Steel Times International September 2015

September 2015 Vol.39 No.6 – www.steeltimesint.com

ROLLING STEEL SUCCESS STRATEGIES STAINLESS AND SPECIAL STEELS

STEEL TIMES INTERNATIONAL – September 2015 – Vol.39 No.6

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: GARETH STACE OF UK STEEL

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CONTENTS SEPTEMBER 2015

Picture courtesy of Stopinc AG.

September 2015 Vol.39 No.6 – www.steeltimesint.com

ROLLING STEEL SUCCESS STRATEGIES STAINLESS AND SPECIAL STEELS

The cover shows an INTERSTOP stopper rod mechanism and LS gate.

STEEL TIMES INTERNATIONAL – September 2015 – Vol.39 No.6

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: GARETH STACE OF UK STEEL

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EDITORIAL

RHI, Stopinc’s parent company, is a worldwide technology leader in the flow control sector and, together with its Interstop brand, has 50 years of experience. In addition to ceramic components, mechanical parts and engineering, RHI offers extensive services and customised systems designed with the objective of providing customers with process-oriented system solutions.

Editor Matthew Moggridge A combination of refractory soluTel: +44 (0) 1737 855151 tions, system technologies, process matthewmoggridge@quartzltd.com know-how and consumer service enables RHI to meet a wide range Consultant Editor of customer requirements, thus proDr. Tim Smith PhD, CEng, MIM viding continuous improvement in casting operations.

Production Editor Annie Baker

SALES International Sales Manager Paul Rossage paulrossage@quartzltd.com Tel: +44 (0) 1737 855116

2 Leader 4 News The latest steel industry news from around the world 11 USA update Overcapacity and rising imports 14 Latin America update OECD data shows capacity slowdown

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11 16 Japan update Japanese mills keep profits high Exclusive interview: 18 ‘I’d like to be optimistic’, says UK Steel’s Gareth Stace

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Area Sales Manager Anne Considine anneconsidine@quartzltd.com Tel: +44 (0) 1737 855139

Rolling 23 Process and technologies to anneal current and future AHSS strips

Sales Director Ken Clark kenclark@quartzltd.com Tel: +44 (0) 1737 855117

Advertisement Production Martin Lawrence

29 Roughing and rolling in South Wales

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33 Tracking of hot-rolled coils SUBSCRIPTION Elizabeth Barford Tel +44 (0) 1737 855028 Fax +44 (0) 1737 855034 Email subscriptions@quartzltd.com

Conference report 38 30th Steel Success Strategies – Signs of optimism

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Steel Times International is published eight times a year and is available on subscription. Annual subscription: UK £168.00 Other countries: £240.00 2 years subscription: UK £302.00 Other countries: £432.00 ) Single copy (inc postage): £38.00 Email: steel@quartzltd.com

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Special steels 42 Innovation for HSS production

Published by: Quartz Business Media Ltd, Quartz House, 20 Clarendon Road,

Stainless steel 46 Stainless steel growth in India

Redhill, Surrey, RH1 1QX, England.

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51 Extending PCI lance tube performance

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38 Perspectives 54 Beam me up, Scotty

Gwent NP12 2YA, UK ©Quartz Business Media Ltd 2015

History 56 Iron pigments through the ages

ISSN1475-455X

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Contents sept.indd 1

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54 September 2015

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LEADER

Gearing up to face the challenges that lie ahead

Matthew Moggridge Editor matthewmoggridge@quartzltd.com

Gareth Stace, the recently appointed director of UK Steel, is a keen cyclist and so am I, although my definition of ‘keen’ is two rides a week on a heavy mountain bike through the rural country lanes of Northern Kent. Gareth rides to work from the southern reaches of Surrey into Central London – roughly 25 miles each way and early enough to avoid dangerous encounters with crosstown traffic.

There’s nothing negative to say about cycling: it keeps you fit and I believe there’s a spiritual dimension too. When I’m on the saddle, out in the sticks with fields to the left and right of me and a clear road ahead, I find I have time to think about ‘stuff’. When my father died in 2011 I dealt with the grief alone, while riding the bike, allowing any tears to fall by the wayside and be absorbed by the tarmac.

Cycling into and out of London on an almost daily basis, Gareth has time to think – and let’s face it, as the new director of UK Steel he has plenty to think about, as I discovered when we met for an exclusive interview a few weeks ago.

Gareth arrived in the job at what he describes as a very challenging period for the steel industry in the UK, Europe and

globally; and I find myself wondering whether, while riding into town or heading south on his homeward journey, Gareth is coming to terms with what he describes as ‘the perfect storm approaching’.

There is plenty to be concerned about: a significant increase in steel imports from China; business rates that are 10 times higher in the UK than in France or Germany; punishing environmental costs; a strong pound; a new Conservative government; and that elusive level playing field that doesn’t appear to be getting any closer, even if you’re riding a bicycle.

Gareth is fully prepared to meet head-on the challenges gathering like storm clouds overhead, but even the most effective waterproofs might struggle to keep him dry if, as predicted, they all hit the ground simultaneously.

There is a huge ‘but’ that should follow on from the headline on page 18 of this issue. “I’d like to be optimistic,” Gareth told me at the start of our interview, but he implied that it wouldn’t be an easy ride.

That said, most cyclists would agree that the best way to approach a steep hill is to select the right gear and keep pedalling – eventually you will reach the summit.

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4 NEWS IN BRIEF Tata in iron ore sale talks A report by Bloomberg suggests that Tata Steel is in talks to sell its stake in an iron ore project in the West African country of Ivory Coast.

According to the Bloomberg report, Tata Steel wants to sell its 75% stake in a joint venture project with the state-owned Societe pour le Developpment Minier de la Cote d’Ivoire (Sodemi).

Sodemi has a 25% stake in the project. Tata has invested over US$50 million in the Ivory Coast, claims the Bloomberg report.

Source: Bloomberg

Hebei steel industry profits down China’s largest steelmaking province, Hebei, turned a profit of 12.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year drop of 37% between January and June 2015.

During the period, Hebei’s crude steel output declined 0.31% yearon-year and iron ore output in the province dropped 13.31% but steel products output grew 4.72% and pig iron rose 1.04%.

Exported steel products from Hebei reached 17.5Mt, up nearly 62%, and the export value was up 24%.

Source: China Metals

US steel mill June shipments up US Steel Mills shipped 7.7Mt (net tons) of steel during the month of June, claims the American Iron and Steel Institute, an increase of 8.1% from May, but a decrease of 6.4% when compared with June last year.

According to the Institute, yearto-date shipments for 2015 totalled 43.9Mt (net tons) and were down 9.8% when compared to H1 2014 figures of 48.7Mt (net tons).

Comparing June and May 2015, hot-dipped galvanised sheets and strip shipments were up 14%; hot rolled sheet was up 12% and coldrolled sheet up 9%.

Iran rivals France on output IMIDRO, Iran’s mines and mining industries development and renovation organisation, claims that Iran produced 1.4Mt of crude steel in June 2015, up 1.5% compared with June 2014 and equalling the production of France.

H1 2015 crude steel production in Iran stood at 8.37Mt, an increase of 4.5% over the same period last year.

For more steel industry news and features, visit www.steeltimesint.com

September 2015

Industry news sept.indd 1

INDUSTRY NEWS

Baosteel’s green initiative Baosteel has been emphasising the energy-saving and environmental qualities of its new 8.93Mt/ yr Zhanjiang steelworks, which is weeks away from start-up, according to a report by CRU News.

Sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides will be removed from coke oven gas using a pioneering, domestically-developed system. Heavy metals, dioxin, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides will be removed during the sintering process.

The mill will collect, use and recycle rainwater and employ all the energy-saving technologies at its disposal, including use of solar

power and recycled gas from blast furnaces, coke ovens and converters.

Baosteel is investing RMB6.22bn (US$1bn) on energy-saving and environmental protection technology, which accounts for around an eighth of total capex on the plant. A further RMB 300 million (US$48.3 million) has been earmarked to comply with Guangdong’s air pollution control action plan for 2014 and 2017.

Where by-products are concerned, sludge from water treatment can be used to make bricks or employed in the sintering pro-

cess. Production slag can be used to produce cement and other building materials.

The Zhanjiang works is designed to have annual capacities of 8.23Mt/yr pig iron, 8.93Mt/yr crude steel and 6.89Mt/yr finished steel. The first lines are scheduled to go into operation from September and flat-rolled products are likely to be a major product line.

The Zhanjiang plant will replace 4.5Mt/yr of outdated steel capacity in Guangdong. Baosteel plans to shut down 6Mt/yr of uncompetitive capacity in the Baoshan district of Shanghai.

EPA rules threaten steelmakers The US-based Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has introduced new regulations that require the USA’s electricity generating utilities to reduce CO2 emissions by 32% over the next 15 years.

The American Iron and Steel Association (AISI) believes that the new regulations will raise electricity costs for domestic steel companies and threaten the industry’s ability to remain internationally competitive.

According to the AISI, the new regulations ‘mandate that new coal-burning power plants use un-

viable carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions’.

Thomas J Gibson, president and CEO of AISI, said that leading steel-producing states in the USA are heavily dependent on coal for electricity production. “This rule will have a disproportionate impact on coal-fired utilities and, in turn, impede economic growth for steelmakers,” he said.

Gibson said the steel industry competes with steel producers in countries where energy costs are often subsidised and that limita-

tions on CO2 emissions instituted in the USA must also apply at the same level of stringency to other major steel producing nations, such as China. “Otherwise, steel production and manufacturing jobs will shift to other nations with higher rates of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions,” he said.

AISI and 16 other pro-manufacturing groups submitted joint comments to the EPA in December last year stating that these regulations could severely harm the international competitiveness of critical US industries.

Basson wants stronger partnerships There is a need for stronger partnerships between governments and the steel industry if the role of the latter within the context of progressive industrial policy is to be understood, claims the World Steel Association (worldsteel) in a recently published position paper on environmental change that highlights the contribution of the steel industry to a low carbon society.

Edwin Basson, director-general of the World Steel Association (worldsteel) has acknowledged that the steel industry is both CO2 and energy intensive by nature, but its central role in enabling other industrial sectors to mitigate CO2 emissions is crucial and this also must be recognised.

According to Mr Basson, “In order to achieve a low carbon socie-

ty it is extremely important to have cohesive and consistent environment policies around the world.

First, steel is a highly competitive industry and about 35% of steel is traded internationally, thus a global level playing field is a necessary condition,” he said.

Basson argued that fair compe-

Edwin Basson

tition should not be compromised due to inequity in carbon policy and added that governments should take into account the full life cycle of products when creating new regulations. “This will help to create reliable and predictable frameworks for cost effective energy and environmental policies,” he said, and suggested that governments should promote a circular economy approach, which would lead to: low waste, reduction in the amount of materials used and encouragement of reuse and recycling of all materials.

Basson said that progress in breakthrough technology development in steelmaking must be maintained or accelerated and this would require the financial burden to be shared by both government and the private sector. www.steeltimesint.com

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INDUSTRY NEWS

EU demand met by imports Rising EU steel demand will be met by imports and European producers will not benefit, claims Eurofer.

While steel demand within the EU is forecast to rise 1.5% off the back of sustained economic momentum, imported metal will be up 5%.

During Q1 2015, GDP growth sustained the momentum seen in H2 2014 and there are strong signs of modest demand growth driven by private consumption.

Low oil prices, weak inflation, low interest rates and improving wage growth in several EU countries are paving the way for moderate increases in consumer spending, says Eurofer.

However, uncertainties surrounding the Greek debt crisis, structural constraints in the Euro

area, slowing global growth and geopolitical risks are having a negative effect on confidence, claims Eurofer.

In European steel consuming sectors only the automotive sector is experiencing ‘confident growth’ according to Eurofer. “Our downstream clients are generally seeing muted business conditions,” said EUROFER’s director-general Axel Eggert. “They see little impact from apparently brighter macroeconomic conditions,” he added, claiming that headwinds and uncertainties persist.

The corporate sector remains cautious about larger-scale fixed asset investment, according to Eggert.

Total activity in EU steel consuming sectors is expected to rise 2% this year and 2.7% in 2016. EU

apparent steel consumption was marginally up on 2014, although third country suppliers – and not domestic producers – have gained from additional volumes and this trend has continued into Q2, Eurofer says.

In 2016, apparent EU steel consumption growth will be slightly higher at 1.9% According to Eggert, EU steel imports are rising, fuelling price competition and eroding margins.

China is at the root of such destabilisation. Exports from China have risen 49% year-on-year over the first five months (January to May) of 2015.

“As long as Chinese mills continue to offload their products rather than cut production, we foresee the continuation of difficult market conditions,” Eggert said.

Chinese crude steel down

Jindal Steel and Power of India commissioned SMS group to supply an eightstrand billet caster for the Indian steelmaker’s Angul Odisha plant. According to SMS, the caster is the largest high speed billet caster in India, capable of attaining speeds of 3.6 metres/minute for sections of 165 x 165 millimetres. It has an annual capacity of 2.3Mt.

Chinese crude steel production for July was 65.84Mt, down 4.6% year-on-year, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

Between January and July, China’s crude steel output totalled 476Mt, down 2.8% when compared with the same period in 2014.

Pig iron production in July totalled 57.3Mt, down 4.8% on the year. The figure for January to July was 414Mt, down 2.8%.

Steel output declined 1.9% to 92.3Mt, but during the first seven months of the year rose 1.5% to 651Mt.

Severstal metal production down The Russian steelmaker’s Q2 2015 results reveal that the company’s hot metal production decreased 1% to 2.29Mt and that crude steel production was down 4% to 2.85Mt. The figures reflect the impact of scheduled maintenance on the company’s BOF number three and continuous casters two and four and suggests lower consumption of scrap metal in steelmaking.

Consolidated sales of steel products increased 4% due to a seasonal increase in demand. www.steeltimesint.com

Industry news sept.indd 2

5

NEWS IN BRIEF

The share of high value-added products increased by one percentage point to 47% due to a 13% quarter-on-quarter increase in downstream product sales and a reduction in long products sales quarter-on-quarter. These have partially offset a 10% quarter-on-quarter increase in sales of hot-rolled coil.

Coking coal concentrate sales have increased by 15% despite a Q2 decrease in ROM-coal output volumes at Vorkutaugol ‘on the back of scheduled long-walls

repositioning activity in June. “The former is largely a low-base effect with washing plant operations being negatively impacted by severe weather conditions in Q1,” claims the company.

The appreciation of the ruble has meant that Severstal’s USD-nominated selling prices for steel have improved quarter-on-quarter. Domestic prices have reached ‘an unusual premium’ versus export prices and Severstal expects a gradual normalisation of this premium later in the year.

MMK increases automotive shipments OJSC Magnitogorsk (MMK) has announced that in H1 2015 it increased metal shipments to the automotive industry by 20% year-onyear to 215kt and has strengthened its position despite a significant decline in Russia’s car manufacturing sector.

Shipments of MMK products increased within the process of acceptance (approval) of the company’s automotive sheet by leading global automotive corporations with assembly plants in Russia.

Major Chinese steelmakers in the red Higher iron ore prices and declining steel prices have led to large and mid-sized Chinese steelmakers incurring big losses of CNY 21.68 billion (US$3.4 billion) during H1 2015, according to the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA).

Losses during H1 2014, claims CISA, were CNY16.78 billion (US$2.7billion). An estimated 36% of CISA members were in the red in H1 2015 and China’s crude steel production was down 1.3% year-onyear at 410Mt during H1 2015 – it’s first decline in 20 years, according to CISA.

Midrex signs agreement with SES US-based Midrex Technologies Inc and Synthesis Energy Systems (SES), have signed a Project Alliance Agreement that expands the company’s ‘exclusive relationship for integration and optimisation of direct reduction ironmaking (DRI) using coal gasification’.

The agreement means that Midrex will take the lead in terms of marketing, sales, proposal development and project execution for coal gasification DRI projects and may also lead the construction of fully integrated solutions for customers, with SES providing gasification services.

Chinese exports dominate conference Chinese exports dominated the 26th Brazilian Steel Conference. Martin Berardi, president of Alacero, said the growth of China in the Latin American market was impressive.

With the world experiencing steel overcapacity in the region of 720Mt (417Mt in China) he said that Chinese subsidised steel was threatening thousands of Latin American jobs.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Formosa Group buys Danieli equipment Formosa Group, a large Taiwanese conglomerate, has ordered a new Danieli Centro Maskin grinding plant for its Fujian Fuxin stainless steel plant in Zhangzhou, Fujian Province, China.

The machine will be used to condition 300 and 400 series stainless steel slabs at temperatures of up to 800 deg C and consists of two 315kW main grinders and a 160kW slab edge grinder.

