NLMK Clabecq, a leading Belgian producer of thin steel plates, has supplied its Quard 500 abrasion resistant steel plates to Brazilian manufacturer Innova. NLMK Clabecq’s plates are used to produce high durability forklift buckets designed to extract granite and marble.

Innova opted to use Quard 500 due to its high resistance to abrasion and impact, as well as its excellent mechanical properties for metal mechanic processes (cutting, bending, welding, drilling, etc.). Quard 500 has enabled Innova to develop and manufacture buckets that are both lighter and more solid, and resistant, for aggressive use in quarries.

This new application of Quard quenched and tempered steel plates expands NLMK Clabecq presence in the stone extraction segment, which requires more wear-resistant materials to increase fuel efficiency and substantially extend the lifecycle of the buckets which handle high hardness blocks.

The biggest challenge for the stone extraction segment is to reduce operating costs. Buckets produced from durable Quard plates offer a performance gain of more than 50% compared to buckets made from similar steel grades.

NLMK’s abrasion resistant steel is offered in thicknesses from 3.2 mm to 64 mm.

Customers, please contact your country manager

About NLMK Clabecq

NLMK Clabecq is the leading Belgian producer of thin premium steel plates and a company of NLMK Group. Customers of NLMK Clabecq enjoy superior surface quality, ideal flatness and tight thickness tolerances of plates thanks to the plant’s extensive technical expertise coupled with a unique combination of equipment, including a reversible quarto mill and a continuous finishing mill with 4 independent stands, a state-of-the-art accelerated cooling system and a quenching and tempering unit (Q&T).

NLMK Clabecq is a major player in the niche markets of abrasion resistant steels up to 550 HB (Quard®) and steels with extremely high yield strength up to 1100 MPa (Quend®) in thicknesses from 3.2 to 64 mm. These brands are especially popular with manufacturers of construction equipment and mining machinery. Equipment made with Quard® and Quend® is more fuel-efficient and durable thanks to lighter structure, more wear-resistant and stronger steel.

For more information on Quard® and Quend® specifications and applications, please visit https://qt.nlmk.com/en/

About NLMK Group

NLMK Group is the largest steelmaker in Russia and one of the most efficient in the world.

NLMK Group’s steel products are used in various industries, from construction and machine building to the manufacturing of power-generation equipment and offshore wind turbines.

NLMK operates production facilities in Russia, Europe, and the United States. The Company’s steel production capacity exceeds 17 million tonnes per year.

NLMK’s ordinary shares with a 18.6% free float are traded on the Moscow Stock Exchange (ticker "NLMK") and its global depositary shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange (ticker "NLMK:LI"). The share capital of the Company is divided into 5,993,227,240 shares with a par value of RUB1.

For more information on NLMK Group, please visit our website.

For NLMK Group’s photos and corporate videos, please visit our media library.

About Innova

Innova manufactures, assembles and offers maintenance of parts in general. It also offers engineering services with the latest machinery and software. Innova has increased its effort and investment in the special steels market, having NLMK Europe Plate as a partner and as a member of our "QUARD at Work" program. Innova is well recognized for the quality and efficiency in its processes and customer service. Innova operates in the city of Serra / Espirito Santo State – the largest exporter of marble and granite in Brazil.