When the drinks can takes shape Liberate the drinks can from its cylindrical shackles so that it stands out and sells more. This is what the beverage giants have been asking for for a number of years. A technological steel solution exists today, at a reasonable price. Its development will be assured by the 3 main producers of DWI (Drawn Walled Iron) in Europe, Corus Packaging Plus, Rasselstein Hoesch and Usinor Packaging. The patent has just been registered by the French steel producer Usinor Packaging. Industrial manufacturing systems are currently being set up. Background in brief on a great step forward... Identical productivity The challenge was to design an economically practical system for the shaping of drinks cans. Research therefore started from the following principle: the shaping of cans must fit into the existing production lines whilst maintaining identical productivity. This means using the cylindrical basis to create the form. Technically, it is a challenge: once it is drawn and ironed, the 2-piece drinks can loses some of the mechanical characteristics necessary for shaping. Researchers have therefore set themselves the objective of recovering these properties. Full Body Necking Steel possesses another quality : its compression generates a capacity for extension. Until now, this property has been used intuitively by can manufacturers: in the shaping of the neck of the can, the necking or matrix reduction technique is employed. This shrinkage has no effect on the mechanical properties of steel. A derivation in the line is all that is needed to create a shaped can Researchers have verified that these qualities also remain intact when the entire can is reduced by matrix. Hence the name given to the new technique: Full Body Necking. Start off with the standard The technological solution which emerged consists of using a standard can, reducing its diameter and subsequently re-expanding it. The great advantage is that it is a cold process. An interior shape is slipped inside the can, while a matrix is adapted for the exterior. The shape of the can is thus predetermined by these two elements. The great success in comparison to crimping the neck of the drinks can was the ability to lower this matrix as much as possible in order to shape the entire can. This development was achieved in conjunction with the American machine producer Belvac who set up the machine capable of preshaping. Yes, but...how? How will the can manufacturers adapt this new technology to their production? For the insertion of this technology into the production process the line remains strictly identical (see diagram). The shaped cans are incorporated into production by means of a derivation. A new machine carries out the preshaping, that is, the reduction of the steel before the can is expanded into the desired form. Expansion is carried out using existing machines and techniques. It is thus possible to make shaped cans with no loss in productivity. A steel-clad advantage Another advantage of the process is that the shaped can is made with no increase in the quantity of the steel. The resistant qualities of steel alone make this possible. This is a significant advantage if you consider that steel accounts for 50% of the can's cost. The same type of can made with aluminium would require an increase in the amount of raw material. As aluminium accounts for 60% of the cost of the can, the gap widens and one can confirm with all certainty that as a result of the Full Body Necking process, the cost of a steel shaped can is no higher than that of a conventional aluminium drinks can (see diagram). Here is a marketing advantage which goes far beyond the processing cost! Winning steel A technological and marketing advantage - shaped cans produced inexpensively are a new winning string in steel's bow. They are facilitating the positioning of steel as a material that meets the challenges of a market increasingly interested in product differentiation. The first production line has just been delivered. From this year onwards you will be holding your new shaped can in your hands...