Armcon’s volumetric concrete mixers are stronger, lighter, and better looking with subframes redesigned in Strenx®

Armcon Limited, located in Cheshire in the UK, implemented a lightweight design of its latest volumetric concrete mixer “DuraLight” using Strenx^® 700MC high-strength structural steel and Hardox^® 450 abrasion-resistant steel. Moving up from S275 steel made the mixers easier to produce, lighter and more attractive.

Strenx^® 700MC brings some substantial benefits to subframe structures, such as lighter and stronger high-strength structures compared with S275 steel alternatives.

The truck industry is set to transition to electric power and self-driving vehicles soon. This means they will need substantially lighter components to make room for the heavy batteries necessary for achieving high mileage.

Fleet owners recognize that an investment in driver comfort items and other amenities is critical to attracting and retaining drivers. But all these items add weight to a truck, making lightweighting important in order to continue shipping their current quantities of freight.

Armcon did its own lightweighting with the support of SSAB to achieve the optimal strength-to-weight ratio in its volumetric concrete mixers. The company succeeded in redesigning the subframe and aggregate bin, now reaching 8m3 at 32 tonnes.

At Armcon, Strenx^® is used for the subframe that all other parts are attached to, as well as for the support ribs for the aggregate bin and cement bin. The mixer frame is also constructed from Strenx^® to allow reduced weight while maintaining high strength.

Armcon is a long-time user of SSAB’s high-strength structural steel grades. The consistent properties of these steels enable new manufacturing processes, like tight bending, roll forming, punching with good finishing, and repeatable stamping for Armcon. In addition, Strenx^® has a relatively low carbon equivalent giving it high strength and ensuring good welding results with a low impact on the heat-affected zone.

According to Armcon, bending Strenx^® is so much easier than with mild steel. It behaves the same for every bend. Mild steel varies a lot and needs more setup and checking to get the bends right. This way, the change to Strenx^® steel brought Armcon considerable savings in production time.