Europe has received a new, unified standard for hollow bar, EN 10 294-1, to replace the host of older, national standards and will mean simpler hollow bar purchases, says a supplier.

Unified standard simplifies both purchasing and production Europe has received a new, unified standard for hollow bar, EN 10 294-1, to replace the host of older, national standards. Among other things this means simpler hollow bar purchases, since it will be easier to make comparisons and choose the right supplier now that all requirements are united under a single standard. The demands now imposed are in many ways identical to the ones Ovako has been meeting since the 1980s.

The new standard, EN 10 294-1, has stricter product specifications and a clear dimensionseries based on guaranteed finished sizes.

This clarity, and the fact that there is now only one standard to adhere to, makes life easier both for the company using the hollow bar in their production and the supplier of the material.

Formerly, both the manufacturer and the buyer were forced to keep track of several different national standards, even though they were all based on the ISO 2938 standard, a specification from the 1970s that is no longer applicable for the modern steel grades used in hollow bar.

In spite of the stricter product specifications, Ovako 280 retains its leading position in the market for hollow bar.

'The Ovako 280 hollow bar already fulfils the new requirements without the need for any major changes in production,' says Bjorn Olsson, responsible for hollow bar markets at Ovako.

'In many ways our own requirements for bar even go beyond those made in EN 10 294-1.' Among other things, the purity and mechanical properties of the steel are outstandingly better than is required by the new standard.

'Since the launch of Ovako 280 in the mid 70s, we have worked constantly to improve the steel and the properties of the bar to meet the markets' demands for high quality hollow bar,' says Olsson.

'We also have one of the market's broadest dimension programmes with over 200 different dimensions in our programme.' * High purity and great machinability - the qualities of Ovako 280 exceed the requirements now demanded in EN 10 294-1 in several respects.

For example, Ovako 280 has a yield strength of 500MPa, while the new standard requires 470.

Furthermore, the steel for Ovako 280 is produced using the same process as for bearing steel, giving a higher degree of cleanliness and the best possible properties for machining, welding and chromium plating.