Magnelis® brings a touch of nature to your facades

Vegetal exterior walls, or “green walls,” are a great way to bring nature to the facade of buildings and give them a unique look. Green walls are designed either as aesthetic elements for interior or exterior décor - sometimes as works of art using plants or as elements of urban ecology. For instance, a green wall is one of the elements that makes the facade of the Musée du quai Branly in Paris so unique.

French company Tracer, a pioneer of vertical walls and vertical gardens in France, is a regular customer of ArcelorMittal Downstream Solutions’ agency in Chalon-sur-Saône. For their creations, Tracer orders ArcelorMittal construction products such as rolled steel sheets or aluminium, and especially Magnelis®, a flagship product of ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products.

Magnelis®

Magnelis® is an ideal product for building the metal frame of green walls:

•    Its properties and particularly its high resistance to corrosion makes it perfect for environments with permanent humidity (the presence of plants implying biological and microbial activity and micro-organisms)
•    It meets the standards requested by Tracer, which contributes to their CSTB* approval

*CSTB: Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment (Scientific and Technical Center for Building)

Downstream Solutions delivers the Magnelis® steel sheets to Tracer, who then cut them to the right dimensions for their customers’ projects. Tracer also takes care of installing the sprinkling systems and the plants, selected with the project manager to meet the desired aesthetics thanks to a database of more than 300 plants.

About Tracer

Created in 1989, Tracer is a pioneer of vertical walls and vertical gardens in France. The company has a strong know-how in vegetal solutions with more than 17 000 m² of vegetal walls and facades created with their patented products (VertiFlore®, VertiBruit®). The company has a factory located in Dijon where all materials are manufactured.

They have realised green walls for many businesses such as shopping centres, office buildings, residential buildings, schools, supermarkets, and hotels.

Text: ArcelorMittal Europe
Photos: Tracer – système VertiFlore® / Irina Kzan / Shutterstock.com

ArcelorMittal Méditerranée recently inaugurated a photovoltaic farm on its site of Fos-sur-Mer, realised in partnership with EDF Energies Nouvelles. This solar farm of 15 hectares has a capacity of 12 MWc, equal to the annual electricity consumption of 7,400 citizens, half of the town of Fos-sur-Mer. Profil du Futur, a division of ArcelorMittal Construction, was in charge of the structure’s construction and used Magnelis®,a lead product of ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products for solar projects.

45,000 solar panels installed in 10 months

La Fossette solar farm is composed of 45,000 solar panels and its full construction required 10 months of work and up to 40 people. The solar panels structure was designed and produced by Profil du Futur in Horbourg-Wihr (near to Colmar, in France) and with steel produced by ArcelorMittal Bremen and coated with Magnelis®.

Based on DMSE’s specifications (the consulting firm mandated by EDF Energies Nouvelles), Profil du Futur proposed a structure designed in accordance with the Eurocodes standards that could meet all the needs (soil condition (determined by the G2AVP study), climatic loads, handling in the ground, modules fixing method, etc.).

The poles are the first steps in the installation of a solar structure. For La Fossette project, micropiles were the selected method, due to the nature of the ground (rocky with large blocks). This solution involves drilling the soil to a certain depth and to a certain diameter to install the pole and pour concrete into the hole around the pole. Before installing the micropiles, pulling tests are made to check how the poles will hold in the ground.

The photovoltaic modules of La Fossette were manufactured by the company TRINA and to realise the mounting parts which hold the modules on the structure, Profil du Futur partnered with Araymond who designed and manufactured the clamps.

Magnelis®, the reference material for solar projects

The structure of La Fossette solar farm was entirely made with Magnelis®, an ideal material for solar applications. Its remarkable corrosion resistance comes from its unique composition; developed by ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products, the coating includes zinc, 3.5% aluminium, and 3% magnesium. Magnelis® has a self-healing effect on cut edges and scratches which ensures excellent edge protection, even in the most hostile environments. When exposed to the environment, Magnelis® forms a very dense, zinc-based protective film. This film also forms on edges, welds, perforations, and scratches. It is almost impossible for the environment to penetrate this film.

La Fossette is the first project that EDF Energies Nouvelles realises with Magnelis®. Since 2012, Profil du Futur has made continuous efforts to make Magnelis® known as a suitable product for solar applications. This prescription as well as the 25-year guarantee were key factors which convinced EDF Energies Nouvelles to work with us.

Magnelis® wasn’t the only ArcelorMittal product used for this project. ArcelorMittal Fos-sur-Mer provided slag to consolidate the paths on the solar farm. Steel-making slag is a by-product of the steel production and often used in civil engineering to consolidate embankments.

