Cold-rolled flat steel with high yield strength for cold forming – EN 10268
There are several types of HSLA steels, each having specific characteristics which make them suitable for particular applications. Among these variants, we can find steels with special treatments as the bake-hardening (B), phosphorus-alloyed (P) and micro-alloyed (LA), interstitial free (Y), isotropic (I) grades offering a wide range of strength and performance levels based on final requirements.
| EN 10268 standard | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Cold rolled steel flat products with high strenght for cold forming |
||||
| Microalloys LA |
Bake-hardening B |
Interstial free Y |
Re-Phosphated P |
Isotropic I |
| – | HC180B | HC180Y | HC180P | – |
| – | HC220B | HC220Y | HC220P | HC220I |
| HC260LA | HC260B | HC260Y | HC260P | HC260I |
| HC300LA | HC300B | – | HC300P | HC300I |
| HC340LA | – | – | – | – |
| HC380LA | – | – | – | – |
| HC420LA | – | – | – | – |
The versatility of these steels makes them particularly useful for reducing weight and thickness in components without compromising their strength, while ensuring good welding performance and ease of stamping. They are employed in industries such as automotive (for chassis, seats, doors and closures) and in industrial structures (as in frames, trailers, buckets and agricultural equipment). Their cold formability enables the creation of thin components, while maintaining high strength and their ability to reduce weight and overall dimensions makes them ideal for applications requiring lightness, such as welded tubes or load-bearing structures for bridges and shelving.