Arcelor Automotive and Material Sciences Corporation Announce Strategic Alliance to Market Quiet Steel(R) Noise and Vibration Solutions to European Automakers

ELK GROVE VILLAGE, Ill., July 19 -- Material Sciences Corporation and Arcelor (Paris: CELR) have signed a Strategic Alliance covering the manufacturing, marketing and sales of Quiet Steel(R) products in the European market.

"The target of this Strategic Alliance is to promote Quiet Steel(R) solutions to European carmakers. Comfort and sound quality is becoming more important in the development of new vehicles. This new alliance is dedicated to providing superior Noise, Vibration and Harshness (NVH) performance of body-in-white components and powertrain applications. Quiet Steel is designed to control noise at the source which eliminates the need to use secondary sound treatments that add significant cost and mass to a vehicle," said Clifford D. Nastas, MSC Vice President and General Manager.

Quiet Steel(R) is a suite of engineered multilayer composites with various viscoelastic cores among layers of metal. These 100% recyclable laminated steel materials offer significant cost reduction opportunities and enhanced Noise, Vibration, and Harshness performance characteristics.

"MSC will be in charge of product and application engineering and Arcelor will manage Quiet Steel(R) production on our LTS Montataire line. In addition, Arcelor will provide MSC with extensive access to European automakers through our existing network of automotive customer teams. It is truly a winning combination to accelerate market acceptance of this value added application of steel in the automotive industry," said Christophe Cornier, Arcelor Automotive Chief Executive Officer.

About Arcelor

Arcelor is the world's largest steel producer, with a turnover of 25.9 billion euros and shipments of 40.2 million metric tons of steel in 2003. Employing 98,000 employees in over 60 countries, the company is a major player in all its main markets: automotive, construction, household appliances and packaging as well as general industry.

About Material Sciences

Material Sciences Corporation is a leading provider of material-based solutions for electronic, acoustical/thermal and coated metal applications. MSC uses its expertise in materials, which it leverages through relationships and a network of partners, to solve customer-specific problems, overcoming technical barriers and enhancing performance. MSC differentiates itself on the basis of its strong customer orientation, knowledge of materials combined with a deep understanding of its markets, and the offer of specific value propositions that define how it will create and share economic value with its customers. The company's stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MSC and is included in the Standard & Poor's Small Cap 600 Index and the Russell 2000 Index.

Information about Material Sciences through the Internet is available at http://www.matsci.com/ and http://www.financialrelationsboard.com/ .