The Swedish Steel Prize 2004 is their target

The international Swedish Steel Prize is awarded every year for the world's foremost product for which high strength steels are used.

The international Swedish Steel Prize is awarded every year for the world's foremost product for which high strength steels are used.

Four of the world's best high strength steel products have been nominated.

This year's four finalists, who come from Italy, Spain, the USA and Sweden, have now been nominated.

The winner will be announced at the Swedish Steel Prize presentation ceremony in Stockholm on 18 November.

High strength steels are used worldwide for creating products that are lighter and stronger, while also meeting consumer demands for reasonable prices and good environmental properties.

The Swedish Steel Prize was founded by the steelmaker SSAB Tunnplat with the aim of broadening the knowledge of the opportunities offered by high strength steels, and drawing attention to their successful application throughout the world.

"High strength steels contribute to better and safer products, and especially vehicles," explains Anders Werme, President of SSAB Tunnplat.

"We know that high strength steels can solve many of the design problems facing companies around the world.

The four finalists for the 2004 Prize are: Fainsa SA of Spain has developed a new bus passenger seat which is lighter than seats of earlier design.

The Fainsa seat thus contributes to lower fuel consumption and reduced environmental impact.

The development of the new seat was prompted by the new, stricter safety demands for bus passengers, and the seat includes integrated seatbelts and anti-whiplash protection.

By using advanced high strength steels, the company has succeeded in combining the demands for reduced weight and enhanced safety, but without compromising on cost.

Grammer Srl, of Italy has also developed a new bus seat to meet the new, stricter demands for bus passenger safety.

The company has developed a seat with three-point seatbelts, for which a tubular frame of advanced high strength steel is used.

Compared to conventional seats with seatbelts, the weight has been substantially reduced, while safety has been improved.

All of this has been achieved within the same cost parameters.

Haki of Sweden has introduced extra-high strength steels into their range of scaffolding, even though this field is very conservative and must meet the demands of restrictive standards.

The new design has led to substantial weight reduction, which allows scaffolding of greater heights to be erected.

Moreover, the working conditions during erection work are improved.

Trim Trends Co., LLC, USA.

has put to use the combination of strength and formability of martensitic ultra-high strength, cold-rolled steel.

This has made it possible to design a new crashproof battery mounting for hybrid vehicles - in this particular case, the new Ford hybrid car.

This innovative design is based on advanced pressing techniques protecting the interior and thus the passengers, against intrusion by the large batteries in the event of a rear-end collision.

The nominations have been made by the six-member Swedish Steel Prize jury, under the chairmanship of Anders Werme.

In addition to the four nominees, the jury has also awarded an honourable mention to the Swedish Ortic AB company which has developed, in cooperation with Bemo Systems GmbH, a method of working high strength steels by roll forming of double-curved profiles with variable profile forms.

The method is already in use in the building industry and opens new opportunities for efficient production of profiles of advanced high strength steels in the automotive and other industries.

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