According to Erik Offerman, less is more when it comes to the use of alloying elements in steel. He believes that half of the alloying elements in steel are superfluous. A diet would be more sustainable, better for the environment and make it easier to recycle steel. Even better, it wouldn’t reduce the quality of this popular construction material, according to Offerman.
The materials scientist from Delft is basing his audacious assertion on his expertise of the microscopic structure of steel – which is what determines its properties, he says. ‘Steel producers add all kinds of elements to achieve the right properties. Chromium, vanadium, nickel, niobium, molybdenum, to name a few: every type of steel has its own cocktail of elements. Our research shows that with precise process control you can also achieve those properties – or better ones – by adjusting the microstructure. And you don’t need all those additional elements. More with less.’
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Erik Offerman conducts his research as part of the Leiden Erasmus Delft Centre for Sustainability, an inter-university partnership in the area of sustainability. He manages projects in the area of resource efficiency and material cycles. With his colleagues at Delft, he focuses primarily on production-technical aspects, while Leiden takes the environmental aspects into account and Erasmus University the business side of things.