The Danieli Centro Maskin HiGrind system is employed to control consistency of the material removal depth and to control all processing and safety functions under tough operational conditions.

An E-Cube step-less, variable grinding angle system will also be installed, claims Danieli, with a view to ensuring full flexibility in optimising the grinding conditioning process. It will also guarantee ‘the best possible slab surface roughness’, which is a critical aspect of stainless steel conditioning, according to the Italian processing technology specialist.

Eurofer slams ETS revision The official publication of the European Commission’s proposed revisions of the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) has been severely criticised by Eurofer (the European Steel Association).

Axel Eggert, Eurofer’s director-general, has stated that the revisions ‘fail to take into account the European Council guidelines on the importance of preventing carbon and investment leakage’ and represent a ‘missed opportunity to fix the fundamental flaws of the EU ETS’.

He said that the proposal was at odds with the goals of the European Commission’s Agenda on Jobs, Growth and Investment as it failed to secure a global level playing

Eurofer’s Axel Eggert field. According to Eurofer, even the most efficient European steel plants will experience excessive additional costs not borne by their global competitors.

“This uneven distribution of costs is due to the continuation of

MPI expansion underway in UK

Beijing mills cut production Beijing steel mills plan to cut production by 30% for the sake of air quality during a parade (on 3 September) to commemorate the end of the Second World War. Proof, if any was needed, that China is not a market economy, can be found in the fact that steel mills in Handan, Anshan, Tangshan, Anyang, Taiyuan and Changzhi have all been ordered to cut production.

From late September until early October, steel mills within 100km of Beijing will have to suspend production. Those between 100 and 200km from the capital will slash production by 50% and mills over 200km from the city will be required to slash production by 30%.

Shougang Jingtang, a steelmaker in Northern China, intends to overhaul a 5,500 cubic metre high furnace for one week commencing 28 August, according to custeel. com Source: China Metals.

September 2015

Industry news sept.indd 3

the cross-sectoral correction factor, as well as the artificial reduction of the performance benchmarks,” said Eurofer.

The European Steel Association added that it doesn’t provide the necessary legal certainty that indirect carbon costs passed through in electricity prices will be offset in all member states. Currently there are 22 member states that do not offset any of these unilateral EU costs.

Eurofer wants the proposed revisions to be adjusted in order to fully offset direct and indirect carbon costs at the level of the most efficient steel plants in Europe, which are exposed to fierce global competition and at high risk of carbon leakage.

Russian steelmaker Severstal has invested 150 million roubles (£1.4 million) on the development of a Metallurgy Museum in Cherepovets, Russia. It was officially opened by Severstal’s chairman Alexey Mordashov (above, centre) who used a pair of pliers to cut a steel ribbon at the official opening ceremony on 27 August.

Steel JV takes on Danieli Tosyali Toyo Çelik A.S, a Turkish and Japanese joint venture between Tosyali Holding and Toyo Kohan, placed a contract with the leading Italian production technology company Danieli for a new hot dip galvanising line dedicated

to the production of high strength steel at its Osmaniye facility.

The new line is designed to produce up to 0.45Mt/yr of finished coils and will serve the high quality paint application and automotive sector, according to Danieli.

New daily production record Largo Resources, a Canadian mineral company currently focused on ramping up production of vanadium at its Maracás Menchen mine, has achieved a new daily production record.

The company achieved a new production record of 26 tonnes

in a single day, which represents 100% of the plant’s design capacity. The record production took place on Monday 13 July in what appears to be a record-breaking month with the mine achieving 90% and then 95% of design capacity within the space of days.

Having landed a £3 million grant, the Materials Processing Institute in Teesside, UK, has announced that half of it will be spent on rebuilding its UK research facility in Teeside. The rest will be spent on new equipment.

The work will be completed in November this year and the building will be occupied by SMEs who will work hand-in-hand with the MPI. The long-term plan is to help fledgling firms grow before they move out and make room for new SMEs. According to Chris McDonald, CEO of the MPI, the Institute’s Teesside premises are nearly 40 years old and in need of an upgrade. Part of the building was originally constructed in 1976 and when redeveloped will house up to 15 SMEs on the first floor with business services and commercial departments on ground floor level.

McDonald claims that the MPI has a long track record of being at the forefront of technological development. He said that most of the companies taking up a tenancy at the newly refurbished premises will be technology-based and, therefore, will benefit from the work of the MPI. For more steel industry news and features, visit www.steeltimesint.com

www.steeltimesint.com

8/27/15 11:29 AM

8 DIARY OF EVENTS September 8-10 CIMIE 2015 – the 11th Metallurgy Expo, China New China International Exhibition Centre, Beijing CIMIE 2015 is widely recognised as one of the largest global metallurgy exhibitions.

For further information, log on to www.bcime.com 29-01 (October) 14th International Stainless Steel and Special Steel Vienna, Austria.

This event offers delegates insights from top-level executives from the industry’s most influential companies.

For further information, log on to www.metalbulletin.com

October 20-22 ASM Heat Treating Society Conference and Exhibition Cobo Centre, Detroit, Michigan This popular event targets leading players in the heat treating marketplace.

For further information, log on to www.asminternational.org/ 25-27 North American Steel Conference The Westin, Chicago, USA. Organised by CRU. A major conference examining issues affecting the North American steel industry.

For further information, log on to www.crugroup.com

November 01-02 2015 ASEAN Iron and Steel Sustainability Forum Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Organised by South East Asia Iron and Steel Institute.

This event covers waste management, safety management and emissions control.

For further information, log on to www.seaisi.org 03-05 MPPE 2015 Leoben, Austria. Organised by the Austrian Society for Metallurgy and Materials (ASMET).

This wide-ranging event covers many topics including materials synthesis and processing. For further information, log on to www. mppe.org For more steel industry news and features, visit www.steeltimesint.com

September 2015

Industry news sept.indd 4

INDUSTRY NEWS

Crude steel down 3.8% World crude steel production for July 2015 was down 3.8% when compared to July 2014, claims the World Steel Association.

Production from the 65 countries reporting to the World Steel Association (worldsteel) amounted to 133Mt. According to worldsteel, China’s crude steel production for July was 65.8Mt, down 4.6% when compared to the same period last year.

Japan produced 8.8Mt, down

4.9% and India’s production was up 1.2% at 7.7Mt. In the European Union, Germany’s production was up 4.7% at 3.6Mt and Turkey produced 2.5Mt, down 10% on 2014’s figure.

Russia’s crude steel production was down 2.8% at 6Mt while the Ukraine produced 1.9Mt, a decrease of just over 24% due to general political instability.

In the USA crude steel produc-

tion was down just over 9% at 7Mt while Iran, in the Middle East, produced 1.3Mt, down 1.3% on July 2014.

In Latin America, Brazil produced 2.9Mt, down 3.1%.

The crude steel capacity utilisation ratio for the 65 countries in July 2015 was 68.4%, which is 4.2 percentage points lower than in July last year. Compared with June 2015 the figure was 3.8 percentage points lower.

For a full country-by-country listing visit: www.worldsteel.org/statistics/crude-steel-production.html

Chinese prices will fluctuate While steel demand in China is expected to improve towards the end of the year, the current position is that steel prices are falling because of a weaker macro economy and a ‘deeper supply glut’, according to China Metals, a Xinhua News Agency publication.

Mass infrastructure construction projects are set to kick off later this year and projects surrounding urbanisation, environmental protection and so-called ‘belt and road’ initiatives are making steady progress. With these factors in mind, steel demand is expected to improve as the year continues.

That said, increased trade frictions will make steel exports from China more difficult and lead to a greater supply glut. Crude steel production is likely to shrink further during August and September after a 7.58% decline in July’s

daily production.

The Complex Steel Price Index (CSPI) compiled by MySteel, is expected to drop to 62.73 by the end of July, down 5.94% monthon-month, a decline 0.78 percentage points more than at the end of June and 31.96% lower on a year-on-year basis.

Price declines in all eight steel products monitored by the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) are expected for end-July figures including big losses for hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled thin sheet and galvanised sheet.

Steel demand has been curbed by a deflated macro economy – fixed asset and real estate investment are down – and China’s iron and steel output has continued to decline when examined on a yearon-year basis.

Pig iron output was down 4.8%,

crude steel down 4.6% and finished steel down 1.9% according to the National Bureau of Statistics. China’s daily crude steel output was down 7.6% at 2.1Mt. China exported 9.73Mt of steel in July and imported 1.05Mt. Apparent consumption of crude steel was down 6.7% from June (to 56.83Mt) but was 3.1 percentage points higher than crude steel output.

Imported iron ore prices were up 7.6% in July when compared with June figures, but other raw materials prices slipped. Homegrown iron ores were down 8.83%, coke prices were down 4.7% and scrap steel dropped 9%.

A significant rebound in steel prices later in the year is unlikely, it is claimed, and a limited range of fluctuations should be expected.

Source: China Metals

NLMK introduces VIZ steel Russian steelmaker NLMK has announced the global launch of VIZSteel.

The product is described as a ‘premium transformer steel’ and is claimed to offer superior magnetic properties in addition to ensuring a 5% to 15% reduction of specific energy losses when compared to standard grades produced by other global manufacturers.

NLMK Group claims to produce 99% of transformer steel produced in Russia and 11% of world output.

According to NLMK, VIZ-Steel’s high quality characteristics are

achieved by ‘optimising the steel’s domain configuration through the application of barriers at advanced laser complexes’.

NLMK claims that Russian consumers of transformers manufactured using one tonne of its new NV27S-100L steel grade will make annual savings of US$60/tonne from the reduction of magnetic losses, annual savings of $70/

tonne for India and up to $500/ tonne for Germany.

Valery Shevelev, NLMK’s group director for electrical steel, said that the challenge of reducing energy generation and transmission costs is relevant for consumers the world over, adding that energy machine builders are putting forward stricter requirements for the magnetic properties of transformer steel.

“The new grade will increase the competitiveness of our partners’ products and energy efficiency across the entire sector,” Shevelev said. www.steeltimesint.com

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USA UPDATE

Overcapacity and rising imports

11

Traditionally, steel has accounted for 60% of a vehicle’s content

As cheap, imported steel floods mercilessly into the USA from Asia and elsewhere, the US steel industry seems to be buckling under the strain. As plants are idled and jobs are lost, there are other problems too – namely aluminium’s march on the hallowed ground of automobile manufacturing.

Manik Mehta* reports THERE may be an element of truth in the metaphor one gets to hear in US steel industry circles that when China’s steel industry sneezes, America catches cold.

China’s sneezing is suggestive of the sharp decline in demand in that country creating a huge steel overcapacity, waiting to be shipped out to whoever is willing to buy at ‘throwaway prices’, as one steel analyst in a private conversation with this correspondent said.

These throwaway prices are actually creating problems for many US steelmakers who are unable to compete in the domestic market against what they criticise as steel dumping. The latest figures publicised by US Steel, for example, will give added ammunition to those who identify cheap imports as the cause of the US steel industry’s misery.

US Steel has not benefited from steadily declining raw-material costs, which would have enabled the company to cut down its steel prices.

According to data available, US Steel suffered a 34% drop in earnings and a $261 million loss during the last three months of the year, ending June 2015; this is a significant loss compared to an $18 million loss in the 2014 corresponding quarter.

Although the US has staged a strong economic recovery, which should have bolstered steel demand, the industry faces a tight market situation: the energy sector has drastically scaled down its demand for steel pipes and tubular pipes and a strong dollar has been attracting imports which appear cheaper for domestic buyers.

Trade groups such as the American

Iron and Steel Institute, the American Wire Producers’ Association, Coalition to Enforce Anti-dumping and Countervailing Duty Orders, Steel Manufacturers Association and the National Association of Manufacturers, made a collective representation on 6 August to members of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means and the Committee on Finance, urging them to quickly put in place the ENFORCE Act which aims to address the practices of foreign competitors seeking to evade the US anti-dumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD) orders, often using a transshipment route through a third country and/or wrongly classifying the true origin of imports entering the US. The representation also pointed out that Customs and Border Protection (CBP), as the sole US government agency charged with collecting all import tariffs, including AD/CVD, and ensuring compliance with all US import requirements, had failed to address this ‘harmful practice’ in a timely, transparent or effective manner.

However, critics say that stiff duties will only strengthen protectionist tendencies that could hurt America’s trade if trading partners resorted to retaliatory measures.

Indeed, Turkey, facing criticism from some US steelmakers, has already hinted that it is taking up the US action with the World Trade Organisation. Turkish steel companies, which see the US as a major market, are also acquiring assets in the United States; one of Turkey’s largest steel manufacturers invested some $150 million in the building of a steel plant in Baytown, outside of Houston, in 2013.

“Despite the Turkish steel industry’s

contributions and the fact that it is no real menace to the US economy, the industry is constantly under threat of international sanctions as the US steel industry prepares to launch yet another salvo of trade cases against Turkish steel companies,” Namik Ekinci, chairman of the Turkish Steel Manufacturers’ Association, wrote in a piece published in The Hill publication.

The Turks reject the view that imported steel is 100% to blame for the US industry’s problems.

The quantity of imported steel, according to Bloomberg, has increased from 28% to 33% since last year following an economic slowdown in major steelsupplying countries.

China’s demand, as already explained, has drastically declined while weaker currencies in Russia, Ukraine and Brazil have allowed steel producers in those countries to compete against US steel producers burdened by a stronger dollar.

Even in Europe, where demand has turned a corner and is picking up this year, the weak Euro has allowed steel producers there to compete in the US and take some market share.

Steel imports jumped 6% in July over June, according to the US Commerce Department's most recent Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis data. High levels of cheap imports have been blamed for job losses of thousands of steelworkers nationwide and the idling of facilities like East Chicago Tin. Although total steel imports are down 0.2% during the first seven months of the year as compared to 2014, finished imports rose 9% so far this year.

** USA correspondent www.steeltimesint.com

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12

USA UPDATE

In July, imports captured a 27% US market share, totalling a 31% market share year-to-date. Steel products that have posted double-digit gains in the first seven months this year include line pipe, rebar, standard pipe, hot-dipped galvanised sheets and strip, tin plate, plates in coils, heavy structural shapes, cold rolled sheets and cut length plates.

Trade cases aplenty US steelmakers such as US Steel, ArcelorMittal USA, Steel Dynamics, Nucor and other major companies have already filed a sweeping trade case against China, Brazil, India, Japan, South Korea, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Russia for dumping steel at prices that were allegedly as much as 320% less than actual value. Some of these countries use a hidden, hard-to-detect subsidy system that makes their exports much cheaper.

Despite all the uncertainties, some silver linings do appear on the horizon.

US Steel shares rallied after the Pittsburgh steel producer maintained its full-year guidance, notwithstanding the $261 million second quarter loss it had reported. The company’s president and CEO, Mario Longhi, recently told analysts

that the company’s so-called “Carnegie Way” cost-cutting campaign should yield savings of some $590 million; this and improving market conditions in the second half are the reasons the company is sticking to its forecast.

However, the company’s decision to stick to its outlook surprised some analysts who contend that the steel industry usually fares worse in the second quarter than in the first. Also, the company’s outlook is based on the assumption that there will be no issues with workers with whom US Steel had not negotiated an agreement at the time of writing this update.

Nevertheless, the company’s decision to idle its blast furnace at its Fairfield Works facility in Fairfield, Alabama, will impact jobs.

Another problem facing the US steel sector is how to retain the automotive industry as a long-term customer, with regulations requiring cars and trucks to get lighter to meet 2025 emissions standards, popularly known as CAFÉ (corporate average fuel economy).

Steel executives are visible these days at automotive shows, conferences and other events to court the automotive industry which has provided good business for

the steel industry. They argue that steel will always be important in automobile production, even though trends show auto makers are spending more time and money exploring how to reduce or even replace steel with aluminium or other composite materials such as plastics and carbon fibre. The steel industry woke up from its complacency slumber when Ford changed the body panels of its F-150 pickups to the ‘miracle metal’, which has been used in the past in high-priced vehicles such as the Audi A8.

Steel cheaper than aluminium Traditionally, steel has accounted for some 60% of a vehicle’s content. While the much lighter aluminium can substantially reduce weight, steel is one-third cheaper.

Aluminium executives are also being spotted at various automotive events.

