Our electrolytic chromium coated steel (ECCS) for packaging is well-proven in a range of applications. Providing an excellent substrate for lacquering, this tin-free steel is available in a wide choice of grades, thickness and surface finish to suit your processes and applications.

To ensure compliance with upcoming European legislation, we are developing a new chromium III-based coating for our tin-free steel.

Packaging and related applications for our tin-free steel include:

• easy-open ends
• classic (standard) ends
• twist-off caps
• 2-piece DRD
• specialty packaging
• microwaveable cans
• bakeware

Wide choice to meet your needs

We offer a wide choice of tin-free steel – tailoring our products to meet your required strength, surface finish and forming requirements. Our food-safe ECCS packaging material is produced using Tata Steel’s blackplate.

Bespoke tempering and investment in both batch and continuous annealing ensure that we can match requirements for a variety of applications.

We supply tin-free packaging steel in a choice of:

• single reduced and double reduced steel grades – with material tempered to match your strength and ductility requirements
• thickness (gauge) – with scope for downgauging thanks to our direct rolling operations which produce thin-gauge material with increased strength
• surface finish – to meet your processing needs and product performance requirements
• width - up to 41.34” (1050mm) but with extra-wide 47.25” or 1200mm material under development for optimized operational flexibility and output
• oils – for protection in transit

Reliable quality for efficient canmaking and product performance

We have a proven track record in ECCS manufacture. Our fully-traceable tin-free products benefit from the dependable quality of our blackplate feedstock and ongoing investment at our dedicated packaging steel mills.

All of our processes – from initial pickling, through rolling, annealing, tempering and chromium coating – are carefully controlled and monitored. Process control is combined with rigorous inspection to deliver:

• reliable mechanical properties – including earing properties required for 2-piece drawn can production
• consistently good shape and dimensional tolerances – for efficient processing
• precise surface coating chemistry – for reliable lacquering
• homogenous coating coverage – for corrosion resistance (although ECCS is not suitable for highly acidic can contents)
• excellent surface finish – at a roughness to match your requirement and achieved through careful control of both direct and temper mill rolling

New tin-free steel development for REACH compliance

The new European REACH regulation for chemicals controls the use of Chromium 6 in the production process for packaging steel. We have developed a new, REACH compliant coating to replace traditional ECCS. In addition to delivering a fully-compliant coating, our investment in this new coating plant allows us to produce extra-wide (up to 47.25” (1200mm)) tin-free material.

Our new tin-free steel will be fully-proven in trials. It will be available in time to meet new REACH legislation. It will:

• provide required product performance – by matching the material properties currently offered by ECCS
• enable you to maintain canmaking operations - by avoiding the need for changes to your processes
• deliver scope for improved output – through availability in widths up to 47.25” (1200mm)

Responsive service to suit your production demands

Our flexible, multi-site operations and robust supply chain infrastructure mean we can offer lead times to suit your production demands.

Tata Steel ECCS can be supplied in:

• coil or sheets
• DOS or ATBC oil

Our approachable ECCS experts are happy to advise you on the best products to meet your needs. Please contact us to discuss your requirements.
 

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