Japanese steel manufacturer Tokyo Steel has announced that the domestic automaker Toyota Motor Corporation has selected etched hot-rolled steel sheets for use in several models of domestically produced cars. The product is made exclusively from 100% scrap iron using the electric arc furnace (EDP) method.
With carbon emissions of only 400 kg per ton, the material emits about one fifth of the carbon emissions associated with traditional blast furnace steel production. The company emphasizes that steel contributes not only to reducing emissions, but also to resource circulation and recycling, which is consistent with the goals of sustainable development of the automotive sector.
Automotive class performance is achieved using scrap only
Tokyo Steel has announced that its range of automotive steel sheets includes grades with hardness up to 590 MPa. Historically, EDP-based steel has been considered difficult to use in automotive steel sheets due to strict component control and surface quality requirements.
Most of the world's examples of automotive EDP steel use scrap iron dilution to stabilize the quality. The production of automotive steel exclusively from scrap, without cast iron, remains extremely rare in the world.
Sustainable mobility and circular economy
Tokyo Steel said this milestone contributes to its goal of increasing the use of low-carbon EDP-based materials in automotive manufacturing, especially as the sector accelerates electrification.
Tokyo Steel said it will continue to increase the added value of Steel produced from EDP and expand its application in the field of next-generation mobility, contributing to a sustainable society and a waste-free economy