Alcoa’s global automotive vice president, J. Michael Murphy, derives optimism from a Ducker Worldwide study on the emergence of aluminium as the primary body style. Steel’s dominance is being challenged, Murphy has been saying, with 50% of hoods in the automobile industry, for example, being made of the miracle metal. t

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14

LATIN AMERICA UPDATE

OECD data shows capacity slowdown Excess capacity is one of the main problems facing the global steel industry. In his previous article, Germano Mendes de Paula* examined the evolution of nominal capacity country-by-country, based mainly on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) data. Now he examines individual projects that will increase crude steel capacity in Latin America and concludes that OECD data is an ‘outstanding barometer of sectorial investment’ WE believe that the OECD’s database provides the most comprehensive information about steel industry projects available free of charge; it can be found at: http://www.oecd.org/sti/ ind/steelcapacity.htm and consists of approximately 340 projects, characterised by: country, ownership (privately-owned enterprise/POE or state-owned enterprise/ SOE), company name, main shareholders, location, type of steel shop (BOF or EAF), size of furnace, supplier of the equipment, capacity (kt/yr), capex (US$ million), status (operating, underway or plan), foreseen year for starting operations, and further information in the form of comments.

We selected all Latin American projects on the database, including those located in Mexico, which in the OECD’s original geographical approach was considered as part of NAFTA. The initial group consisted of 20 projects. Of this amount, nine were cases that are still on paper, such as: Aços Laminados do Para (Alpa) and Companhia Siderúrgica Ubu (CSU) in Brazil, Ecuador’s first flat steelworks, Aceros Arequipa’s amplification in Peru, Ahmsa’s third

mill and Ternium’s expansion in Mexico.

These and others projects that will not be completed by 2017 were excluded, resulting in 11 projects (Table 1).

Outcomes It can be concluded from Table 1, that the projects will add collectively 11Mt/yr capacity, distributed among Brazil (50%), Mexico (30%), Venezuela (14%) and

Argentina (6%). Individually, the most important investment has been carried out by Companhia Siderúrgica do Pecém (CSP), a joint venture between the South Korean steelmakers Dongkuk and Posco and Brazilian iron ore miner Vale, with a 3Mt/yr capacity.

Total capex will reach $12 billion, for the nine projects that have released this information. Not surprisingly, CSP is the

Country Ownership Company

Equipment

Capacity

Capex

Project

Start

(kt/y)

(USD m)

Status

Year

Argentina

POE

Gerdau Sipar

EAF

650

190

Underway

2016

Brazil

POE

ArcelorMittal Aços Longos Juiz de Fora

EAF

200

100

Underway

2015

Brazil

POE

Companhia Siderúrgica do Pecém (CSP)

BOF

3,000

4,860

Underway

2015

Brazil

POE

Companhia Siderugica Nacional (CSN) Longs

EAF

500

539

Operating

2014

Brazil

POE

Aço Verde Brasil / Ferroeste Group

BOF

600

269

Underway

2015

Brazil

POE

Gerdau Riograndense

EAF

700

198

Underway

2015

Underway

2015

Operating

2014

Brazil

POE

GV do Brasil / Simec Group

EAF

520

Mexico

POE

Altos Hornos de Mexico (Ahmsa)

EAF

1,100

1,500 496

Mexico

POE

Gerdau Corsa

EAF

1,000

Mexico

POE

Talleres y Aceros (Tyasa)

EAF

1,200

Venezuela

SOE

Siderurgica Nacional

EAF

1,550

3,800

Operating

2015

Operating

2014

Underway

2015

Source: OECD

Table 1: Additional crude steel capacity by project in Latin America, 2014-2017

* Professor in economics, Federal University of Uberlândia, Brazil. E-mail: germano@ufu.br September 2015

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LATIN AMERICA UPDATE

15

W E

C O N V E Y

Q U A L I T Y

Hot Sinter Transport

biggest investment, by spending $4.9 billion. The second-largest is the construction of Siderurgica Nacional in Venezuela, which is the only SOE project in the sample. POEs will add 9.5Mt/yr (or 86%) and SOE only 1.6Mt/yr (14%) capacity in the region.

There are only two BOF projects, which jointly will be the equivalent of 3.6Mt/yr (33%). Conversely, 7.4Mt/yr (67%) are EAF. This is an important technological change, as the EAF ratio last year in Latin America was 45%.

Projects in operation Four projects – Ahmsa’s Fénix, Gerdau Corsa and the new mill of Talleres y Aceros in Mexico, and CSN’s long steel in Brazil – are already in operation. Conversely, in accordance with the OECD’s information, seven projects are under construction and six of them will conclude this year. Only one will come on stream in 2016. The motivation for engaging in additional capacity in the region has decreased substantially.

In reality, the construction of the steel shop of Aço Verde Brasil (controlled by Ferroeste Group) has already been completed, but the company is waiting for the best timetable to begin its operation. It is understood that it will start-up in January 2016.

It is assumed that GV do Brasil (owned by Simec Group from Mexico) has postponed its commissioning date while it awaits better market conditions. CSP recently announced that it will delay its start-up until 2016.

While the OECD database is fairly comprehensive, it is unable to include all investment data. In the case of Brazil, we believe that Gerdau has probably slowed down its investment in the Riograndense steelworks. On the other hand, Siderúrgica Latino Americana (Silat) seems to have speeded up the addition of its 600kt/y EAF to 2017, instead of 2018 as assumed by the OECD. A minor investment in a 140kt/y EAF – to be concluded in 2017

by Sinobras – has not been considered either and these changes will offset themselves. Thus, in the period 2014-2017, roughly 11Mt/yr of new capacity will be added to the Latin American steel industry.

The OECD’s information has three advantages: 1. It contains a large number of projects; 2. It is freely available; and 3. It is fairly up-to-date. Indeed, the last accessible data referred to Q4 2014. A new version is expected to be released in Q4 2015. The ability to annually compare the project portfolio of the global steel industry and a specific region in particular, is an outstanding barometer of sectorial investment. t www.steeltimesint.com

LA.indd 2

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16

JAPAN UPDATE

Japanese mills keep profits high Backed by relatively strong demand from the construction and shipbuilding sectors in the domestic market, strong foreign demand from Japanese OEM car manufacturers and a continual decline in raw material prices, big steel-making companies in Japan expect favourable business performances in 2015. By Nobuhisa Iwase* ON 22 April, the Nikkei average finally regained a milestone of 20,000 yen for the first time since April 2000, reflecting an increasingly positive outlook for the country’s economy and the financial performance of Japanese companies.

The big three steel companies – Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal Corporation (NSSMC), JFE Holdings and Kobe Steel – continued to record high profits for the fiscal year (FY) 2014 ending 31 March.

Total ordinary incomes by the three majors for the FY 2014 reached to US$6.5 billion.

Respective increase rates from the figures of the past year were +25% by NSSMC, +33% by JFE Holdings and +20% by Kobe Steel.

The Japanese economy seems to be on a slow track to recovery. After consecutive negative GDP growth figures in the April-June (-6.4% on an annual basis) and July-September (-2.6%) quarters of 2014, quarterly GDP growth rates on an annualised basis increased to +1.5% in the October-December quarter of 2014 and the January-March quarter of 2015. Despite the negative impact on domestic demand due to an increase of consumption tax to 8% in April 2014, the Japanese economy has accelerated to regain sustainable growth. The economic recovery in its home country and sharp price declines of iron ore and coking coal have been welcomed tailwinds.

The contracted price for iron ore on a quarterly basis between global mining majors and Japanese integrated steel mills declined from US$146 in JanuaryMarch 2014 to US$118 in April-June, US$105 in July-September, US$85 in October-December in 2014 and US$70 in January-March of this year. Coking coal prices declined from US$143 in JanuaryMarch 2014 to US$115-120 in recent quarters. Having continued at almost full-capacity (see Table 1), Japan’s major

steel companies disclosed favourable financial performances for the past fiscal year (FY 2014). All three recorded twodigit percentage increases of ordinary profits. Japanese financial analysts foresee improving financial performances for FY 2015. Contracted prices for iron ore and coking coal for April-June 2015 further declined to US$62 (11% under the previous quarter) and US$109.5 (down 6%) respectively. These are the lowest since quarterly base price negotiations started in 2010. Compared with the historically highest figure of spot price iron ore of US$187 in February 2011, the current contracted price for the Japanese mills is almost one third of that figure.

Constantly declining raw material prices are not always globally positive.

Chinese mills have increased production and accelerated exports. Exports of semifinished and finished steel from China increased 51% to 93.8Mt in 2014 (See Table 2). The increase of Chinese net exports of steel over the past decade Production Volume

FY2012

from -13.1Mt in 2004 to +79.4Mt has impacted global and Asian markets.

Chinese exports increased 41% in Q1 2015. While the Chinese planned to reduce the number of steel plants by 40% by 2017, so far the reduction of supply capacity has not been realised until now.

China will export more than 100Mt of steel this year, which will continue to have a negative impact on the global market. In 2014 Japan continued to record a trade surplus of steel with China with an export volume of 5.9Mt against imports of 595kt.

The existence of a global supply chain for Japanese manufacturing companies located in China in the automobile, electronics and mechanical engineering sectors has been an unchanging factor for the Japanese steel industry’s trade surplus with China. In 2015 Japan’s big steel mills will be able to maintain a strong business performance, but will struggle with a rapidly changing business environment and increasing supply pressure from China.

FY2013

FY2014*

Change

Pig Iron

82.0

83.8

83.9

0.1%

Crude Steel

110.6

111.5

109.8

-1.5%

Hot Rolled Products

94.6

97.8

97.0

-0.8%

FY: Fiscal Year in Japan. FY2014 is from April 1, 2014 to March 31, 2015.

Table 1: Steel production in Japan (million tons). Source: Japan Iron and Steel Federation Year

2004

2010

2014

Change: % (2013

2014)

Japan Export

34.8

42.7

41.8

-2.6%

Import

4.2

4.4

7.1

21.9%

Net (Ex-Im)

30.6

38.3

34.7

-

China Export

20.1

41.6

93.8

50.8%

Import

33.2

17.2

14.4

2.5%

Net (Ex-Im)

-13.1

24.5

79.4

-

Table 2: Steel trade of Japan and China (million tons)

* An independent steel economist, Karuizawa, Japan, E-mail: nobykaru@seagreen.ocn.ne.jp September 2015

JAPAN.indd 1

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18

INTERVIEW: GARETH STACE

Images: Robert Wilkinson

‘I’d like to be optimistic’ UK Steel’s new director is fully prepared to face the many challenges coming his way. In an exclusive interview with Steel Times International Gareth Stace talks to Matthew Moggridge about high energy prices, Chinese exports and open letters

“I’ve arrived at a very challenging period both in the UK, Europe and globally.”

September 2015

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INTERVIEW: GARETH STACE

“I’VE arrived at a very challenging period both in the UK, Europe and globally,” Gareth Stace tells Steel Times International.

“Challenging in the sense that we have a new government and that is often quite a difficult moment in terms of getting across the messages and understanding of our sector.”

One of many objectives for UK Steel’s new director is ensuring that the evidence base for the organisation’s key messages are not only in place, but clearly understood, particularly in terms of the economics of the sector in the UK, Europe and globally.

Stace is concerned about China. “I’m sure that all regions of the world have seen increases of [steel] imports from China,” he says, explaining how the UK is no exception. “We’ve seen a significant increase in recent times and will see an increase in anti-dumping measures being taken,” he believes.

High costs “We’ve got business rates that are five to 10 times higher in the UK than they are in France or Germany, and our energy costs are sometimes double that of our competitors,” he argues, adding that the UK steel industry has to contend with punishing environmental costs under the Industrial Emissions Directive and a strong pound causing problems for exports.

“If you took any one of these issues individually, the industry could probably cope for a short period, but we seem to have the perfect storm approaching where all of these problems have arrived together and are having a cumulative effect,” he says.

It all adds up to very significant costs for the UK steel sector and, most importantly, costs that are not applicable globally. “Meaning that we’re just very uncompetitive,” says Stace.

The UK industry will be viewed as a basic foundation industry that lacks an innovative edge and doesn’t produce any shiny high tech products. “And it’s selfperpetuating as the government might argue ‘you’re not doing very well so why should we try and support you?’”

UK Steel’s message to the British Government is simple: do something about business rates, energy costs and environmental costs. “It’s not that we want to shirk our responsibilities, it’s that we feel we are facing an undue burden and we want the Government or the European Commission to untie our hands from behind our backs and enable us to compete in an open and fair global market. That’s all we want, we’re not asking for hand-outs,” he says. www.steeltimesint.com

Gareth Stace interview 1.indd 2

On anti-dumping, Stace says that the British government has always voted against the practice – or at best abstained – but that in recent months there has been a seismic shift in stance, particularly over a European proposal for a five-year extension to anti-dumping measures on wire rod against China and other regions of the world. “We’ve seen the government voting for that extension, baffling European Commission officials in the process,” says Stace.

A new government The UK Conservative Party’s recent election victory prompted the question of whether the new government is good or bad for the UK steel industry. “I think a lot of it is down to personality,” Stace says, admitting that he admired the former business secretary Vince Cable. “He totally understood our issues and tried, within reason, to work with us,” he says. Cable championed the Energy Intensive Industry Energy Price Compensation Package. “He realised that a compensation package isn’t necessarily a hand-out, it’s just correcting the unintended consequences of policy,” he argues.

Stace’s first impressions of Anna Soubry, the new Minister for Small Business, Industry and Enterprise, are positive. “I found her to be open and honest, which has been very helpful for us,” he says.

As the new government gets its feet under the table, Stace argues that rebalancing the economy is understandably top-ofmind and that the new political buzzword – productivity – has taken centre stage.

Steel has a major role to play. “We’re more productive per person than most sectors in the UK,” he says, berating one previous Minister for labelling the steel sector a ‘smoke stack industry’ – not the most positive of descriptions.

“This government certainly doesn’t see us in that way. Hopefully, it sees us as an important foundation sector that feeds into a number of very important supply chains, such as automotive, aerospace and infrastructure. We need a home-grown sector in order to supply those markets rather than be at the whim of imports,” says Stace.

Find a level playing field With EUROFER (the European Steel Association) claiming that rising EU steel demand is being met by imports, Stace points to a recent OECD meeting in Paris where the Chinese claimed that for every tonne of new capacity they would close down two tonnes of older, less efficient production. “We don’t see any evidence of this, which leads us to a fall-back

19

position, to tackle unfair trade, of having to rely upon anti-dumping measures and import tariffs, which isn’t ideal as it works both ways,” he believes.

Ultimately, it boils down to that elusive level playing field and the fact that current UK and EU policy restricts UK and European steelmakers from competing on a equal footing with other nations.

Stace claims that for the first four months of 2015, imports of steel from China increased by 104% when compared to the same period last year. “That’s really worrying because if we relied upon an absolute figure it would look very different,” he says, explaining how imports of heavy sections have increased by a staggering 3,000% over the same period, albeit from a very low base.

“We’re seeing imports of products that we hadn’t previously seen and the most alarming example is rebar in the sense that three years ago there was zero import penetration and now it’s nearly 40% of the UK market,” Stace points out.

“I’d like to be optimistic, but I’m looking at the data and I’m seeing worrying trends,” he adds.

Worrying in the sense that China is over producing steel by between 200Mt to 250Mt and is exporting its overcapacity around the globe, much to the dismay of those nations on the receiving end. China might be crying out to be recognised as a market economy, but the rest of the world isn’t convinced.

Policy compensation package While the British government has initiated the Energy Intensive Industries (EII) compensation package to help offset increased costs brought about by carbon emissions reduction policies, Stace argues that industry is still paying 70% of those costs. The scheme is not due to be fully in place until April 2016. Under state aid rules, the EII compensation package will compensate industry for 80% of costs incurred.

UK steelmakers are footing the bill for government policy aimed at reducing emissions and, therefore, can’t hope to compete on an equal basis with those nations not subjected to such policy decisions.

“The government is reviewing business rates at the moment and I hope that they have taken our messages on board, but we’ve got a government that wants to fix the deficit so why would they be keen to reduce our business rates by five or 10 times to match our competitors when it would deplete government coffers?” he argues.

In 2014 the UK steel sector exported September 2015

8/27/15 11:50 AM

20

INTERVIEW: GARETH STACE

7.6Mt, imported 6.5Mt and delivered to the home market 4.2Mt. This was the highest export figure in over a decade. The UK’s trade balance shows that it is, very narrowly, a net exporter, by value. Europe, however, is a key overseas market followed

by North America and Asia. The strong pound makes it increasingly difficult for UK steelmakers to compete in Europe.

That along with global overcapacity and a slowing Chinese economy is putting an unsustainable strain on the domestic sector.

“I’m worried that we will be chasing the added value market and will lose the core products we currently have in the UK,” he says, emphasising that things would worsen if China was granted market economy status. “Very quickly we’d see that there isn’t a steel sector in the UK or in Europe,” he says.

