application examples

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The areas of application of our material

In our last post, we revealed that customers all over the world plan 18,000 tons of stainless steel with us every year.

What we have kept secret, however, is what is made from these materials. After all, we process over 400 different materials - it is obvious that this is not just about reinforcing steel for the construction industry.

We would therefore like to present you with a selection of application examples in this article. First of all, however, we would like to point out that this list is far from complete. With over 35,000 hot-rolled products, we unfortunately have to limit ourselves to a handful of highlights.

Aiming high: Steel for the aviation industry

The production of materials for aircraft construction is one of the most demanding tasks in steel processing. After all, modern passenger planes climb to altitudes of over 10,000 meters and reach speeds of around 900 kilometers per hour while a hellfire of up to 2,200 degrees Celsius blazes in their turbines.

When it comes to special steel for the aviation industry, the Einsal rolling mills are your first point of contact: We have aviation certification in accordance with EN/AS 9100, AMS-compliant system technology in accordance with AMS 2750 and AMS-H-6875 and are an approved supplier for AEROSPACE Original Equipment Manufacturers .

This is how steel for the landing system, wings and landing gear, the cockpit and the aircraft fuselage and of course for the turbines and the engine are produced in our plants. So if you're about to board an Airbus A321 Neo on a business trip or take a scenic flight from a Safran-powered helicopter, you can sit back and relax. Our steel beats at the heart of these machines.

Our common steel grades for aerospace:

  • 1.4542
  • 1.4548
  • 1.4545
  • 1.4534
  • 3.7164
  • 2.4668

Our materials

Extremely reliable: steel for valve technology and measuring instruments

As a nation of machine builders, valves and measuring instruments are of essential importance for German industry. For the materials used, it is important to strike the right balance between resilience, precision and processing properties. The most important criterion for this: their machinability.

Types of steel that are easy to machine form smooth surfaces that are easy to process, making extremely precisely manufactured devices and components such as valves or measuring instruments possible in the first place. We supply our industrial customers with machining-optimized pre-material in all common grades. On request also in dimensions close to the final dimensions and even in small quantities.

Our machinable steel grades for valve technology and measuring instruments:

  • 1.4301
  • 1.4307
  • 1.4401
  • 1.4404
  • 1.4305

Our materials

Safe and healthy: steel in medical technology

Nothing would work in modern medicine without special steel.

It starts with the surgeon's surgical instruments: bone rasps, scalpels, tweezers, clamps, scissors - almost every instrument is made of medical steel to guarantee perfect handling and maximum hygiene.

Even modern prostheses are made of steel. Because our material not only reliably withstands the heavy loads to which a joint is exposed every day and withstands the moist and acidic environment in the human body, but above all prosthetic steel is particularly biocompatible and bio-adhesive. This means that the immune system does not react aggressively to the foreign body and may reject it; the surrounding cells incorporate it into the tissue instead.

Even large medical devices would be unthinkable without steel. The rails of a magnetic resonance tomograph are also made from our materials, as is the suspension of an X-ray camera.

Our common types of steel for medicine:

  • 1.4057 
  • 1.4545
  • 1.4310
  • 1.4441
  • 1.4472

Our materials

Short and small: steel for industrial knives

Our materials also play a crucial role in the further processing of numerous industrial goods. Because in order for wood chips to be made from a tree trunk or plastic granules from a block of plastic, the machines used in the companies need high-quality blades - industrial knives, in other words, like those made from our high-alloy tool steels.

Our high-alloy tool steels for pelletizing knives:

  • 1.2080
  • 1.2379
  • 1.2436

Our chipper steel for wood chipper knives

  • 1.2360

The same applies, of course, to the food industry. However, there are particularly strict hygiene regulations for the processing of food and so very special types of steel are used for cutting knives.

Our stainless steels for industrial knives in the food sector:

  • 1.4021
  • 1.4028
  • 1.4034
  • 1.4125
  • 1.4122

Finally, goods that have reached the end of their lifecycle require the use of our steels. Because if a car finally quits service or a railway wagon has to be scrapped, the good piece should be dismantled into its component parts - with the help of scrap shears. With compressive forces of 1,300 tons and more, it goes without saying that only high-alloy tool steels have the necessary endurance.


