“The revision reflects the current state of the art in the production of packaging steel,” says Carmen Tschage, company spokeswoman for thyssenkrupp Rasselstein GmbH, Andernach, Germany’s only tinplate manufacturer. “We therefore welcome the made changes and believe our customers will benefit from the new standards.”

The new standard in tinplate production

The REACH-compliant Chromium(VI)-free products CFPA (Chromium-free passivation for tin-plate) and TCCT^® (special chromium-coated packaging steel, ECCS-RC) have been included in the European standard. Furthermore, additional steel grades have been integrated into the standard. They reflect the trend towards ever harder grades.

Unlike the previous version, the new standard now describes exactly how a tensile test must be performed. “This will improve the comparability of steel grades from different manufacturers. But this can also mean that individual temper designations will change,” Tschage says. “Our customers can rely on the support of our Technical Customer Service team when implementing the revised standard. Over the next few weeks, our experts will approach each customer and discuss the implementation together at their leisure.”

Stating the application purpose now required for orders

Another change concerns the ordering process. According to European standard, in the future every customer will be obliged to provide detailed information on the intended use of the ordered steel grade. “This means that our company can define the optimum production process for every application," says Tschage, explaining the advantage of the new requirement.

The release of European standard 10202:2022 has now almost been completed in all European countries.