Open letters We moved on to discuss the effectiveness of open letters based on recent missives from EUROFER and Alacero (the Latin American Steel Association) which both addressed the subject of Chinese steel exports. Stace has two questions: “Is there the evidence to back up what you say?

Are the solutions you propose in the open letter credible and workable? If not an open letter can backfire,” he says.

If UK Steel puts pen to paper it would highlight the issue, state the solution and have the evidence ready as back-up. “It’s not our first line of action. We would prefer to work closely with government, hopefully in partnership, to break down commonly understood barriers towards the point we’re all trying to reach,” he explains.

While Stace argues that UK Steel isn’t one of those organisations that bangs its fist on the table and says ‘if you’re not going to do this then our sector is going to leave’, perhaps the European Union’s unhurried approach to issues like Chinese steel exports will prompt him to reach for his Biro. Why, he asks, can’t the EU act faster?

Slow to react “The European Commission is doing a good job, a very thorough job, but I think we have to act much quicker. Taking over a year to react to something that is happening very quickly means we are not effective in bringing about change,” he says. “We have a lot to learn from the USA.” UK Steel is very supportive of EUROFER and its work on climate change and the environment at European level, but there have been frustrations with the European Commission, especially where the EU ETS was concerned. “When the Commission was looking at setting up benchmarks September 2015

Gareth Stace interview 1.indd 3

for the steel sector it had this view of our sector and implemented benchmarks based on false assumptions. It’s not that the benchmarks were too tight, they simply didn’t reflect the sector. The more we tried to tell them, the more they resisted. They wouldn’t speak to us and today we have benchmarks that aren’t fit for purpose,” he said.

EUROFER has criticised the European Commission’s proposed revisions to the EU ETS, claiming they failed to take into account European Council guidelines on the importance of preventing carbon and investment leakage. UK Steel is equally disappointed. Stace argues that they recognise many of the problems of existing carbon leakage provisions, but fail to address them. “Our main concerns are around the continuing cap on free allocation to industry and the unrealistic, broad-brush approach taken to benchmarking,” he argues.

“We’ve seen the Commission’s EU ETS proposals for phase four and we’re going to look at the benchmarks again. I hope we can work together and that there’s less distrust between the Commission and industry,” he says.

Relationships with the EU Stace believes that there is greater trust between government and industry in the UK, but argues that the steel industry has a less favourable relationship with the European Commission.

“I’m sure the European Commission has the same goal as industry: to have a profitable sector or sectors in the EU employing people who are highly skilled and well paid and I’m sure that all director generals in the EC are on the same page.

We should be working together rather than acting as two sides,” he argues.

While UK gas prices are very competitive compared to those in Europe, electricity prices are far too high, according to Stace. The EII compensation package will bring prices into line with other European countries, specifically France and Germany, but only if the UK gets the full package and commits to it up to 2020 and beyond, says Stace. “Without that, we’re still in the same boat, we will still be paying a huge amount of policy costs,” he says.

Climate change and energy policy costs amount to £120 million per annum for the steel industry, according to Stace and until April 2016, as previously stated, UK industry is still paying 70% of those costs. “It’s compensation rather than an exemption,” he said. “An exemption would mean that other consumers pay those costs and we don’t, whereas compensation means that government pays us out of its own pocket,” he says.

With punitive policy costs and a complex regulatory environment the steel industry

in the UK and Europe is facing challenging times with a strong and pioneering spirit.

Targets without technology In early 2014, the then director-general of EUROFER, Gordon Moffat, told delegates at a steel conference in Istanbul that he had told the powers that be in Europe, “You cannot have targets without technology.” It remains a moot point. For Stace it’s equally as straightforward: you either make steel in a totally different way or you use Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).

“And we’re just not there yet. The UK government really understands this and is working with us to see how we can introduce CCS into the steel sector going forward, perhaps out to 2030. I think the UK government accepts and understands as much as we do that we need to come up with a way to finance the development of industrial CCS and that it’s going to cost billions,” he says.

CCS needs to be explored in conjunction with government, says Stace, pointing to the Teesside Collective Project. Teesside is home to a variety of carbon-intensive industries and the aim is to build a pipeline to take captured emissions out into the North Sea. But while it might be easy for politicians to herald CCS as the panacea for all of industry’s emissions problems, it remains unproven technology. “It could be the solution, but let’s not pretend that it’s going to be easy to implement,” Stace says.

He is encouraged by recent initiatives from ArcelorMittal and Tata Steel, both of which illustrate how keenly the industry is addressing the emissions issue.

“Unless we explore these new and innovative solutions then we’re not going to be a forward-looking sector,” he said, referencing ArcelorMittal’s £87 million bioethanol plant in Ghent, Belgium, and Tata Steel’s ACCOMPLISH project with Swansea University in the UK. “We can’t go beyond the abatement potential we currently have and these new technologies, these new ways of making steel, will require vast sums of money and take a lot of time, so we might not see any significant change in emissions until 2030,” he said, which begs the question, why make the steel sector suffer now when it’s quite accepted that nothing significant can be done until 2030? t www.steeltimesint.com

8/27/15 11:50 AM

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Process and technologies to anneal current and future AHSS strips The production of advanced high-strength steel (AHSS) grades in a continuous annealing line requires strict cooling control to limit strength deviation within the coil in order to improve homogeneity and formability. Fives has developed ‘Wet Flash Cooling’ to reach the required AHSS characteristics. This paper was presented by Eric Magadoux* during the Rolling – Cold Sheet Rolling and Annealing session at the METEC and 2nd ESTAD Congress in June 2015 in Düsseldorf, Germany WATER quench technology has been used on certain continuous annealing lines for more than 30 years now to produce high strength steel (HSS) grades. Market demand for HSS is accelerating today and various advanced high strength steel (AHSS) grades have been developed for which yield strength and other properties are also considered to ensure formability.

The production of AHSS grades in a continuous annealing line requires strict cooling control to limit strength deviation within the coil to improve homogeneity and formability. To reach the required AHSS characteristics, Fives has developed Wet Flash Cooling to offer a more flexible control of the strip cooling cycle, including initial and final strip temperatures and modulation of the cooling rate.

This technology has been successfully operating in a large capacity industrial continuous annealing line at a major steel plant for four years following start-up in 2009.

AHSS grade characteristics Demand for AHSS is increasing, especially in the automotive market.

Numerous steel grades have been developed for this particular requirement1.

The production of the highest strength grades, which are based on martensite formation, has to comply with cooling speed requirements as per the CCT diagram. If the cooling speed is too low, the steel grade has to be enriched by a higher content of certain additional elements, such as silicon or molybdenum, to avoid the formation of upper phases, such as pearlite and bainite instead of martensite. However these additions compromise weldability and formability.

On future lines, therefore, a way of decreasing these additional elements

is required, which means significantly increasing the cooling rate of the annealing cycle.

A higher cooling rate can be achieved by using a higher H2 content in the gas cooling section. This technology allows Temperature

a cooling rate up to 200°C/s/mm thick, which is suitable for most DP grades. For AHSS of the highest tensile strength a lean composition with low C is preferred, in order to avoid mainly welds embrittlement and internal fracture, and to improve hole expansion behaviour.

Fig 1: The typical annealing cycle with WQ process

Current processes To obtain ultra-high cooling rates water quench processes have been developed and applied in industrial annealing lines for more than 30 years. With the aim of improving the mechanical behaviour of the steel, a tempering treatment can also be performed after the water quench (WQ). A typical annealing cycle sketch is represented in Fig 1. It should be noted that this tempering treatment requires

Tempering

Time

4

7

3 6

Fig 2: Sketch of the test rig

1

1. Collector with nozzles 2. Pressure gauge 3. Test plate 4. Motor with rope 5. Girder 6. Trolley with position sensor and datalogger for recording temperatures and position of test plate 7. Heater 8. Water tank 9. Pump 10. Control valve 8

2

5

10

9

* Eric Magadoux, research and development engineer, Fives Stein (France) eric.magadoux@fivesgroup.com www.steeltimesint.com

ROLLING fives.indd 1

September 2015

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ROLLING

1600

1400

1400

Average cooling rate (°C/s )

1600

Global cooling rate [°C/s]

1200 1000 800 600 400

geometry 2

1200

geometry 1

1000 800 600 400 200

200 0

25

0 200

400 Final strip temperature (°C)

600

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Water pressure (bars)

Fig 3: Influence of the final strip temperature on the global cooling rate (initial temperature is 900°C)

high capacity induction reheating after WQ cooling.

However, the WQ process must comply with several requirements: 1. A high strip cooling rate, up to 1000°C/s (the cooling rate usually expected by steelmakers is approximately 400°C/s).

2. Accurate control of the cooling rate and good strip thermal homogeneity, during the whole process is required to achieve good crosswise mechanical properties and good strip flatness.

3. Flexibility in strip temperature choice, for both the start and finish of WQ cooling.

The Fives process is based on “film boiling” conditions, in order to comply with these requirements.

0

Fig 4: Influence of water pressure on average cooling for the 2 spraying configurations, from 900 to 200°C

the heat transfer co-efficient according to several parameters. An experimental test rig was developed, including heating and cooling for a steel sample (Fig 2).

The test rig was composed of: • a test plate, equipped with thermocouples • a vertical trolley supporting the steel plate, capable of moving upwards and downwards • the plate heating device • the cooling system.

Before the cooling test, the steel plate was moved upward to be heated to 900°C. The cooling system was then switched on and the steel plate moved downwards at a constant speed of 180 mpm. This fullscale test, therefore, was representative of industrial conditions and led to a spraying geometry that was then installed in the industrial line.

Fives continued to refine its design, leading to a second and more efficient nozzle arrangement. In this second geometry the nozzle’s mesh was tighter,

Development programme Current quenching technologies reach adequate performance with regard to the expected cooling rate, even for thick strip (typical strip thickness for these grades is approx 1.5mm). However, not all technologies are satisfactory where temperature flexibility is concerned, especially the ability to stop the cooling at any strip temperature with good crosswise temperature homogeneity. Consequently Fives performed a development programme with this aim in mind. An extensive R&D study was carried out, including: • Numerical calculations; • Test rig to characterise the heat transfer performance of the nozzles, to investigate the uniformity of cooling and flexibility of operation; • Equipment design in order to operate in vertical arrangements and for all steel grades; • Industrial operation.

Cooling rate In this study, various geometrical nozzle arrangements were tested in order to optimise the cooling nozzle mesh. The objective was to characterise and improve www.steeltimesint.com

ROLLING fives.indd 2

September 2015

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Temperature

1000

Fig 5: Example of Q&P cycle

Ac 1

800 Strip temperature (°C)

WQ

Ms

Gas cooling 75% H2 5% H2

Partitioning

Mf

F 600

P B

400

M

200 Time

Fig 6: Comparison of various cooling rates on a typical CCT diagram (C 0.2 %, Mn 1.2%, Si 0.2%). Comparison with conventional gas jet cooling technology

12 bars

13 bars

0.07 bar

0 0.01

Fig 7: Example of lay-out of Wet Flash Cooling® process

0.1

1

Time (s)

10

100

1000

5000

4000 Heat flux (kW/m2/side)

Spraying box 1

Spraying box 2

3000

2000

1000

Fig 8: Heat flux and water flow rate per strip size at 400°C strip temperature

and the strip closer to the nozzles (100mm instead of 250mm for the first geometry). The main improvement in cooling performance is due to the smaller distance between strip and nozzles without interaction between the spraying jets.

It is well known that the heat exchange co-efficient of this type of technology is better when the strip is cold, below Leidenfrost temperature (typically 400600°C depending on the configuration).

Fig 3 clearly shows the influence of the final strip temperature on the global cooling rate (initial temperature is 900°C).

The results are summarised below (Fig 4), and show the influence of water pressure on the average cooling rate.

The geometry n°1 achieves its optimum performance at approximately 5 bars. The geometry n°2 is more efficient at every pressure. At 12 bars the average cooling rate from 900°C to 200°C is approximately 1500°C/s.

In the industrial design, the nozzles are fed with both water and nitrogen.

Nitrogen, of course, is replaced by air in the test rig. The strip cooling rate is controlled by the water pressure (Fig 4), the gas flow rate being adjusted accordingly.

Water pressure can be controlled separately in each group of nozzles (or even in each nozzle) and also in transversal direction, in order to control the cooling rate during the whole cooling time. It is also possible to switch off some groups of September 2015

ROLLING fives.indd 3

0 0

nozzles to change the cooling pattern.

Cooling cycle flexibility With conventional water quench processes the final strip temperature is close to the water temperature (in any case below Mf).

This requires a further reheating of the strip to proceed with tempering.

The Wet Flash Cooling process allows total control of the cooling slope, i.e. initial and final strip temperature and cooling rate. This enables the production, for example, of TRIP steels but also Q&P grades2. With Q&P grades, a partial transformation from austenite to martensite is required by cooling the steel to a pre-determined quench temperature, followed by a partitioning step at a suitable temperature, at which carbon migrates from over-saturated martensite to austenite. An example of an annealing cycle is shown (Fig 5).

Thanks to the controllability of the cooling rate, it seems clear that this process is well-suited to produce the desired structure. As compared with dry jet cooling technology, in which the cooling rate is controlled by the H2 content in the blowing atmosphere, Wet Flash Cooling® offers a wider process window (Fig 6).

Industrial application This developed concept has been proven over four years of industrial operation on an annealing line in a major steel plant. A typical sketch of the cooling pass is shown

50

150

100

200

Water flow rate (m3/h/m2)

in Fig 7. The pass line configuration can be vertical, upward or downward. The water flow rate used to feed the spraying nozzles is quite low (Fig 8), especially when compared with other technologies3.

Industrial operation confirmed a good crosswise thermal homogeneity of the strip.

Conclusions Wet Flash Cooling is an efficient tool to produce all steel qualities on an annealing line, from CQ to martensitic grades. The nozzle design and the mesh geometry allow total flexibility of the cooling pattern. The ability to stop the cooling at any strip temperature is, of course, of prime interest when producing specific grades such as Q&P. t References 1. B. Mintz, Hot dip galvanizing of transformation induced plasticity and other inter-critically annealed steels, International Materials Reviews, 2001, Vol 46, No 4, p 169.

2. B C De Cooman, J G Speer, Quench and partitioning steel: a new AHSS concept for automotive anti-intrusion applications, steel research int. 77 (2006) No 9-10, p 634.

3. D. Bourquegneau, A. Fouarge, V. Lhoist, J. Crahay, P. Klinkenberg, P. Simon, Production d’aciers à haute résistance par un dispositif de refroidissement à turbulence controlée, La Revue de Métallurgie-CIT, Juillet-Août 2003, p 697. www.steeltimesint.com

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ROLLING

29

Roughing and rolling in South Wales Two of Europe’s largest synchronous motors along with the highest power-rated medium voltage drives ever used in a reversing roughing mill, have been commissioned by ABB at Tata Steel’s Port Talbot hot strip mill in South Wales.

THE replacement motors and drives were the focus of a major £25 million reversing roughing upgrade – a key part of the rolling process which transforms a 23cm thick slab of red-hot steel into sheet, less than 3.5 cm thick, before further reducing it to produce hot rolled strip. The upgrade aims to increase steel production significantly while improving final product quality for use in a wide range of markets including automotive, lifting and excavating and oil and gas.

Reversing rougher The reversing rougher is a heavy torque application and as such demands two ABB 12.5 megaWatt (MW) salient pole synchronous motors, together with two ABB medium Voltage (MV) drives rated at 36 mega Volt-amperes (MVA), 3.1 kiloVolts (kV), to power the slab between a set of rolls. The motors feature 275% overload and provide smooth starting, acceleration and reversing operation.

The slab passes through the reversing rougher, typically five times, each pass reducing its thickness, before it is coiled in the hot coil box.

The strip, which is still red-hot, is then uncoiled and passes through the ‘finishing mill’, made up of seven roll-stands, before the strip is cooled and coiled for further processing.

Challenges facing original set-up Previously, two 6 MW direct current (DC) motors, installed in 1985, operated some 30% over their original designed capacity. Working at significant overload regularly stressed the windings. As such, the motors were difficult to maintain and showed signs of imminent failure. Even with the old motors working in overload, the roughing mill was still a production bottleneck for 50% of the time. The absence of a spare motor, presented a significant production risk that, should a motor fail, the entire plant would need to shut down for, at least, the six months it would take to order, build and deliver a replacement motor.

Now, the new synchronous motors

give the response demanded while the ACS6000 MV drive with its motor control platform using direct torque control (DTC), provides unrivalled speed and torque control. As the slab enters the reversing rougher there is no perceived speed drop, as happened with the DC motors.

