AK Steel : Announces Expansion of New NEXMET Advanced High Strength Steel

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WEST CHESTER, OH--(Marketwired - April 21, 2017) - AK Steel (NYSE: AKS) said today that demonstration samples of new NEXMET™ 1000 and 1200 Advanced High Strength Steel have now been delivered to multiple automotive customers for evaluation. This milestone was made possible with the recently completed upgrades to the company's Dearborn Works galvanizing line. ™ First announced in August 2016, the AK Steel NEXMET family of steel products enables automotive companies to design and manufacture lighter-weight vehicles that are capable of meeting increasingly stringent emissions regulations and passenger safety requirements. While AK Steel's NEXMET 440EX product is intended for use in surface-critical exposed auto body panels, the new NEXMET 1000 and 1200 products were designed specifically for use in automotive structural components. NEXMET 1200, for example, has better formability than conventional dual phase 600 steel, at twice the strength level. This allows automotive engineers to design lightweight parts that meet even more rigorous service and safety requirements. 'These new NEXMET 1000 and 1200 products are evidence of AK Steel's work to drive innovation in the steel industry, and remain at the forefront of carbon, stainless and electrical steel technology to provide our customers with unsurpassed levels of value and support,' said Roger Newport, Chief Executive Officer of AK Steel. 'We congratulate our employees for their efforts to develop these and other new product offerings to satisfy the needs of our customers both now and for the future.' Providing demonstration samples is an important step in the customer qualification process for new automotive products. Numerous other such developments are presently underway at the company's new Research and Innovation Center in Middletown, Ohio.
AK Steel AK Steel AK Steel is a leading producer of flat-rolled carbon, stainless and electrical steel products, and carbon and stainless tubular products, primarily for automotive, infrastructure and manufacturing, electrical power generation and distribution markets. Headquartered in West Chester, Ohio (Greater Cincinnati), the company employs approximately 8,500 men and women at eight steel plants, two coke plants and two tube manufacturing plants across six states (Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia) and one tube plant in Mexico. Additional information about AK Steel is available at www.aksteel.com.
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