Our high-alloy tool steels for scrap shears:

  • 1.2080
  • 1.2379
  • 1.2436

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Tried and tested for centuries: Damascus steel knives

However, we not only produce steel for industrial knives, but also knife steel for fine cuisine. More precisely, the famous Damascus steel, also known as Damascus steel.

This material bears its name because its origin is said to be in the Syrian city of Damascus. Unfortunately, whether this is really the case is lost in the mists of history. What is certain, however, is that Damascus steel has been used to make blades for over 1,000 years - earlier for swords or sabers, today more for knives that are very popular in star cuisine.

Because a special combination of different metals creates a blade that is particularly flexible and at the same time hard enough not to lose its sharpness over the years. The fact that the beautiful grain makes each knife unique is another plus point for many professional and hobby kitchens.

Energy!: Steel for turbine blades

In order to generate electricity with the help of coal, gas, uranium or hydropower, you need a turbine – i.e. a rotating fluid machine that releases its mechanical energy via a shaft. The mill wheel in the open-air museum or the windmill in the village are very early forms of a turbine.

Today, of course, we no longer use wood for their construction. Gas turbines achieve outputs of around 600 megawatts, hydroelectric turbines around 700 megawatts and the steam turbines of a nuclear power plant generate up to 1.8 gigawatts - a turbine blade made of wood would never withstand these forces, not to mention the temperatures prevailing inside the machine.

Instead, energy technology also relies on our materials. So when you soon turn on the television or the light or start up your computer, there is a high probability that a turbine in which our steels have been installed is turning somewhere in Germany.

Our steel grades for power engineering:

Escape-proof: steel for prison bars

As is well known, the German prison system relies heavily on the rehabilitation of prison inmates. This also includes the fact that the convicts can find a connection to working life after their release and can earn their livelihood honestly in the future. In many prisons it is therefore possible to work, even to complete an apprenticeship and earn a few euros in prison.

That's why part of our steel goes to prisons in North Rhine-Westphalia and is further processed in the locksmiths of the prisons to make door and window grilles. Our material with the number 1.3401 is used here in particular - a manganese steel that is not only particularly wear-resistant, but also strain-hardens when subjected to sudden stresses. So destroying the grids with a simple tool is almost impossible.

Our steel for prison bars:

  • 1.3401

Fashionable and timeless: steel for watch cases

It goes without saying: In our modern times, looking at the smartphone usually reveals what time it is. Nevertheless, the man (and also the woman) of the world still wears a watch on his wrist.

Not only because a high-quality chronograph looks good and makes a statement, but above all because a mechanical movement works much more reliably than its digital counterpart. No empty battery at the most inopportune moments, no water damage on a sailing trip, no broken display - assuming, of course, that the wheels tick in a robust housing.

This is where Walzwerke Einsal comes into play, because we also supply our stainless steel and titanium to manufacturers of well-known watches. This results in chronographs that are not only timelessly beautiful, but also work so accurately that your grandchildren will still be able to read the time from their grandfather's watch.

Our types of steel for watch cases:

  • 3.7164
  • 1.4435
  • 1.4441
  • 1.3964

Our common steel grades for the construction industry:

  • 1.4301
  • 1.4404
  • 1.4462
  • 1.4162
  • 1.4362
  • 1.4410

Architecture: steel for facades and architecture

Have you ever seen the Post Tower in Bonn? Or the DG Bank building in Berlin? Maybe the BBC broadcaster in London? Common to all these buildings is a façade made largely of glass framed by steels produced in our factories.

Above all, rust-free high-grade steels are used, if the building is located near the sea, of course in higher-alloy rust-free grades with corresponding corrosion resistance and the associated PREN.

Furthermore, our steels in duplex grades are often used in the construction industry. Because these not only have a high corrosion resistance, but also have excellent mechanical properties, which results in lower material consumption with the same static stability. The fact that duplex grades are comparatively cheap to buy thanks to their low-nickel alloy is another plus point for cost-conscious architects.

WE: Always the right steel

We hope to be able to give you a small impression of how diverse the areas of application of our products are and how important steel really is for our everyday lives.

If you are looking for the right material for your project, are missing an important application or would like to place an order with us, simply contact us. We look forward to your inquiry.

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