The new motors and drives control the slab precisely, with no over shoot in speed.

This results in the slab being processed much faster and reduces unnecessary torque reversals in the mechanical drive train. The slow control of the DC motors caused severe torque swings in the drive train, resulting in fatigue cycling to the mechanical equipment. This no longer occurs, resulting in a much quieter and safer operating environment, with improved production capacity together with increased reliability.

“With the old system the average cycle time was 95 seconds. Today it is 80 seconds,” said Steve Winkley, Tata Steel’s project manager for the roughing mill project. “When we change the direction of the bar, it’s much faster than ever before. When we take advantage of the motors’ maximum top speed, this will result in an average speed of work increase of 30 tonnes per

hour more steel; that is a staggering 200kt per year. This significant increase in production is almost a side-effect of having to replace the DC machine. We successfully turned what was a potentially catastrophic situation with the overloaded DC motors into an unprecedented success breaking a series of ‘all time’ production records.”

Alongside reduced motor maintenance, the advantages of switching to AC motors and MV drives includes improved drive efficiency, robust motor construction, a high degree of control and response and the ability to achieve ultra-low speed rolling with minimal torque ripple.

ABB supplied a complete electrical package that includes a distribution transformer and reactors to step-down the incoming supply voltage from 66 kV to 11 kV, 11 kV medium voltage switchgear and power supply conditioning equipment.

A modular drives room, including air conditioning and fire protection systems, was installed and commissioned during normal production.

DC drives, type DCS800, and motors are supplied to improve the control and reliability of the roughing mill’s

The stator and rotor of each motor were placed during normal production further reducing risk

www.steeltimesint.com

ROLLING tata.indd 1

8/27/15 10:27 AM

→

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ROLLING

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Two of Europe’s largest synchronous motors ever used in a reversing roughing mill have been commissioned by ABB at Tata Steel’s Port Talbot hot strip mill in South Wales

vertical edging stands and roller tables. A distributed control system, based around ABB’s 800xA system, with one operator station and one engineering station, completely integrates the roughing mill drive system to form a coherent platform for control, referencing and diagnostics.

Bringing the plant under control Speaking about the original installation, Winkley observed: “We knew we had a major technology problem and yet we wanted to get more out of the mill. We were totally exposed. Something needed to happen and fast.

“The first action was to stabilise the mill; to buy us time to replace the motors.

This involved bracing the inside of the machines and relieving as much stress from the motors, while limiting the effect on production.”

The next step was to determine the most cost- and time-efficient way to fix the problem and secure Port Talbot’s future to roll more demanding products, with increased output and without the 50% bottleneck in the process.

Computer modelling To assess the type, quality and achievable volumes for future products, Tata Steel computer-modelled various scenarios using some 20,000 coils to determine what size of motor would be needed to meet the optimum final product.

“Because we were examining in detail what we wanted this mill to do, we were in the unusual position of being able to specify precisely what equipment we wanted to achieve our goals,” said Winkley. “Normally, working with an OEM, you are more likely to get a standard mill.

But we knew that what we wanted was far from standard and it made sense for our own in-house project team to set its own standards. That way we were never going to be disappointed.”

Supplier choice For Tata Steel, the ability of one company to provide the synchronous motor and MV drive fulfilled a major goal of its risk www.steeltimesint.com

ROLLING tata.indd 2

management strategy. “It was critical that we picked a package that worked together in harmony. We only had one chance to get it right. ABB’s motor and MV drive was a combination from a single supplier that we were convinced would work without compromise,” Winkley said.

Tata Steel’s computer modelling provided tangible data to approach its partners with specifications for the motors, drives and other electrical equipment that would meet the demand, while avoiding the constraints and bottlenecks that were being experienced.

Well-proven design Based on historical references and its present technology package, ABB was selected as the partner to supply the synchronous motor and MV drive and all supporting electrical infrastructure including MV switchgear, low voltage control gear, DC drives, pumps, fans, lubrication units and the complete automation system.

The ACS6000’s well-proven and simple design means there are fewer components, thereby enhancing the unit’s reliability and reducing maintenance needs. For rolling mill applications, with a high yearly production rate, high reliability and simple maintenance are very critical to stay competitive.

“ABB was able to prove that it had the capability through its existing references, most of which we followed up,” explained Winkley. “We went through the technology package and compared it against what we had asked for.”

The choice of manufacturer capable of supplying AC motors of the rating required is limited. As such, Tata Steel needed to examine the pedigree of the motor manufacturer as much as its motor ranges and capabilities. “ABB was selected based on its professionalism, delivery execution and project management demonstrated in other projects they have worked on at Port Talbot,” says Winkley.

ABB installed its first AC motor drive system in a rolling mill in 1987 and by 2014 it had installed variable-speed drive

systems on more than 800 main mill stands, coilers and reels, accounting for more than 5,000 MW of installed main drive power.

Reliability is crucial In a reversing rougher reliability is paramount. ABB’s extensive experience of mill applications together with proven design technology and excellent manufacturing know-how combined with thorough quality control and comprehensive testing throughout the production cycle, combined to make Tata Steel’s decision easier.

“My primary concern for this project was to ensure that such a major equipment replacement did not compromise production. If the plant goes down, we can’t supply products to our customers.

That simply cannot happen. So my job is to create certainty and order out of a potentially very uncertain situation,” Winkley explained.

Planned shutdown Tata Steel meticulously structured the shutdown of the existing facility; a process of design, planning and risk management that began back in 2011. The aim was to understand risk and opportunity at all stages in the project, such that everything was known and managed.

This risk mitigation strategy lead to some 90% of the installation being completed, commissioned and tested before the plant was shutdown.

For instance, in order to thread the new 200 tonne motors ready for installation, the concrete floor of the motor room needed strengthening, a procedure that was carried out while the mill was in operation. All pump systems and pipework were installed next to the location of the new motors.

At the same time, a new crane was installed which was used in tandem with the existing crane to move the component parts of the new motors into the motor room and then thread the stator and rotor of each motor during normal production further reducing risk.

September 2015

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32

ROLLING

The upgrade aims to increase steel production significantly while improving final product quality

The installation process Over a four-week period, starting in August 2014, the plant completely closed for what was to be the most intense upgrade in 25 years. The old motors and spindles were removed and the foundation for the new equipment prepared. The preassembled new motors were then lifted into position at the same time that the new spindle system was being installed.

The two motors were connected with the spindle system and all the pre-installed and commissioned services and control equipment were connected ready to run the new motors.

September 2015

ROLLING tata.indd 3

“It’s fantastic to see the installation progress to schedule and really justifies the approach we took on this project with 90% of equipment pre-installed before shut down,” says Winkley. “We are really happy with ABB, in terms of the equipment and the company; both performed absolutely brilliantly.”

Investing for the future Such was the pre-planning that the motors started without a hitch on schedule, with several production records being broken including the most tonnes per shift, the most tonnes per day, the fastest daily

speed of work and the fastest monthly speed of work.

The upgrade of the hot strip mill follows investments totalling more than £250 million in state-of-the-art steelmaking and processing technology at the South Wales operations.

The hot strip mill is a vital plant area in the Port Talbot steelworks where steel is rolled into continuous strip, forming hot rolled coil. The steel is further processed at other Tata Steel sites, before being delivered to manufacturers of cars, food and drink cans, building materials and kitchen appliances. t

www.steeltimesint.com

8/27/15 10:28 AM

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Tracking of hot rolled coils using a camera fibre optic network To ensure correct conveying of hot rolled coil to dispatch or finishing processes at the Bokaro Steel Plant, a CCD-based camera monitoring network with digital recording has been deployed to view coil character identification. This has replaced an error prone manual system that had required additional coil manipulation to view IDs.

By R K Jha*, K Mallik*, H N Das*, A Kumar**, T Ravindran** & R S Chaturvedi** THE Hot Rolled Coil Finishing (HRCF) shop at SAIL’s Bokaro Steel Plant (BSP) in India plays an important role in transporting HR coils from the hot strip mill (HSM) to the shipping yards, shearing lines and cold rolling mill. Hot coils are transported by metal chain conveyors to their designated destination once the coils’ are identified.

Coils are positioned ‘eye-to-sky’ on the conveyors with each identification stencilled onto the side of the coil. As a result, while the identification details can be sighted on either side of the conveyor, the operator at the coil turntable directing the coil to the correct destination is unable to view this information without rotating the coil towards his field of view. Following this, the coil has to be rotated back to its original orientation to travel on the correct conveyor to its designated destination.

This not only leads to delay, but sometimes results in incorrect coil identification, sending the coil to the wrong destination.

This then creates complexities in operation requiring manual transportation to the correct destination and additional costs.

Therefore, an improvement in the method of tracking the coil from the HSM to the designated location was required to ensure the smooth and efficient functioning of the HRCF shop.

To improve the operational efficiency of this complex process a method of automatic tracking of the HR coils using camera vision technology has been introduced. A number of cameras are positioned at strategic locations to capture an image of the coil identification.

The image is transmitted to the respective operator’s cabin through a low loss fibre optic network. The operator can then easily view the coil details without needing to rotate and direct it to the

Hot rolled coil finishing - HRCF, BSL

Fig 1: Various material flow directions for hot rolled coil at Bokaro Steel Plant Options 1-2; 1-3-4; 1-3-5-7; 1-3-5-6; 1-3-5-8 Post 13 (ACY) 1KM

Additional coil yard (ACY) HR coil dispatch

Post 12 (HSM) HR coil shipment

Hot strip mill 1.5KM CRM pickling line (CRM)

Post 12 (HRCF) Coil yard

Shearing line-I (HR plate dispatch)

Shearing line-II (HR sheet dispatch)

required location. Additionally, a video record of the travelling coil is available in the master control room for the retrieval of relevant information if later required for scheduling and optimisation of the entire process.

Background In modern steel plants, robust CCD cameras and DVR recorders have been successfully deployed mainly for process viewing of plant machinery and moving objects. This application was considered for the HRCF shop at Bokaro Steel Plant.

The prime role of the HRCF shop is to transport hot rolled coils to the coil yards for direct shipping to customers or to the cold rolling mills for further processing.

Also, in the HRCF, coils are cut to length in the shearing lines as per customer requirements.

The Hot Strip Mill (HSM) at Bokaro has four coilers. Following coiling, the hot coils are sent either to an Additional Coil Yard (ACY) or to the HRCF shop by chain conveyors, the correct conveyor being selected by means of a manually operated Left & Turn Table (LTT). Fig 1 represents the material flow diagram for the various routes capable of transporting hot coil.

Coil identification details include coil number; size; grade; destination and weight. These are printed in large machine readable characters on the curved surface of the final lap of the still hot coil. A typical code would be ‘B424242, 2.9x1250, CT2K, FR, 19.96T’ To improve operational efficiency, automatic tracking of HR coils using camera vision technology has been installed. In the system installed, CCD cameras have been positioned at the strategic locations

*Research and Development Centre for Iron and Steel, Steel Authority of India Ltd. e-mail: rkjha@sail-rdcis.com **Bokaro Steel Plant, Steel Authority of India Ltd. e-mail: rschaturvedi@sailbsl.com www.steeltimesint.com

ROLLING Bokaro tim.indd 1

September 2015

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34

ROLLING

COIL YARD HRCF

CRM END

(a) Camera (local)

LTT Coil yard cabin POST 12 Coiler IV

Coiler III

Coiler II

Coiler I

Video signal selector

(b)

Camera (remote)

c)

Video to OPTIC fibre optic converter

Video to OPTIC fibre converter

Fibre optic cable OPTIC FIBRE to VIDEO converter

Fibre optic cable

HSM Display

LTT cabin HSM POST 12

Camera

DVR

OPTIC FIBRE to VIDEO converter

Switch

Video signal selector

IP to fibre converter

Display

ADDL Coil yard cabin POST 13

Fig 2: Location of cameras viewing coil conveyor

PC SERVER (VIDEO ANALYTICS SOFTWARE

ADDL Coil yard

Fig 3: Options for video signal transmission (a) Raw video signal for local camera; (b) Raw video signal for remote camera; (c) IP video signal over network

Fibre optic cable Fibre to IP converter PC2

PC

Main Components used: CCD Cameras: 15 TX optical fibre to camera convertors:12

DVR (two each 4, 8 & 16 channel):6 RX optical fibre to recorder convertors:12

Monitors: 6

of the Coiler Bay, Additional Coil Yard and HRCF shop for viewing and recording coil numbers (Fig 2).

The image was recorded in motion detection mode where the image is recorded only when there is coil movement so that unnecessary recording during mill stoppage is avoided. This has two advantages: first, only the relevant image is recorded making it easier to search and analyse the record; and second, it saves hard disk space in the recorder. Additionally, the image can be played back in slow motion (1/4x, 1/8x, 1/10x etc.) to evaluate the reasons for any incorrect operation during coil movement.

and dusty industrial atmosphere are also an important issue when designing such a system. Housings were to IP 66 standard to prevent dust and moisture ingress and each camera was mounted at a suitable distance from the conveyor to minimise heat radiating from the coils effecting them. Camera housings, however, were not supplied with water jacket cooling or air warping as a supply of clean water and dry air may not always be possible to maintain on the shop floor.

Recording data Coil data is recorded by a multi-channel Digital Video Recorder (DVR). Images are transmitted to the DVR in the mill control room. The DVR records images as well as displaying them live via a monitor. If the cable run between the camera and DVR is more than typically 100 metres, then a fibre optic cable is used for transmitting the camera signal. Suitable fibre optic transmitters at the camera and fibre optic receivers at the DVR are necessary for this.

In general terms, the DVR - CCD system is for image visualisation and recording and archive analysis of mill operation and coil movement. The technical requirements of such a system can be from simple to complicated depending upon the application (Fig 3). The requirement for Bokaro steel mill is relatively simple – to be able to clearly see the moving object and record its identification. For archiving, easily searchable image functions are required.

Implementation CCD cameras were installed in critical locations and the images viewed as a live display of the moving coils at the LTT and on the conveyors in such a way that the coil numbers were visible in the image.

Analogue cameras were selected keeping the low latency benefits of analogue camera compared with internet protocol (IP) cameras (web cameras) which record via a computer network.

September 2015

ROLLING Bokaro tim.indd 2

Real-life deployment Deployment of the DVR-based CCD system over a fibre optic network in a fully operational hot strip mill and HRCF mill was not an easy task as some 600 coils/day are processed throughout the shop floor on a continuous basis. The temperature of coils exiting the HSM is 6000C .

The HRCF/HSM has a number of critical locations where monitoring of coil numbers is necessary for avoiding incorrect transport of the coils on the conveyors. During installation, one of the most important aspects was cable laying.

This required RF cables, power cables and fibre optic cables. Cable laying and routing was carried out to make it as clutter free and joint free as possible. Galvanised ducting pipe was used extensively for this.

The wiring diagram was finalised on the drawing board prior to commencement of on-site wiring. The network has been designed with robust hardware. The amount of wiring is also considerably reduced due to the use of fibre optic cable. Camera housings in the hostile hot

Conclusion The DVR-based CCD camera system with fibre optic network has proved reliable for close monitoring of coil transport which was otherwise dependent on operator vigilance, and was handicapped by the need to rotate the coil to view its ID. The viewing and tracking of hot roll coils from the hot strip mill to hot coil finish has resulted in the correct placement of coils to their designated destinations and also reduced coil spillages from conveyors. This has led to improved operational logistics and reduced mill delays. The cost of the system is comparatively low and yields high benefits, leading to its justification in return-on-investment terms. The system can be deployed at any rolling mill for viewing moving objects in steel plants. t Sources 1. http://www.vision-systems.com/ 2. www.pelco.com 3. http://www.panasonic.com/business/ psna/products-surveillance-monitoring/ index.aspx 4. http://www.thefoa.org/ www.steeltimesint.com

8/25/15 2:03 PM

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38

CONFERENCE REPORT: STEEL SUCCESS STRATEGIES

Signs of optimism

Andre Gerdau Johannpeter, CEO, Gerdau.

Panel I - International - Bigger Threats and Faster Response

While some of the big steel industry names were noticeable by their absence – including ArcelorMittal’s Laskhmi Mittal – the 30th Steel Success Strategies conference in New York provoked some interesting discussions on the big issues affecting the global industry. Manik Mehta* reports SOME of the stars of the steel industry were missing: Lakshmi N. Mittal, chairman/CEO of ArcelorMittal, a crowd-puller, who usually delivers the keynote address at the Steel Success Strategies conferences (SSS) was, conspicuously, missing at the 30th edition of the event, held this year from June 8 to 10 in the Big Apple.

