June 2025

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ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products

Online client newsletter | June 2025

A vision for the future of automotive and steel

ArcelorMittal works with Renault on its Emblème low-carbon mobility project

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Driving innovation in a world of transition

by Jean-Luc Thirion, head of ArcelorMittal Global R&D

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In a world going through a revolution of transitions, whether it’s energy, mobility, AI, new technologies or circular economy steel has a major role to play in responding to these challenges. Our purpose in ArcelorMittal Global R&D is to understand and anticipate the technology winners and the critical drivers of innovation, and deliver these benefits to our customers, whilst reducing the time to market, not least in our Flat Products business.

Simplification

One of the key drivers for our customers is simplification. Simplification of process and manufacturing. That simultaneously creates efficiencies, delivers greater strength, and reduces costs.

We are making great advances here across all sectors, but our automotive business is at the forefront with ongoing innovation in laser welded blanks and ArcelorMittal Multi Part Integration® (MPI) - aimed at simplifying operations for our automotive customers, ensuring lightweighting and robust crash performance, as well as reducing product CO2 footprint.

Stronger, lighter, tougher

Our customers are demanding ever stronger steels. And we are responding.

For some automotive applications our advanced high strength steels (HSS) have progressed from tensile strength of 300 megapascals (MPa) 20 years ago to over 2000 MPa now. Our steel for packaging solutions now go beyond 650 MPa. For the Construction Machinery & Heavy Transport sectors, products with yield strength of 1100 MPa are now under development, from 500 MPa 10 years ago. Not only are we making these products stronger and lighter, we are making them more carbon efficient.

Our drive for more capable steels is exemplified in ArcelorMittal’s Steligence® building concept offering architects and construction projects highly specified steels and solutions.

Our full offer for the construction market
was put on display at the BAU trade fair earlier this year.

Tomorrow’s solutions, available today

Much of our research is dedicated to preparing for tomorrow’s infrastructure and energy needs today. We recently launched HyMatch®, our new steel offer for the construction of hydrogen pipelines. At the WindEurope trade fair we showcased our XCarb® heavy plate offering for wind turbines. And the innovative durable and self-healing qualities of Magnelis®, put in the spotlight at the Intersolar fair, are proving to be invaluable in enabling the solar revolution.


Leaders in co-engineering and collaboration

Rather than simply selling a catalogue of steels, ArcelorMittal prides itself on co-engineering solutions with its customers, to deliver lighter, stronger, more durable, more capable, and yes, more aesthetic products for them. What sets us apart is the synergies we bring through combining R&D related to both the steel product and the processing of steel. Nowhere is this better evidenced than in our packaging co-engineering capabilities, based on deep expertise in areas such as pressure resistance, shaping, welding, 3D scanning and Finite Element Analysis (FEA).




View our packaging co-engineering webinars here.

The size and international reach of our Global R&D teams enables us to jointly develop products and processes with our customers, wherever they are.

R&D and AI – Building a future of steel

It is exciting that steel remains the material of choice for most industries – and its infinite recyclability, adaptability and the impending reduction in its carbon emissions, makes it one of the most sustainable options for society at large. Looking to the future, our commitment to AI is set to drastically accelerate our product development and enhance efficiencies, quality management and safety. We have over 100 people already directly working on it.

View the full ArcelorMittal’s Global R&D video here.

But AI can only deliver so much. And it is already a fundamental part of our new recruits’ skillsets, whether they are engineers, metallurgists or mathematicians. For these new entrants to our industry, their freshness of ideas will drive us forward, and the vital role that steel plays in society is proving to be a great motivation in their career choice.



Jean-Luc Thirion,
head of ArcelorMittal Global R&D

















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