A fruitful collaboration for Fos-sur-Mer

The completion of this project is part of the EDF Group's CAP 2030 strategy, which aims to double its renewable capacity by 2030. For ArcelorMittal Méditerranée, the aim is to facilitate the production of renewable energy by making parts of its industrial lands available. The last 5 years, the company invested €60 million for sustainability and remains attentive to the residents’ remarks.

Text: ArcelorMittal Europe - Flat Products

Copyrights: ArcelorMittal Europe Communication

Corrosion is a problem which costs our economy billions each year. While almost all materials are affected by corrosion, ArcelorMittal’s revolutionary new coating Magnelis® will ensure that steel solutions resist year after year.

Defined as a change in the properties of a material, corrosion affects all materials including wood, plastics, concrete and even stainless steel. Most often the term is encountered in connection with steel which, in its raw state, is susceptible to oxidisation.

Corrosion is caused by the interaction of a material with its environment which leads to a change in its properties. It can have negative effects both in terms of security and the costs of repair or replacement.

Typically the costs of corrosion accrue because it:

    - reduces the strength of a material (due to the reduction in its thickness) which can lead to failure
    - removes the application from service until repairs can be carried out
    - allows the contents of pipes and tanks to escape, causing contamination to the environment

While it is difficult to put a value on the cost of corrosion to the economy, direct damage (not including indirect costs of events such as environmental catastrophes) may be as high as 5% of gross domestic product (GDP). In the Benelux countries alone, this represents a sum of more than €50 billion.

The risk of corrosion depends on the environment in which a material is utilised. The corrosion risks of different ambient conditions have been classified in the ISO EN 12994 standard. The classifications start at C1 (non-aggressive environment) and go up to C5 (most aggressive). Distinctions are made between indoor and outdoor environments (see Table 1).

Improve security, reduce costs

The most common way to prevent corrosion in steel applications is by applying a coating to the steel. Today, sophisticated metallic coatings are available which can slow the progression of corrosion dramatically (see Figure 1).

All metallic coatings protect the steel in two ways:

    By providing a barrier between the steel and the corrosive elements in the environment.
    By exploiting the sacrificial properties of one or more elements in the coating (for example, zinc).

The sacrificial properties of certain elements have been exploited for many years. Steel-hulled ships typically have zinc anodes attached to the hull. The zinc corrodes more easily than the steel, forming an electrochemical barrier against the corrosive water in a process known as cathodic protection.

Overview of metallic coated products

The corrosion resistance of a metallic coating is not only defined by the thickness of the coating. Its chemical composition is also critically important.

Today, the best known steel coatings are hot dipped galvanisation (HDG) and electrolytic galvanisation. Electrolytic galvanisation offers a homogeneous and very thin coating which is utilised in indoor applications such as appliances, electronics and furniture.

The most widely used metallic coating is standard hot dip galvanisation (HDG). This is a pure zinc coating which is used in applications such as roofing, domestic appliances, cabinets, and electrical machinery.

Galfan contains zinc and 5% aluminium. Compared to HDG, galfan exhibits improved corrosion resistance thanks to the addition of aluminium.

Magnelis®: best corrosion protection, even on cut edges

ArcelorMittal is continuously researching new metallic coatings. The latest is Magnelis®. A metallic zinc coating, Magnelis® includes 3.5% aluminium and 3% magnesium and offers the ultimate corrosion resistance in the most aggressive ambient conditions.

The magnesium in the coating’s composition plays the key role in ensuring a stable barrier against corrosion across the entire surface, particularly in chloride- and ammonia-rich environments. Its improved corrosion resistance also means the thickness of the coating can be reduced.

The application of Magnelis® ensures the preservation of natural resources as it uses less zinc than pure-zinc coatings. Zinc runoff into the environment is also reduced significantly.

Unlike other metallic coatings, Magnelis® also offers excellent protection for cut edges thanks to its self-healing effect. A film of zinc magnesium chloride hydroxide forms on exposed edges, providing a protective coating against corrosion. This makes Magnelis® a very cost-effective alternative to batch galvanisation.

The effectiveness of Magnelis® enables ArcelorMittal to offer significant guarantees on the performance of this coating. Magnelis® is the first coating to offer 20-year guarantees against corrosion in marine applications. In less aggressive environments, guarantees of up to 25 years are offered.

While Magnelis® provides the best corrosion protection of any metallic coating available today, ArcelorMittal continues to search for new solutions. Future developments will certainly see the cost of corrosion decrease and extend the life of steel applications even further.

Text: ArcelorMittal Flat Carbon Europe