Also missing from the panelist discussions was Russian steel tycoon Alexei Mordashov, CEO of Severstal, who has, in fact, not been seen at the SSS conference for a couple of years, although he once told me years ago that he was “always happy to be at the conference which offered a good platform to discuss topical issues of interest to the steel industry”.

Nevertheless, John J. Ferriola, chairman and CEO of Nucor Corporation, made interesting comments in his keynote address while giving his assessment of the current situation in the steel industry.

Ferriola, who in the recent past had admonished against the “tsunami” of rising steel imports, has been calling for a level-playing field against foreign suppliers.

Nucor joined forces with United States Steel Corp., Steel Dynamics, Arcelor Mittal USA, AK Steel Corp. and California Steel Industries, to file a joint trade complaint in early June, urging the US authorities to impose punitive tariffs against what they alleged were ‘unfair pricing’ of steel imported from China, India, Italy, South Korea and Taiwan.

This specific complaint concerns steel used in the automobile and construction industries, and is the first of its kind this year by the US steel industry, which wants to halt the record level of imported steel.

Be that as it may, one could not ignore the concern expressed by many in private conversations about the overcapacity that threatens the US steel industry and, generally, other regions of the world.

Challenges The US steel industry faces some challenges, including a drop in demand, from the oil and gas industry, for tubular steel products and other equipment needed for drilling oil and gas, the dumping of steel by countries with overcapacity, and enhancing fuel-efficiency in cars with the use of stronger but lighter steels.

Peter F. Marcus and Karlis M. Kirsis, both managing partners at World Steel Dynamics, in their dramatically titled keynote presentation Attack and Counterattack did not appear optimistic about the steel industry’s profit outlook for 2015 and 2016. They cited a drop in prices which, they said, were close to ‘death spiral’ levels. A ‘death spiral’ occurs when prices drop to – or are below – the marginal cost of median-cost steel production.

The duo predicted that it will not be until 2017 that one could expect some good news in terms of profitability for the steel industry. In many cases, financial stress

for steel companies will be so substantial this year and next that a sizable number of steel plants will be downsized and/or eliminated.

Most steel companies will not be able to sustain excess capacity on a ready-tooperate basis because of the shortage of capital. Furthermore, steel companies paying market price for raw materials will be cost competitive, perhaps, well into 2018 because the sizable oversupply of these materials will be so extended.

However, global demand for raw materials will be lacklustre if Chinese steel demand falls back, as both expected.

With Chinese steel demand probably still declining, Chinese steel production in 2016 may be about 790Mt, down from 815Mt this year.

Chinese mills may not be able to sustain their exports for a variety of reasons including an avalanche of trade suits filed against them, a rise in the number of steel mills outside of China that are able to lower their prices enough to challenge the Chinese and the need to boost export and home market prices in order to prevent financial suicide.

According to WSD, China is nearing the end of its “mercantilistic policies” that promote blatantly – which is one of the characteristics of mercantilism – the welfare of domestic manufacturing industries. While China’s exports still account for about 20% of that country’s GDP, its trading partners are rebelling.

* USA correspondent September 2015

CONFERENCE REPORT steel strategies.indd 1

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Peter Marcus and Karlis M. Kirsis from World Steel Dynamics

The US steel industry At the SSS-XXX event, US steel executives also voiced their sentiments about the US economy and the state of the nation’s steel industry. GDP grew by about 0.2% and industrial production by 2% during Q1 2015, but unemployment dropped to 5.5%. New orders received by steel mills were, however, weak because of a surge in foreign supplies, aided by higher US steel prices on a global comparison, coupled with a 5Mt annualised drop in demand for oil country tubular goods as consumption plummeted due to lower drilling activity and distributors paring inventory. Steel industry sales have been affected by the so-called “wait-and-watch” approach adopted by buyers who have delayed or withheld orders because they, rightly, anticipate steel prices to fall.

Lawrence Kavanagh, president of the Steel Market Development Institute (SMDI), a business unit of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), observed in a panel discussion titled Auto Body Warfare: Aluminum Attack, that truck and SUV body structures had become extensive, high-value lightweight thanks to advanced high-strength steels (AHSS).

“There’s more collaboration between the steel industry and automakers than ever before and no shortage of innovative designs helping automakers meet their future fuel economy targets without increased use of alternative materials,” said Kavanagh, pointing out that steel offered affordability and environmental advantages which resonated with consumers.

Some at the conference, trying to push the case for steel, were eager to draw attention to the remarks of John Martin, vice president of Nissan North America, who was quoted on AutoWorldNews.com as saying that his company did not see a need for aluminium. “With high tensile steel, you can get the weight down just as effectively,” Martin reportedly said.

Jody Shaw, director of technical marketing at United States Steel Corporation, also speaking during the Automotive: Autobody warfare: Aluminium attack panel, maintained that efficient steel designs could achieve most of the weight reduction necessary to meet www.steeltimesint.com

CONFERENCE REPORT steel strategies.indd 2

John Ferriola, chairman and CEO, Nucor

2025 Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) requirements while advanced steel designs and aluminium can meet the remaining weight reduction requirements.

Shaw was confident that multiple material strategies would enable weight reduction to meet the 54.4 mpg fuel economy mandate by 2025, adding that there is an “unprecedented opportunity” for implemented value-added steel solutions and that “steel was, is and will continue to provide the material advantage when all aspects are considered”.

Asleep at the wheel Earlier, Marcus and Kirsis in their opening presentation had lamented the initial complacency of the steel industry with regard to the fuel-efficiency mandate. The duo described the attitude of the steel mills 10 years ago as “sleeping on the wheel”, and had not known their customers, nor were they battle-toughened.

Marcus and Kirsis said that advanced high strength steels (AHSS) were now the “new automotive material”.

One interesting feature at this year’s conference was the rankings given by World Steel Dynamics at a forum to world class steelmakers titled Just the Beginning.

As it turned out, South Korean steelmaker POSCO was named, for the sixth straight year, as the world’s most competitive steel manufacturing company. While POSCO led the pack, others following it, in order of sequence, were Nucor, NSSMC, Gerdau, Severstal and JSW Steel.

WSD had assessed the capabilities of 36 steelmakers around the world, using criteria such as production size, profitability, technological innovation, cost competitiveness, cost savings, financial stability and procurement.

Nucor Corporation, which came second after POSCO, benefited from shale gas development privileges along with a recent recovery in the steel industry among developed nations. NSSMC came third, South American steelmaker Gerdau came fourth, and Russian steelmaker Severstal fifth.

Transforming tomorrow Sujit Sanyal, vice president (operations) at ArcelorMittal Montreal Inc. of Canada,

who spoke during a technology session called Evolving alternative iron production, said in separate comments to Steel Times International – he emphasised these comments were strictly his personal viewpoints – that the steel industry had gone through a “major structural transformation over the last decade through market globalisation, the emergence of China as the major steel producer, market consolidation of iron ore producers and the trend in natural gas prices”. “Steelmakers worldwide have adapted to these changes to stay competitive and sustainable. Our management theme over the last 10 years has been successfully expressed through our slogan of ‘transforming tomorrow’.

With the globalisation of the steel industry, there is no room for anything but excellence and this is evidenced by the fact that the number of major steel producers have significantly reduced. Those who are still in the fray are formidable players and are rapidly setting new benchmarking industry standards for the future – be it newer technology with improved automation and IT, newer niche products to create more value for customers, long term partnerships between supplier and customer, or more R&D efforts to develop more robust products in order to mitigate against threats from alternative industries seeking market share in traditional steel products. This is a transformation process and the trend is likely to continue until there is an equilibrium when these efforts would attain the optimum rewards in terms of values for customers,” he maintained.

In Sanyal’s view, the emergence of shale gas with a stable price structure would certainly have a “great impact” on the steel industry, especially the North American steel industry, in the form of more DRI production to substitute scrap, which is in short supply and could be expensive at times, and pig iron which is quite expensive.

Sanyal maintained that the steel Industry has seen continuous need-based technological changes over the decades to make diverse products for varied applications to render robust technical solutions to its valued customers. The September 2015

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40

Delegates at the 30th Steel Success Strategies conference exchange business cards (left) and take a keen interest in what the speakers on stage have to say (right)

same trend continues even now taking into account the redefined market with even more stringent customer needs. New automated steelmaking and finishing technologies with high productivity, clean steels with much superior properties, advanced high strength steel for the automobile industry, efficient supply chain and distribution network and advanced predictive process controls are steps in the right direction. “The driving force for technological innovations will stem from the urgency to remain in the league of low-cost efficient sustainable steel companies,” he said.

Global overcapacity – the biggest threat On North American and Chinese steel markets, Sanyal contended that global overcapacity is the biggest threat against further growth of the steel industry.

There are various estimates ranging from 500Mt to 600Mt of overcapacity half of which was alleged to be in China alone.

“The dumping and subsidies prevalent in the steel trade are jeopardising the level playing field and making growth prospects in North America look uncertain. Tighter state regulations to curb unfair trade has a long way to go. Predictions on the future of the global steel market – and specifically the North American market – are dependent upon various complex factors ranging from currency fluctuations and manipulations, unfair global competition of certain steel products, overcapacity, the export of overcapacity to other countries, a shortage of skilled labour, high school dropouts in North America, the evolution of shale gas and the emergence of alternative materials as steel substitutes.

Growth is projected to be modest in North America, but technological evolutions are likely to continue at greater pace,” he predicted.

The vexing question of overcapacity was raised in many of the conference’s panel discussions and apparently weighed heavily on the minds of some participants. Andre Gerdau Johannpeter, CEO of Gerdau, fleshed out the problem of steel overcapacity that would confront the major countries of the world. In a panel discussion titled Bigger Threats, September 2015

CONFERENCE REPORT steel strategies.indd 3

Faster Response, he maintained that overcapacity was getting worse and had adversely affected the steel industry’s EBITDA margin in the last decade. In his remarks, Johannpeter pointed out that besides overcapacity, the threat to the steel industry came from lower growth in steel use, the so-called exchange rates ‘war’, competition from state-owned enterprises and unfair trade.

He offered some alternatives to the threat facing the steel industry’s sustainability by enhancing the steel industry’s ability to quickly adapt supply to changing demand dynamics, eliminating unfair trade, consolidation of the steel industry, customer-focused service, value added attributes, raising the level of innovation, balance sheet management and, most important, continuing to invest in people.

John E. Lichtenstein, managing director – global metals industry lead, at Accenture, participating in the panel discussion “Bigger Threats, Faster Response”, highlighted two over-arching challenges facing the global steel industry: the evolving threats posed by China and sustaining profit growth.

A tidal wave of exports Lichtenstein said that when people spoke about the threats posed by China’s steel industry, they usually referred to the ‘tidal wave’ of exports and the resulting low prices driven by that country’s massive overcapacity. But he added that the central government was making efforts to shut down the worst polluters and rein in the massive amount of official and unofficial debt underpinning many of the provincially owned steel enterprises. This could be a long and slow path towards achieving a meaningful reduction in excess capacity. But he said that a second threat – the growing volume of indirect steel exports from China – was becoming more and more significant and clearly visible in developing economies whose manufacturing sectors were generally more fragile than those of developed nations.

He discerned a shift in China’s policy, following that country’s announcement in April that it would allow foreign entities to

have a controlling interest in certain steel companies.

Sustaining profitable growth The second challenge facing the global steel industry is growth. While the industry, as a whole, continued to grow globally, an increasing number of companies, including some of the best managed and most profitable steel producers, were finding it difficult to sustain profitable growth. But Lichtenstein said that while the inherent cyclicality of the market was a factor, he maintained that the industry’s traditional growth engines may run out of steam, including international expansion, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), organic growth, upstream and downstream investment. Lichtenstein offered, as solutions, two possible avenues to address the growth challenge, by resorting to diversification and dis-intermediation. On the former, he suggested movements into adjacent rather than completely different lines of business – “then the picture is more promising” – imposing rigid, steelspecific business models onto different businesses. The idea that steel companies cannot run service centres is ‘axiomatic, at least on this continent’, Lichtenstein said.

Additionally, the challenge of achieving sufficient scale to offset negative reactions from other service centre customers has been a strong deterrent to mill acquisitions.

However, leading steel companies are now finally beginning to master their internal supply chains’ and sales/operations’ planning processes to the point where it is possible to consider expanding beyond the traditional boundaries for mill direct business, using captive or independent process to deliver smaller, processed orders, with much shorter lead times than hitherto possible.

Stress in global markets Atsushi Yamaguchi, senior analyst at UBS Securities Japan, one of the panelists in a discussion on China and the developing world, pointed out that Asian excess capacity caused substantial stress in global steel markets. He saw similarities between the time in the 1970s when Japanese exports had peaked, and China’s currently rising exports. t www.steeltimesint.com

8/28/15 9:12 AM

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42

SPECIAL STEELS

Innovation for HSS production Microstructural models often form part of a steel mill’s level 2 control system. These have either been developed in-house or purchased from a supplier, such as Primetals Technologies. The company’s Microstructure Monitor (MSM) has been designed to exploit mill layout flexibility in order to optimise production windows through microstructure modelling rather than traditional practices.

By Joseph Lee1, John Hinton1, Peter Hunt2, Frenk van den Berg3 and Haibing Yang3

AS duty on steel increases, the available process routes – a combination of alloying strategies and temperaturestrain path – that can result in the final required mechanical properties decreases.

A high level of process control and accuracy is required to produce the most advanced grades. State-of-the-art steel manufacturing facilities have sophisticated process models and control systems to deliver the right products and performance from the supplied material. The ultimate goal is to optimise and repeatedly produce material with controlled microstructure and properties, without defects, in an industrial environment. A summary of the design and manufacturing issues for process modelling are given in Table 1.

Traditionally, processing knowledge rests with the plant operator. This is often site-specific, with different characteristics requiring local knowledge to achieve the same results. The customary approach was for the operator to detail the needs to which a plant builder would offer an engineering solution with process knowledge and control based on efficient commissioning. The primary emphasis was on final dimensional tolerances, which provided an accurate assessment of mill performance. A secondary emphasis was on operational efficiency with the development of metallurgical properties left to the plant operator.

In modern steel rolling mills, microstructural models often form part of the mill’s level 2 control system. These have either been developed in-house or purchased from a supplier, such as the

Microstructure Monitor (MSM) supplied

by Primetals Technologies. MSM has been designed so that the flexibility of a mill layout can be used to optimise production windows through microstructure modelling rather than traditional practices.

The aim is to provide a real time simulation of the microstructure development; the core model determines recrystallisation, grain growth and precipitation behaviour while neural networks train models to predict the mechanical properties from chemical composition and processing parameters.

Recent updates include the integration of a new analysis package and an offline mode to aid the plant operator in the investigation of unexpected results.

Both are designed to develop a robust production window and determine the best working parameters with respect to microstructure and properties, prior to a more risky trial production run. MSM demonstrates that steel has gone the furthest in model-based control because the process windows are wide and relatively forgiving and its properties are responsive to the hot working practice.

The target for this through process system for steel is beyond model-based control and towards model-based certification.

In an increasingly competitive market place, the demands on steel grade performance continue to drive producers to improve control over the variables listed in Table 1. Steel customers, for example, require improvements in material quality to further their own products. Consequently, there is a demand for higher product consistency, while more sophisticated steel grades have increased the requirements for tighter control and repeatability of process conditions. This puts greater emphasis on instrumentation capability and the online measuring system. The success of these set-ups is largely linked to measurable physical properties and, traditionally, surface temperature has been used by the steel industry. Given the environment (steam) and the complex evolution of the surface (oxide scale, surface debris, water) temperature would not necessarily be the preferred choice throughout the process route, but several pyrometers are used to monitor production and provide feedback for the level 2 scheduling system and the online models (end of hold temperature, for example).

Measuring the internal state of the steel during processing has been a strong requirement for many years. Process models aside, it would be beneficial

Material aspects

Manufacturing concerns

Microstructure

Increased productivity

Optimum Conditions

Repeatability

Acceptable process limits

Improved yield

Table 1 Summary of the material and manufacturing issues to be addressed by process modelling

1 Primetals Technologies Ltd * Unit S, Sheffield Business Park, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, UK, S9 1XU Phone: +44 (0) 1707 726500 Email: lee.joseph@primetals.com, john.hinton@primetals.com 2 Primetals Technologies Ltd 9 Enterprise Way, Aviation Park West, Christchurch, Dorset, UK, BH23 6EW Phone: +44 (0) 1202 331389 Email: peter_hunt@primetals.com 3 Tata Steel P.O. Box 10.000, 1970 CA IJmuiden, The Netherlands Phone: +31 2514 95186 Email: frenk.van-den-berg@tatasteel.com, haibing.yang@tatasteel.com *Primetals Technologies (formerly Siemens Metals Technologies) is a joint-venture company of Siemens, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Partners.

