The toughcore® production line was successfully put into operation in October 2016.
voestalpine Grobblech is pleased to announce the first toughcore® order.

With the supply of heavy plates for a demanding ONSHORE-LINEPIPE project, voestalpine Grobblech again have got ONE STEP AHEAD.

An old gas reservoir in northern Italy, which already was exploited and subsequently closed down in the late 90´s, is now going to be re-activated and shall be used as a gas storage facility. Excessive gas will be pumped into the reservoir at 1,400 m depth under surface and shifted back, when needed. In doing so, Italy is increasing its gas storage capacity and enhancing its flexibility for its own gas supply at once.

Due to the location of the storage facility in an urban area, the most stringent safety levels applied in respect to operational safety and environmental protection.

By utilizing the full potential of toughcore®, voestalpine Grobblech succeeded in fulfilling the challenging requirements in respect to charpy V-notch (CVN) impact energy of the plates as well as in the heat affected zone (HAZ) of the welded pipe.

Toughness requirements on the plate:

  • Steel grade:

L450M PSL2

  • Plate thickness:

25.4 mm

  • Toughness:

avg. 85% ductile fracture at – 75°C

  • Test position:

½ thickness

In order to fulfill the required average value of 85% ductile fracture at -75°C, all test results for this temperature had to be located in the upper shelf. With toughcore® actually we were able to overmatch these values. In fact, toughcore® only showed brilliant values in the upper shelf even at - 100°C.

If you have any question on toughcore® heavy plates, please contact toughcore@voestalpine.com or your personal partner at voestalpine Grobblech GmbH.