- Has steel for all armour applications
By Brig. VK Atray & Sangeeta Saxena
07 April 2017. When a product and an industry are a part of a question and an answer in the Parliament of a country, then both the product and the manufacturer can be said to have arrived.
Today in the Indian Parliament the Minister of Defence Arun Jaitley informed the house that the Technology of processing Nickel Free High-Nitrogen Steel (HNS) has been developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)and a Non-exclusive Transfer of Technology (ToT) has been given to M/s Jindal Stainless Hisar Limited. The development of HNS was initiated as a basic Research & Development (R&D) and the technology fits to the policy of ‘Make in India’ initiative.
Abhyuday Jindal, Vice Chairman, Jindal Stainless (Hisar) Limited in an exclusive interview to Aviation & Defence Universe (ADU) said, “We are extremely pleased with this development and we believe HNS will immensely benefit the Indian Defence sector, going forward. The hard-work and perseverance of 10 years of JSHL with Ministry of Defence has culminated in a fantastic result for the country in line with PM’s vision of MAKE in India. This development reaffirms our endeavor to achieve higher benchmarks. We look forward to collaborate with Ministry of Defence to achieve greater efficacy of Indian armed forces and then take forward our capabilities.”
He added enthusiastically that Jindal Stainless would like to propose another of its steel grade for Hull structures for Ships and Submarines where it can emerge as a superior and cost competitive grade to indigenise current.
Jindal Stainless has come a long way since it made steel for domestic purpose and has been focussing in Nuclear and Defence segment by developing and producing critical grades as per the stringent requirement. Jindal Stainless has successfully supplied 304L plates to BARC, IGACR and ITER.
“Taking the legacy forward and with focus on material advancement, Jindal Stainless in collaboration with DMRL, Hyderabad has developed a new variant of Stainless Steel- High Nitrogen Steel. High Nitrogen Steel is corrosion resistant and provides exceptional ballistic/blast protection than the existing material at a much reduced thickness along with longevity which increases the fuel and mass efficiency. HNS exhibits higher energy absorption level, enhances crashworthiness to the entire artillery system and has significantly higher impact values (> 200 Joules at room temperature and > 150 Joules at -40C) as compared to RHA which make HNS a far superior material for blast protection. HNS has passed multiple levels of ballistic tests in different calibers with 8-10 times higher impact/blast protection,” explained the man who is at the helm of this project.
Jindal Stainless has developed manufacturing of HNS by triplex refining route EAF-AOD-VOD followed by continuous casting into slabs, bloom and Ingots, and subsequently, to hot and cold rolling, forging, ring rolling etc. Jindal Stainless has optimized manufacturing process for industry scale production and also supplied about 50 MT to DMRL. The firm has ‘State-of-the-Art’ facilities for manufacturing of high quality Steel to stringent quality and has been supplying critical materials in strategic defence and nuclear sector. The steel major has the capacity and capability to manufacture and supply HNS in different dimensions and forms for all the proposed futuristic requirements.
He added that the manufacturing unit has state-of-the-art facility and total capacity of 1.8 MTPA for manufacturing of high quality Stainless Steel. Steel is melted in ultra-high powered Electric Arc Furnaces with co-jet facility. For refining, it utilizes top and bottom blown Argon-Oxygen Decarburization (AOD) Converter. In addition, it is also endowed with Vacuum-Oxygen Decarburizing (VOD) unit. De-oxidation is carried out by high speed multiple wire-injection units and refined steel is continuously cast in slab and bloom caster.
With ultra modern manufacturing and R&D facilities, Jindal Stainless has been producing grades which can be effectively leveraged for Indian Defence programs. These are all regular Austenitic, Ferritic and Martensitic Stainless Steel Grades (200, 300 & 400 Series), Duplex and Super Duplex Stainless Steel: 32304, 32101, 32750, 32760, 32205, 31803, Ph Series: 17-4 Ph, 17-7 Ph, 15-5Ph and 904L, 304L, 308L, 309L, 316L, 310/S, 410, 15CdV6, 9Cr1Mo, 31727, 30815, 300M, High Nitrogen Stainless Steel
Abhyuday informed that JINDAL STAINLESS is producing Super Duplex UNS32750 grade for various Oil & Gas applications and Naval application for Defence segment with properties like excellent resistance to stress corrosion cracking (SCC) in chloride-bearing environments, excellent resistance to pitting and crevice corrosion, high resistance to general corrosion, very high mechanical strength, physical properties that offer design advantages, high resistance to erosion corrosion and corrosion fatigue and good weldability. The company has supplied this grade for Defence Applications against stringent requirement of defence establishment.
