Research & Development

Jmuiden Technology Centre, The Netherlands

The IJmuiden Technology Centre (IJTC) is located on the site of the Corus steel works in IJmuiden and focuses predominantly on process and product research for strip products and its application in the automotive and packaging sectors. In addition, the Ceramics Research Centre contributes to the availability of high temperature installations by developing “value in use” refractory solutions.

Swinden Technology Centre, United Kingdom

The Swinden Technology Centre (STC) in Rotherham mainly focuses on product research and applications research for the transport, building and construction sectors. Process research is undertaken for the mills operations primarily concentrating on environmental research.

Teesside Technology Centre, United Kingdom

The Teesside Technology Centre (TTC) in Grangetown, Cleveland operates as a satellite focusing on process and long product research. A significant capability of this centre is the 8 tonnes heavy pilot plant facility with an arc melting furnace and steel casting capability.

Automotive Engineering Group, United Kingdom

The Automotive Engineering Group (AEG) was established in 1996 to build a technical bridge between Corus and its automotive sector customers. Its key focus is on cost-effective light weighting, to keep steel positioned as the automotive material of choice in the transition to a low carbon economy. It employs automotive specialists using CAD design, structural and formability CAE, manufacturing feasibility, cost estimation and knowledge-based engineering techniques to service the automotive, construction, materials handling and defence market sectors.

Jamshedpur R&D Centre, India

The Jamshedpur R&D centre in India was established in 1937 and is one of the oldest industrial R&D centres in the country. Since its inception, it has played a pivotal role in the development of steel products and process routes that have given the Company a competitive advantage in local and global markets. Currently the centre employs 145 officers. The innovative nature and high quality of their work is reflected in 42 filed and 36 granted patents during the past year, as well as the publication of 56 papers in top international peer-reviewed journals.

Key Research Themes

Raw material costs play a key role in the competitiveness of the steel industry. Various R&D programmes are underway to address the issue of escalating raw material prices. Our research seeks to maximise the use of raw materials from captive sources. These projects include new technology to produce low ash clean coal, beneficiation of low grade iron ore and plant rejects to produce concentrates and a new coal agglomeration technology to increase the use of low-cost non-coking coal for coke production.

Cost and Productivity

R&D’s commitment towards continuous improvement and its development of cutting edge technology has supported our Company to become one of the lowest cost steel producers worldwide. The many activities in this field include research on agglomerates chemistry, blast furnace burden distribution, integrated through-process modelling, reduction in zinc consumption during tube galvanising and many more.

Market and New Products

4 research groups in India and more than 10 departments in Europe are actively engaged in developing new products. For example, their research output to cater to the needs of the Automotive sector include the development of advanced high strength steels, new forming techniques, new and improved joining techniques, innovative coatings, improved fatigue life of components, etc.

Energy and Environment

Tata Steel’s R&D centres conduct many programmes to improve the life cycle and sustainability of the Company’s products. These include projects to reduce energy consumption, CO₂ and other emissions. One current example is the construction of a pilot plant to trial the new HIsarna iron making process at Corus’ IJmuiden in the Netherlands. This new process, which was developed jointly with partners in the ULCOS consortium (www.ulcos.org), is expected to drastically reduce the energy consumption and CO₂ emissions associated with the production of iron from iron ore.