ArcelorMittal's wire solutions division is supplying 11,000 tonnes of steel fibres to Europe's largest infrastructure project.
Our company has been chosen as the largest steel fibres supplier to the Crossrail project a new railway line currently under construction that will connect east and west London. The bespoke steel fibres will be supplied from our wire solutions plants in Sheffield, England and Bissen, Luxembourg. Crossrail's demanding specifications meant the ArcelorMittal team had to develop two new grades of high performance steel fibre with exceptional tensile strength, which will reinforce the sprayed shotcrete and tunnel lining segments.
The two new grades, HE +55/35 and HE ++90/60, are being used in steel fibre-reinforced concrete. Thanks to their dimensions and ultra high tensile strength, these fibres achieved very high residual flexural strengths in the steel fibre reinforced concrete with significant lower dosage rates than conventional fibres.
The grades are not only going to benefit Crossrail but can also be used in mining, pre-cast production or in any applications with high-strength concrete. The wire solutions team is currently also involved in talks for usage of the new steel fibre grades in other large, internationational infrastructure projects.
Steel fibres, when put in concrete, provide reinforcement, reduce and control concrete shrinkage. The fibres also help to prevent micro cracks which always develop in concrete from becoming macro-cracks.
Our wire solutions fibre sales team, technical support, research and development, and production teams worked together to supply the 11,000 tonnes of steel fibres. They also worked with and provided advice to the material engineers and production managers in three of the joint ventures involved in Crossrail.
The Crossrail project involves three major tunnelling contracts with TBMs (Tunnel Boring Machines) to build five twin-bore tunnels covering a distance of 21km, and construction of new railway stations. Construction on Crossrail began in 2008 and major civil engineering works are expected to finish in 2017; the first trains will run on the new line in late 2018. The tunnelling stage of the project officially launched in spring 2012 when the first TBMs started their journey from Royal Oak station in London.