He went on to explain that Jindal Stainless has also developed and produced 15CDV6 for defence applications. 15CDV6 is chromium-molybdenum-vanadium Structural steels. Toughness, consistency and resistance to fatigue derived from the high level of micro cleanliness. It can be welded with very little loss of properties during welding and without the need of further heat treatment.
“Due to its excellent mechanical properties, it is suitable for critical component manufacturing for applications in aerospace and defence such as rocket canisters, rocket motor casings, suspensions, pressure vessels etc. Jindal Stainless has supplied this grade in plates form required by Indian Defence Establishments & got approvals from ISRO,” said the scion of the first steel family of India.
“We are very eager to serve Indian Defence with indigenized armour solutions and for this have added another armour grade into our portfolio- Jindal Stainless ARM500 which is an alloy steel used for ballistic protection. Grade Jindal Stainless ARM 500 is a medium carbon grade containing Chromium, Nickel and Molybdenum offers excellent combination of hardness and YS. The steel grade is perfect choice for light weight design as well as ballistic protection. Current uses include vehicles for military or civil, building and military equipments, current / futuristic armoured vehicles viz. Future Infantry Combat Vehicle (FICV), Light Specialist Vehicle (LSV), Light Armoured Multi-purpose Vehicle (LAMV) etc. Jindal Stainless developed this grade for armor applications at lesser material cost (than existing imported grades) along with superior quality in terms of yield and tensile strength, hardness and exceptional ballistic protection. The use of this grade in ballistic applications will lead to reduction in weight of systems/sub systems for army and eliminate dependency on imported grades,” he stated.
These major developments in steel production will not only accelerate the indigenization process of Indian defence arsenal in line with government’s ‘Make in India’ drive but will also help in easy availability of best material for manufacturing lighter armour vehicles, as import procurement often delays the manufacturing process.
Short Term Strategy
Jindal Stainless has been focussing in Nuclear and Defence segment by developing and producing critical grades as per the stringent requirement. Jindal Stainless has successfully supplied 304L plates to BARC, IGACR and ITER.
Recently Jindal Stainless has developed High Nitrogen Steel in collaboration with DMRL,Hyderabad. High Nitrogen Steel is corrosion resistant and provides exceptional ballistic/blast protection than the existing material at a much reduced thickness along with longevity which increases the fuel and mass efficiency. Jindal Stainless has already supplied HNS for MPV, and Mine trawl applications.
Jindal Stainless has already supplied following other strategic grades :
- 15CDV6: Jindal Stainless has supplied this grade for Indian Defence Establishments & got approvals from ISRO.
- Super Duplex: Jindal Stainless has supplied this grade for defence applications against stringent requirement of defence establishment.
- SS316: Jindal Stainless has supplied sheets and plates with stringent quality requirements like densification test.
Jindal Stainless is looking to enhance its capabilities and develop more strategic Stainless Steel grades for defence applications. Jindal Stainless is looking for indigenisation of different strategic stainless steel grades and make India self sufficient for these critical materials.
Jindal Stainless wants to enhance its armour grade portfolio with focus on its research and development and collaboration with potential stakeholders. Jindal Stainless is also focussed to further strengthen its offerings for missile applications and systems. In addition to this, Jindal Stainless is already working on developing different submarine sub systems and systems with grades like super duplex.
Jindal Stainless also plans to move ahead in the value chain and develop itself as a strategic component supplier in coming years.
Jindal Stainless is also keen to work for Indian defence segment as an offset partner by supplying materials. It would like to work for direct offsets which are directly connected with the item being sold by the foreign supplier and can take the form of co-production, licensed production, etc. Jindal Stainless is also keen to work for Indirect offsets where compensations can be secured in any other area with the aim of obtaining for the economy what would otherwise have not been available to the buyer but for the purchase.
Jindal Stainless would like to become offset partner by creating a stake for the foreign vendors to continue operating in the country, making Indian Defence self reliant, upgrading our systems along the way and in the process make it a win-win situation for both the countries.
As indigenous efforts are in line with our PM’s vision of “Make in India”, Jindal Stainless is committed to develop such strategic materials at competitive cost and with superior properties. Jindal Stainless hopes to take this good replacement of imported material/better lightweight material to enhance the capabilities.
Futuristic Statement
Mr. Abhyuday Jindal, Vice Chairman, Jindal Stainless (Hisar) Limited said, “We are extremely pleased with this development and we believe HNS will immensely benefit the Indian Defence sector, going forward. The hard-work and perseverance of 10 years of JSHL with Ministry of Defence has culminated in a fantastic result for the country in line with PM’s vision of MAKE in India. This development reaffirms our endeavor to achieve higher benchmarks. We look forward to collaborate with Ministry of Defence to achieve greater efficacy of Indian armed forces and then take forward our capabilities.”
