArcelorMittal has been preparing for the change for some time, and has built up its Chromium-Free Passivation Alternative (CFPA) production capacity to accommodate full customer demand from 2025. So if your products are affected by REACH the clock is ticking to take action. We are actively developing a range of different surfaces and coatings for the future – aiming for better sustainability performance and improved energy management.

ArcelorMittal’s co-development capabilities for packaging solutions

We’re keen to collaborate with you on your next packaging project or product upgrade, and can bring with us deep-seated global experience and technical expertise:

• A dedicated technical team from our Global R&D centres – to support your innovation ambitions and surpass market expectations
• The most up-to-date technology, software resources and modelling solutions – to push the boundaries of what is possible
• A spirit of collaborative partnership - to bring together the knowledge of all your stakeholders

We are ready to offer you our expertise in co-developing your future products. Do not hesitate to contact us for more information. 

For any enquiries please contact Gilles Mangin gilles.mangin@arcelormittal.com

 

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Banner image: ArcelorMittal

Left & right columns images: ArcelorMittal