Importance Of Electrical Steels

GNEE New Material Cold Rolled Electrical Steel

Who makes electrical steels?

There are only around 20 manufacturers in the world that make electrical steels. Among these are ThyssenKrupp (Germany/France), Cogent Power (UK/Sweden), Arcelor Mittal (Brazil), AK Steel (US), Bau (China), Tata (India) and Stalprodukt (Poland). Out of these only a handful are capable of making the best quality GOES, whereas most produce conventional GOES and NOES.

Importance of electrical steels

Despite the current economic crisis, the demand for GOES(Grain Oriented Electrical Steel) continues to be very high. This is perceived to be a result of rapid development in Asian countries and the growing need for replacements for ageing equipment throughout Europe and the US.

A single high-power generator requires hundreds of tons of electrical steel. The energy produced by the generator must be then transformed, with large transformers containing yet more electrical steel, to higher voltages. It is then distributed and transformed with more transformers back to medium voltage and subsequently with even more transformers to low voltage for the final user. It is estimated that 70% of all electrical energy is consumed in electrical motors, which again are built from electrical steels.

In practice ALL the electrical energy from any house socket was transformed several times by transformers that use electrical steel. So next time when you are munching on toast that has been made in an electric toaster and drinking coffee made with water from an electric kettle, spare a moment to think about the electrical steels that make it all possible.