Reducing environmental impact with Hardox® wear plate – now and in the future

When you choose Hardox^® wear steel for your heavy equipment, you’re helping to reduce the environmental impact of steel and of the equipment. That’s because its combination of high strength, hardness and toughness allows you to use less steel to build stronger yet lighter and more resource-efficient equipment that lasts longer.

Dump and trailer bodies in mining, transportation and construction vehicles can be made in thinner steel plate and still be more durable than those made in conventional AR steel. Using a thinner gauge, you can get a lighter truck that can carry more payload. This saves fuel per loaded ton and reduces CO₂ emissions on every trip over the truck’s useful life.

But how can we at SSAB slash the environmental footprint of our steel even more? Well, we’re driving full speed ahead to produce what we call fossil-free steel. Our new process uses green hydrogen instead of coal to remove oxygen from the iron ore we use – practically eliminating CO₂ emissions from our steelmaking. Naturally, fossil-free grades of Hardox^® wear plate will have the same superior properties as today’s Hardox^®. 

Wondering what an upgrade from regular AR to Hardox^® steel can do? Here are the numbers.

We call it EcoUpgraded. When you upgrade your steel and design, we can calculate just how much you can reduce equipment weight, improve fuel economy and extend lifetime. In one case, an excavator bucket was upgraded from AR 400 steel to Hardox^® 450. The bucket’s weight was reduced by 30%. Its load capacity increased by 20%. It generated 714 metric tons (787 US tons) in CO2 savings and a fuel reduction of around 240,000 liters (63.401 gallons) over the truck’s useful life. These environmental savings will be even greater when fossil-free grades of Hardox^® steel become available.