September 2015

SPECIAL STEELS primetals.indd 1

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SPECIAL STEELS

Target Active pick up coil

Active side sensing flux

43

Fig 2: Left; the University of Manchester and Tata Steel prototype sensors in the mill table and Right; sensor container, housing and mill location

Common excitation coil

Active side Dummy side

Ferrite core

Fig 1: A schematic of the sensor head

Dummy pick up coil

to monitor the development of the microstructure through the process in order to identify grain refinement and strain penetration. This takes on further meaning when the nature of steel alloys, the exceptional range of compositions, final properties and product applications are considered as it becomes a quantitative analysis of trial production runs (which may be developed offline using the best working parameters).

The physical metallurgy of steel alloys makes it possible to measure the internal state of the metal. Towards the end of high temperature processing, the metal undergoes controlled cooling, which is designed to transform the austenite phase and develop a final microstructure of ferrite morphologies that deliver the final product properties, including yield strength, toughness, ductility and formability. In effect, this is a realisation of the high temperature conditioning of the austenite phase by controlling the phase transformation to produce a final structure that will predominantly contain ferrite but will also consist of second phases such as carbides, pearlite, acicular ferrite/bainite and/or martensite. It has been accepted for a long time that steel is an appropriate alloy system to exploit the differences in magnetic permeability of the different phases, as the transformation to various ferrite morphologies is accompanied by a change in magnetic behaviour; from paramagnetic to ferromagnetic.

The ability to measure this principle is well known, but it is important to recognise that for electromagnetic impedance measurements, there are two main conditions: ‘cold’ and ‘not cold’.

When ‘not cold’ there are additional considerations; for example, it is difficult to get the sensor close (typically there is an air gap of at least several millimetres) and the sensor design has increased in complexity (for example, water cooling and additional robustness).

The challenge of developing simple sensors into an online sensor design that can measure the real time transformation of steel, has been the subject of much research over many years at the Universities www.steeltimesint.com

SPECIAL STEELS primetals.indd 2

Dummy side sensing flux

of Manchester and Birmingham in the UK. These institutions have looked at exploiting the changing magnetic properties of the transforming steel by the use of an electromagnetic sensor (EMSpec Technology from the University of Manchester). A detailed overview of a new instrument that provides online measurement of the phase transformation has been recently produced. Research at the University of Manchester looked into the effects of magnetic permeability with respect to the frequency of the applied sensor excitation. Combining the effects of phase transformation and frequency on permeability, a sensor design was developed using a spectrum of excitation frequencies (see Fig 1). The principle is to analyse the complex impedance for each frequency, with progress of phase transformation measured by the angle of rotation of the impedance vectors.5 By measuring a spectrum of frequencies, the sensor becomes relatively immune to the potential variation in stand-off likely during processing.

The University of Manchester’s early work with Tata Steel was conducted at three sites in northern Europe (Port Talbot and Scunthorpe in the UK and IJmuiden in Holland) which proved the value of the sensor and obtained a detailed insight into its robustness in a hot steel production environment.

Latterly, Primetals Technologies (formally Siemens Metals Technologies), has been central in supplying and developing the industrial sensor, processing electronics and software. As a result of the initial trials undertaken by Tata Steel in IJmuiden, an on-going project with a full industrial installation of a three-sensor system for the Run Out Table (ROT) on Hot Strip Mill number 2 has been undertaken. Primetals Technologies is supplying the equipment complete with three sensors located alongside existing pyrometers to measure the transformation from the finishing mill to the down coiler.5 Fig 2 shows two images; the left side shows a prototype sensor developed by the University of Manchester and Tata Steel, which proved the concept, but was not a long-term

solution, while on the right the set-up is for a full industrial installation.

Application in hot strip mills In hot strip mills, the final microstructures can be adjusted to produce a wide range of strengths in coiled material from very low carbon (virtually single phase ferrite) up to high strength dual or triple phase steels where tensile strength may be in excess of 1000MPa. The process variables and window (mill exit temperature, interrupted cooling sequence and final coiling temperature) for these complex, but high quality, triple phase steels is tight; and control of these variables during the cooling sequence is critical to ensure that the final microstructure is correct and the process is stable and repeatable. Fig 3 provides a schematic of the Run-Out Table Cooling taken from the MSM of Primetals Technologies for a hot strip mill.

The typical locations of the existing online instrumentation are shown, along with the proposed location of the three sensors in the trials at the hot strip mill of Tata Steel in IJmuiden. The diagram illustrates how the EM sensors will provide additional signals and work in conjunction with existing mill line instrumentation.

The cooling zone is a difficult and aggressive environment for conventional monitoring techniques; for example, the large volumes of water lead to inaccurate measurements of optical temperature sensors. An additional advantage of EM Sensors, therefore, is that feedback is provided direct from the progression of transformation in the microstructure.

This is different from indirect temperature measurements that are then correlated with process models (such as the MSM) and the final microstructure from the coiled strip.

Interpreting the EM Sensor Signal The key to developing this technique is to understand and interpret the meaning of the EM sensor signal in the context of the steel microstructure. This is not as straightforward as ‘cold’ EM sensor experiments have demonstrated: that a number of microstructure constituents September 2015

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Last finishing stand (F7)

Controlled run out table cooling

x10-5 11

60

Downcoiler

10

50

9 8 7

 Load  Torque  Tension  Roll gap  Speed

 EM Sensor  Temperature  Temperature  EM Sensor  EM Sensor

Application in plate mills MSM has demonstrated the extent to which model-based control has penetrated the steel industry. By comparison with hot strip mills, it has been a relatively recent arrival in plate mills. There are two main reasons for this; i) for heavier sections, microstructure development has through thickness considerations and ii) many applications are safety critical.

The current goal for plate products is to achieve specific properties, such as crack propagation resistance and toughness.

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6

30

5 20

4 3

10

2 1

0 0

Fig 3: A schematic diagram to show the typical instrumentation towards the end of processing on a hot strip mill and the proposed locations of the EM Sensor for forthcoming industrial trials

influence the measured signal. For example, the low frequency inductance value has been shown to be sensitive to changes in relative permeability due to a change in the ferrite fraction. In this case, once calibrated, the EM sensor could be used to assess the dual phase ferrite pearlite microstructure in a non-contact, non-destructive manner. It has also been shown the prior austenite grain size (the strain temperature path) and orientation.

Banding and texture can also influence changes in measured impedance.3 Greater understanding of the sensitivity of the EM sensor signal to these changes in microstructure is needed, particularly considering the application of the device to steel plate rolling.

As described earlier, there are clear commercial advantages to the sensor working in conjunction with other measurement techniques in a hot strip mill. From the microstructure perspective, there are also advantages as the final gauge of the majority of strip production is such that, to a degree, the through thickness microstructure and temperature can assume homogeneity. Planned fullscale trials will give greater insight into the process, building up knowledge and understanding across the production gauge range.5 Direct measurement of microstructure development will provide better understanding of cooling/ transformation. Ultimately, this will lead to achieving the required microstructure and properties more consistently.

B Magnitude

50mm

40

Likewise, the application of this technique to plate steels requires additional considerations to understand, evaluate and interpret EM sensor signals.

Additional factors to be considered include:• Through thickness temperature variation • Inhomogeneous microstructure, for example, grain size distribution which influences the number and location of nucleation sites during transformation • Orientation effects • Assessment of microstructure banding; for example, MnS stringers and centre-line segregation • Texture; although typically this is less pronounced than for some other steel grades, such as electrical steels and IF steels for deep drawing There is also the design of the sensor head to review; for the hot strip mill it has pole spacing across the H of 120mm.

With this configuration, the sensor can penetrate the passing steel to a depth of 5mm – 10mm as shown in Fig 4 For thicknesses typical of plate steels, an increase in pole spacing is required to measure deeper into the material.

However, this also means that the sensor will be averaging over depths where temperature and microstructure vary from potentially differing strain temperature paths which, in themselves, necessitate gaining a fundamental understanding of the influence of microstructure components on the sensor signal.

In addition to the variation in microstructure through thickness, which is due to the large width range of steel plate of between 1.5m to 4.8m for a typical 5m wide mill, measuring the microstructure at points across the width could be beneficial; and is similar to the need to measure temperature across the width when producing critical steel plate products such as pipeline steel. To achieve this, three measurement heads could be positioned across the plate width, centre-line and the two outside regions,

20

40

60

80

100

120

1000mm

Fig 4: FEM model of field penetration

as shown in Fig 5a. This is relatively easy to undertake in a fixed position. However, where large plate width variations are concerned, ideally the two outside sensors would be moveable, depending on plate width. Fig 5b shows the Primetals sensor container and housing, and Fig 5c the sensor itself. Depending on mill layout, product mix and control system functionality, there are many potential positions along the line EM devices.

For a new mill with Accelerated Cooling (ACC), producing a full range of products, a minimum of three locations should be considered, as shown in Fig 6.

At its most basic, the EM sensor could be used to trigger a stage of the rolling process. Positioning the first sensor in front of the plate mill stand allows deformation to be carried out once a certain volume fraction of austenite has transformed; this approach is more commonly used by mills without ACC to produce higher strength thermo-mechanically processed grades. When using ACC, however, it is common to carry out the last rolling pass close to (above) the austenite to ferrite transformation temperature (Ar3), so at the very least the sensor could be used for quality control purposes to check that deformation along the plate length was completed above the Ar3 temperature.

The second sensor is positioned in front of the ACC machine. This sensor could be used to initiate cooling once a certain volume fraction of pre-eutectic ferrite has formed. The remaining austenite transforms to a stronger phase, such as bainite after ACC, for example.

This technique can be applied to the production of strain-based design pipeline steels where a combination of a soft (ferrite) and hard phase (bainite) can be used to produce a low yield to tensile strength ratio (Y/T), achieving the required ‘round-house’ stress-strain curve. Strainbased design pipelines are engineered specifically so that they can undergo plastic deformation, i.e, buckling, and still fully complete their function. They are applied in arctic regions where freeze/thaw www.steeltimesint.com

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a

b

45

c

Fig 5: a) Position of three sensors across roller table width, b) sensor container and housing and c) the sensor itself

1. Plate mill entry

2. ACC entry

3. ACC exit

Fig 6: Three potential EM sensor locations for plate mills

can cause movement, in regions of high seismic activity and for subsea pipelines where deformation may occur during laying. This dual phase microstructure can also prove suitable for heavy gauge pipeline steels and higher strength pipeline steels. Checks can be performed from a quality control perspective on grades where cooling starting from below the Ar3 is undesirable.

The third sensor is positioned at the exit of the ACC machine. Microstructural feedback can provide information for online models such as MSM, with the aim of microstructural property prediction, or to verify empirical calculations within other models. By adapting cooling models that rely on a calculated volume fraction of ferrite and austenite, each having its own thermal properties, using measured feedback would lead to improved cooling accuracy. Additionally, a sensor in this area could be used to complement advanced processes such as hot online processing (HOP) developed by JFE. In this case ACC is stopped when the microstructure consists of bainite and untransformed austenite, before a reheating stage is applied. The retained austenite, enriched by carbon diffusing from the bainite, then transforms to islands of a hard martensite/ austenite phase (MA). Although there are several specific published benefits to the HOP process, the general principal behind controlling the MA constituent is to create a uniform and finely dispersed high carbon, hard second phase, that increases the tensile strength of the material, increasing the Y/T ratio, making the material suitable for strain-based design pipeline steels.

MA islands can have a detrimental effect on impact performance if their size and www.steeltimesint.com

SPECIAL STEELS primetals.indd 4

distribution are not controlled.

The advanced steel grades described have undergone a large development effort, requiring expert knowledge, precise process control and understanding. With the aid of microstructural feedback, the development of these grades should be much quicker and require less research and development, making them accessible to a wider range of steel producers.

Conclusions Developments in the online measurement of microstructure evolution are opening up the possibilities of being able to close the loop on rolling mill microstructure modelling, complementing an existing trend towards reducing the physical testing of rolled products and continued progression towards model-based control and certification. These new sensors would work in conjunction with more traditional measurement systems, but with the added benefit that new measurements directly reflect changes in microstructure. These will add to existing knowledge on process metallurgy and will lead to achieving the required microstructure and properties more consistently during a production run.

This knowledge will permit further process refinements and should allow for faster and cheaper development of advanced steel grades in future. It is clear that the new sensor provides opportunities for more companies to compete in a niche area while enabling those at the forefront of this area to further understand and improve their products. t References

1. J. Hinton, J. Lee and H.U. Löeffler; “The Industrial Application of Microstructure

Modelling; a View out of the Process Window”, Materials Science Forum, Vol. 753 (2013) p31 2. H.U. Löeffler, “New Analysis and Simulation Features of the Microstructure Monitor and First Results from Plate Mills”, AISTech 2011, Indianapolis, Ind., USA, 2nd – 5th May 2011 3. M.P. Papaelias, M. Strangwood, A.J. Peyton & C.L. Davis; “Measurement and Modelling of the Electromagnetic Response to Phase Transformations in Steels”, Met. Mat. Trans. A, 35A (2004), p965.

4. C.L. Davis, S.J. Dickinson and A.J. Peyton; “Impedance Spectroscopy for remote analysis of steel microstructures”; Ironmaking and Steelmaking, vol. 32 no. 5 (2005), p381 5. P. Hunt, F. Van Den Berg and H. Yang; “The Real Time Transformation Control at Hot Strip Mill”, Metec 2015 6. L. Zhou, J. Liu, X.J. Hao, M. Strangwood, A.J. Peyton and C.L. Davis; “Quantification of the Phase Fraction in steel using an electromagnetic sensor”; NDT&E International 67 (2014), p31.

7. Y. Shinohara et Al, “Development of a high strength steel line pipe for strain-based design applications”, 17th International Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference, Lisbon, Portugal, 2007 8. S-H. Chon, J-Y. Yoo & J-S. Kang, “Development of Heavy Gauge X80 Linepipe Steels for Low Temperature Usage”, Rio Pipeline Conference & Exposition 2011, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 9. T. Hara et Al,“Metallurgical design and development of high-grade line pipe”, The International Pipeline Conference, Calgary, Canada, 2012 10. I. Robinson & M. Hulley, “Control of plate thermomechanical properties using MULPIC® plate cooling technology”, AISTech 2013, Pittsburgh, USA 11. M. Okatsu, N. Shikanai, J. Kondo, “Development of a High-Deformability Linepipe with Resistance to Strain-aged Hardening by HOP® (Heat-treatment On-line Process)”, JFE Technical Report No. 12 (Oct. 2008), http:// www.jfe-steel.co.jp/en/research/report/012/ pdf/012-03 12. K. Jonnson et Al, “The effect of microstructure on tensile behaviour of X80 microalloyed steel”, The International Pipeline Conference, Calgary, Canada, 2012 September 2015

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STAINLESS STEELS

Stainless steel growth in India The stainless steel sector in India is confronted with many challenges in terms of access to raw materials, energy costs and cheaper imports, all of which have a serious impact on the industry’s performance.

Increasing capacity and production from major Asian stainless producers pose a challenge to local producers since market share is lost. Dependence on imported raw material, especially nickel (Ni) and stainless scrap, presents a significant limitation to the stainless steel business, given that internal scrap availability in India is insignificant due to the low base of stainless production, consumption and recycling. By S. Srikanth and N. Banerjee*

GIVEN India’s expected GDP growth and the continuous upswing in demand for stainless steels, it is of strategic interest that stainless steel production continues to grow with improved upstream integration, ensuring access to raw materials. It may be interesting to note that the historical trends for demand growth of stainless steel globally have been higher than crude steel and this is expected to continue going forward.

Fig 1 shows the compounded annual growth of crude steel, stainless steel and other metals globally over the past 60 years. The stainless steel production growth rate has been highest among all base metals and this necessitates development of viable strategies to remain competitive.

The drivers for such impressive growth are the sterling characteristics of stainless steels, namely corrosion and oxidation resistance, high strength to weight ratio, excellent press formability, weldability and low temperature toughness, to name a few (Fig 1).

Stainless steel scenario India has a very low penetration level where stainless steel is concerned.

Consumption of stainless and alloyed steel has hovered between 3Mt to 3.5Mt over the past few years. Considering demand growth of 6% for stainless steel in India, it is expected to reach 4.5Mt to 5.2Mt by 2020. Growth projections for world stainless steel consumption to 2020 have been predicted to touch 55Mt to 56Mt (Fig 2). With China commanding about 45% of world stainless output, it can be considered that by 2020, the major share (> 50%) of all stainless steel will be produced in China.

