Company Announcement - Aesthetically pleasing designs, energy savings, cost efficiency, and durability – the demands of the construction industry on the steel available today are numerous and challenging. The innovative special steel solutions UGI® und UGRIGRIP® from steel producer Ugitech meet these requirements. The UGRIGRIP® rebar demonstrates its advantages best in structural and civil engineering projects and in building construction. Used to reinforce concrete, it can be used for lighter weight elements and structures. Thinner, more intricate aesthetically appealing concrete structures can thus be designed because the diameter of the steel bars used can be minimized due to the outstanding mechanical properties of UGRIGRIP®.
For solutions that focus more on energy savings, the special steel UGI® is used for anchoring and connecting elements, sandwich elements in facades and roofs as well as thermal connectors between balconies and floors. This steel's low thermal conductivity (15 w.m-1k-1 at 20°C) is three to four times lower than that of conventional carbon steels on the market and attests to its excellent heat insulation. With a yield point of 650-800 MPa, UGIGRIP® und UGI® are also much more resistant to tensile loads than the carbon steel or the standard steel materials 304 and 316. Thanks to their improved ductility, UGIGRIP® und UGI® also comply with class C of the EUROCODE 2 for seismic loads.
"The unique properties of UGRIGRIP® und UGI® extend the useful lifetime of building constructions by up to 50 years," explains Olivier Jourdan, Market Manager Architecture, Building and Construction at Ugitech. This reduces the maintenance effort – a significant advantage particularly for parts of a structure with difficult access points. The construction industry thus profits from lower project and lifecycle costs.
Among the newest steel grades in the Ugitech portfolio are UGIGRIP® and UGI® 4062, 4362 und 4462. For the duplex steel UGIGRIP® 4062, Ugitech has also received the CARES certificate from the UK Certification Authority for Reinforcing Steels. This certificate of approval is recognized worldwide and confirms that the requirements of high quality for the construction industry are met. This includes the conformity to product quality and efficient process design – from steel manufacture to further processing and delivery to the customer.
This is guaranteed by Ugitech's state-of-the-art technologies and their decades of expertise in steel production. At their research institute, Ugitech continuously develops improved and new steel solutions. In doing so, the SCHMOLZ + BICKENBACH subsidiary makes a major contribution to the international steel group's position as a technology leader: Approximately 20 percent of the annual turnover is achieved based on Ugitech product innovations.