1950-2010

1980s

1990s

2000s

%

%

%

%

2010s %

Crude steel

3.4

0.7

0.9

5.3

4.9

Stainless steel

5.9

4.5

6.3

4.9

6.0

Primary nickel

3.9

1.8

2.2

2.3

3.8

Copper

3.3

1.8

3.2

2.6

3.1

Aluminium

5.6

2.3

2.8

4.7

5.0

Table 1: World compound annual growth rates for metals production

Chinese growth in stainless production has been remarkably good. According to the Stainless Steel Council of China’s Special Steel Enterprises Association (SSC), China’s stainless steel output rose 21.2% year-on-year to 10.69Mt during H1 2014.

The rise in production has been across all grades. The production of 300-series stainless steel increased 27.3% year-onyear to 5.56Mt in the first six months of the year. The output of 200-series stainless steel was 2.89Mt and the 400-series was 2.25Mt in the January-June period, which represented an increase of 13% for 200 Series and 18.1% for the 400 series.

Chinese stainless steel exports rose by 54.5% in the first half of this year (2015).

Fig 3 offers a breakdown of different stainless steel grades produced during 2013 in China.

In contrast, India’s stainless steel production has centred around the 200-series due to ready domestic availability of Cr, Mn; increasing prices of Ni and its reliance on Ni imports. The rest of the world stainless production scenario has been flat with major European stainless plants reporting lower outputs.

Stainless production in Japan, Korea and North America also report a lower or no growth situation leading to consolidations and closures. According to figures from the International Stainless Steel Forum, stainless steel production reported in

India during 2013 was 2.4Mt. In terms of different stainless grades, more than twothirds of India’s production has been the 200-series (Fig 4).

The impact of nickel prices Ni and chromium (Cr) form the two most essential raw materials for stainless steel production. With the development and large scale production of 200-series stainless steel, mainly in China and India, the requirement of Manganese (Mn) as a raw material has also become important.

For production of higher value stainless steels, some other alloying elements like molybdenum (Mo), titanium (Ti), niobium (Nb), boron (B) and aluminium (Al) are also important, but are required in lesser quantities. Since EAF-AOD-CC is the preferred route for stainless steel production, the cost of scrap, electricity and refractory also decide the profit potential of any stainless shop. However, nickel is by far the costliest component among the metals. World consumption for this metal and the dominance of China in terms of nickel demand growth over the years has been shown in Fig 5.

Changing user behaviour Increasing prices of alloying elements have led users and producers worldwide to reconsider grade selection. The stainless steel industry has also responded to

* R&D Centre for Iron and Steel, Steel Authority of India Limited, Ranchi – 834 002, India Email: srikanth@sail-rdcis.com September 2015

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Aesthetically fashionable

100% recyclable

World World exponential trendline: growing at 5.6% p.a.

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10 0 1950

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1,800 1,600 1,400 ‘000 tonnes

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Total 20.5 million tonnes

Fig 3: Break-up of different grades of stainless steels produced in China during 2013

300 Series 20%

200 Series 70%

400 Series 10%

Fig 4: Proportion of different grades of stainless steels produced in India

World nickel consumption 1980-2015

Stainless steel production by grade, 2001-2020f

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

400 200 1990

1995

Fig.5: China’s dominance in nickel demand growth

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The price of nickel has inspired a change in the composition of stainless steel

China Other Fmr CPEs Russia Other West Developing Asia Japan Western Europe USA

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in India200is Series/CrMn shown in Fig 8. Such wideranging applications in diverse sectors are achieved by a large and growing family Duplex of stainless steels. Based on structure, stainless steels are broadly categorised 400 Series as ferritic, martensitic, austenitic and duplex (Ferritic+Austenitic). Austenitics are further sub-divided into chrome-nickel (300-series) and chrome-manganese (200-series) based on dominant alloying additions of nickel and manganese respectively. Chrome-nickel stainless steels currently account for nearly half (~55%) of world production. Since chromemanganese stainless steels also have lots of similarities in respect of structure, physical and mechanical properties with 200 Seriestheir production has been Cr-Ni grades, steadily increasing in recent years. In the last decade, the percentage of chrome300 Series manganese stainless steels has more than doubled (~20%). Incidentally, the price of Cr-Ni stainless 300 Series steel closely follows nickel prices.

Traditionally, stainless steel production growth in India has been driven by demand for utensils and kitchenware.

India is the only country where more than 50% of production is utilised by utensil manufacturers. However, with market development, considerable demand growth has been registered in sectors like ABC (Architecture, Building and Construction), ART (Automobiles, Railways and Transportation), process industry (in

lex 0

Dup

Consumption patterns Historically, stainless steel demand has been largely driven by population, economic growth and development (Fig 7). As is evident, the consumption of stainless steel per capita in India is markedly lower at about 2 kg compared to other Asian countries like China, Korea and Japan. The world average per capita consumption is about 10 kg. Thus, there is tremendous scope for increasing production and consumption of stainless steel in India.

Emerging usage trends The consumption trend in different sectors

1990

Fig 2: Growth stainless steel production over 70 years 300inSeries (1950-2020)

Fig 1: Properties of stainless steels

changing user behaviour. Innovations by stainless producers have made it possible to keep material substitution trends within the stainless steel family (Fig 6).

While technical development determines a material’s potential, economic factors often decide its market success. The most relevant economic factor over the last 10 years has been the volatility of rawmaterial prices – especially that of nickel.

In applications with strong inter-material competition, where several materials can qualify for the same end-use, price factors usually tip the balance. There has, therefore, been growing concern that the cost of alloying elements – which is reflected in the alloy surcharge – and the availability of scrap could limit the development of stainless steel use.

1980

2000

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300 series (CrNi grades) Other/not known

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Nickel price (US$2012/t)

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300 series (CrMn grades)

Fig 6: Trend in stainless steel production grade wise

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STAINLESS STEELS

Stainless steel consumption 25 (kg per capita)

Architecture, Building & Construction (ABC) 6%

China

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Europe

15

Cookware 2028

Other Asia 2015

Engineering 8%

2015

2007

2028 2007

5

2015

Cookware & Consumer Durables 52%

America

India

2007

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25,000

20,000

Electro Mechanical Automotile Industry 1%

Electro Mechanical I

2028

2015

0 0

Architecture

Process Industry & Power 18%

2028

10

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous 5%

Engineering

GDP in US$ per capita

Fig 7: Stainless steel consumption world wide

Future growth drivers The sustainable growth of Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stainless steel industry necessitates the adoption of technologies and systems for raw material security, energy efficiency, recycling and re-use and research initiatives for product development and penetration. To this effect, exploration of alternative sources of nickel such as Ni-rich pig iron, energy conservation initiatives, recycling and reuse of stainless steel slag, oxide scales, sludges and pickling residues for recovery of costly heavy metals (Ni, Cr) have, in particular, attracted the attention of stainless steel makers.

Nickel Pig Iron (NPI) Nickel pig iron (NPI) is a Chinese innovation where low grade ferronickel is used as a cheaper alternative to pure nickel for the production of stainless steel. It is made by smelting low-grade lateritic nickel ore and

coking coal. The mixture is pyrologically reduced in either a blast furnace or electric arc furnace in combination with a rotary kiln. Impurities are removed through smelting and the resulting nickel pig iron product contains 0.5-15% nickel. The production of such Ni through different routes was reported to be around 0.5Mt in 2013 (Figs 9 & 10).

Fig 9: Nickel pig iron

As NPI technology and process has matured, there has been a large shift

by Chinese stainless producers towards greater utilisation of alternative nickel sources. This is reflected in Fig 11 depicting the trend of primary Ni usage in Chinese stainless steel production.

Chinese NPI production by process type (kt nickel contained) Consumption/production (kt)

500 400 300 200 100 0 2015f

Blast furnace (0.5-2% Ni)

Blast furnace (4-8% Ni)

Electric furnace (9-10% Ni)

Rotary kiln + electric furnace (9-15% Ni)

Fig10: NPI production in China

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STAINLESS STEELS sankrith.indd 3

a. Low interstitial ferritic stainless steel The development of formable, corrosion resistant ferritic stainless steel equivalent to the 300-series without adding expensive constituents has long been demanded by stainless steel users worldwide. In this context, low interstitial (C+N â&#x2030;¤ 250 ppm) ferritic stainless steel grades such as 432, 436L, 439, 441, 443, 444, 446 containing Molybdenum (Mo) and stabilising elements such as Titanium (Ti) and Niobium (Nb) are particularly promising.

In addition to improved corrosion resistance and superior formability, these offer improved weldability and superior toughness properties and find application in automotive exhaust systems, food processing equipment, elevator panels, heat exchangers and appliances.

16000

600

2014f

Product development The long term viability of the Indian stainless steel industry invariably calls for tailoring its product mix to suit emerging trends and changing market needs. In recent years, the salient trend has been towards greater use of the following stainless products, which are expected to bring about new developments in terms of process technology, product attributes and applications:

0.08 0.07

12000

Relative intensity of use

chemical and petrochemical plants, oil and gas industry), power projects (nuclear, solar power and conventional projects), consumer durables and other industrial applications. Thus, the consumption pattern in India is evolving towards a profile which is prevalent in more mature markets like China, Korea, the EU, Japan and the USA.

2013

Process Industry & P

Fig 8: Indian stainless steel consumption pattern 2013-14

0.06 8000

0.05

4000

0.04

0

0.03 2002

2003

2004

2005 2006

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Primary nickel consumption (LHS)

Stainless steel production (LHS)

Relative intensity of use (RHS)

Fig11: Primary Ni use vis-a-vis stainless production in China

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b. Metastable austenitic stainless steels These steels comprise austenitic stainless steel grades 301, 301L, 201 and 201L and are produced in a wide variety of tempers. Their application in a large number of Metro Coach projects is driven by their inherently superior crash resistance properties (energy absorption characteristics) and their ability to be formed into lighter structural components (lower tare weight). With newer Metro projects envisaged, these grades could drive future stainless steel consumption in the country. c. Speciality and duplex stainless steels There is growing need for development and production of stainless grades for niche and demanding applications in oil and gas, aerospace, defence and nuclear applications which are capable of withstanding increasingly tougher service conditions and safety standards. Duplex stainless steels like UNS S32707, 32750, 32205, 32304, 32101 and superaustenitic grades such as UNS S31727, N08904

(904L), S08367 (AL-6XN), 31254 (254 SMO) and 32654 (654 SMO) have stringent end-use and potential for providing large margins to stainless steel makers, owing to specialised knowledge and technical capability associated with their manufacture and processing.

Recent analysis by Metal Bulletin Research shows that stainless steel companies producing niche products have a clearer focus, less competition and present higher barriers to entry for potential rivals. They all possess specialist knowledge, customised technology, product patents and/or hard-to-get certifications from demanding customers in industries such as aerospace and oil and gas. In many instances it is only a handful of producers worldwide who are able to provide certain products thereby generating higher EBITDA margins.

Summary India’s stainless steel sector is confronted with looming challenges in terms of access to raw materials, especially nickel, energy costs and cheaper imports. Surplus capacities, low per capita consumption

49

and sluggish demand have led to dwindling market share for Indian stainless producers in recent times.

The sustainable growth and profitability of the industry in India calls for the rapid adaptation and re-orientation of steel makers towards newer applications and changing trends in stainless steel usage.

There is an impending need to develop specialised knowhow and technological capability for production and application engineering of newer grades of advanced, speciality stainless steels for niche and demanding applications to improve industry bottom lines.

References 1. Report of the Working Group on Steel Industry for the Twelfth Five Year Plan, Planning Commission.

2. ISSF Stainless Steel in Figures 2014.

3. Metal Bulletin Research, http://www. metalbulletinresearch.com//Popups/PrintArticle. aspx?ArticleID=3349522.

4. Report on resources for the steel industry prepared by ESTEP’s WG4.

5. China NPI Industry 2012-2015 (Annual Report - Nickelbar).

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AM5915_Steel Times Int 07/08/2015 16:26 Page 1

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STAINLESS STEELS

51

Extending PCI lance tube performance Poor structural stability and creep strength properties found in standard stainless steel tube for blast furnaces have lead to the development of an innovative material which could take the place of higher alloyed materials such as 25Cr/20Ni steels, Alloy 800H, and even Alloy 600. David Zhou* explains why.

THE method of injecting pulverised coal into blast furnaces is shown to bring remarkable economic benefits to demanding manufacturing processes, such as iron-making. For these purposes, pulverised coal injection (PCI) lance tube is one of the most critical parts of a blast furnace and can significantly influence energy efficiency, production consistency and safety.

Conventional materials The types of steel selected for these components can affect the advantages achieved by operators. However, it has become increasingly apparent in recent times that standard materials are not capable of meeting growing demand for better performance and longer service.

Conventional materials are prone to wear and bending, which can shorten lifecycles, sometimes to one month. These failures can result in the shutdown of blast furnaces, creating huge economic losses.

Standard grades that have exhibited insufficient performance properties include austenite steel, 304, otherwise known as 18/8 for its composition of 18% chromium and 8% nickel. It lacks resistance to abrasion, oxidation and carburisation, prompting Sandvik to conduct extensive research into high temperature corrosion resistance and creep rupture strength of materials selected for PCI lance tubing.

Through these assessments, the company

Grades

C

Si

Mn

Cr

253 MA

0.08

1.60

≤0.8

21.0

AISI 310

0.06

≤0.75

1.5

24.5

Ni

Ti

Mo

N

Ce

11.0

-

-

0.17

0.05

21.0

-

-

-

-

Table 1: Chemical composition of 253 MA and AISI 310 (nominal composition, wt.%)

would identify a new and improved material with excellent high temperature oxidation and carburisation corrosion resistance and high temperature strength.

The new grade would prove capable of increasing the service life of PCI lance tube by more than three times.

Causes of PCI lance tube failure Fig 1 is a schematic diagram of PCI lance tube equipment. The PCI lance itself is one seamless stainless steel tube, the outside surface of which is subjected to high hot air temperatures in the range of 1,100 to 1,300°C (2,010 to 2,370°F). The inner surface is in prolonged contact with fine pulverised coal particles with a granularity range of 0-1000 μm, and the flow rate of these can reach 15-30 metres per second (m/s).

It is against these operational factors and high temperatures that some steel grades are susceptible to high temperature oxidation and carburisation corrosion.

As a consequence, PCI lance tubing manufactured from standard grades can be easily bent and worn-out during service at high temperatures, causing tube failure, examples of which are shown in Fig 2.

Chemical compositions Typical domestic PCI lance tube materials include 310S, TP321H and 316L. Tests by Sandvik focused on its own 253 MA grade and AISI 310S, mainly examining the oxidation resistance and high temperature creep rupture of each and comparing and testing the service life of the two materials.

The chemical composition of the materials are shown in Table 1.

Sandvik’s 253 MA is an austenitic chromium-nickel steel alloyed with nitrogen and rare earth metals and characterised by high creep strength, good resistance to isothermal and cyclic oxidation, good structural stability at high temperature and good weldability.

The material is designed with a maximum operating temperature of approximately 1,150°C (2,100°F).

Effects on the oxide scale structure The oxidation and corrosion resistance properties of common seamless stainless steels come from the chromium (III) oxide (Cr2O3) protective films formed on substrates (or molecules upon which an enzyme acts). Cr2O3 protective films can hinder oxygen (O), carbon (C), nitrogen

PCI rate 150kg/fHM Coal & nitrogen

Raceway

Lance tube

Blast (air-oxygen)

15-30m/s

B

200m/s 1250°C Blowpipe Water cooled tuyere Coal: ~ 150a/m3 of blast BF walls

Fig 1: PCI lance tube equipment schematic diagram

Fig 2: Examples of apparent failure of PCI lance tube; a) shows bending failure while b) depicts wear out failure

* Technical marketing specialist, Sandvik Materials Technology www.steeltimesint.com

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STAINLESS STEELS

cr2o3 Sio3 CeO

cr2o3

Substrate

Substrate

Corrosion rate, mm/year

Fig 3: Schematic diagram of AISI 310 and 253 MA scale structures

9011b Carbon content, weight -%

6.0 (240) 2.0

2.0 (80)

AISI 310

AISI 310 1.0

6.0 (240)

253 MA 253 MA

0 1000 (1830)

1050 (1920)

1100 (2010)

Temperature, °C (°F)

800 (1470)

1200 (2190)

1150 (2100)

Fig 4: The corrosion rate of 253 MA and AISI 310 at high temperature cyclic oxidation environment

Mpa

900 (1650)

1000 (1830)

Temperature, °C (°F)

Fig 5: The carburization corrosion resistance of 253 MA and AISI 310 under different temperatures

E1250

100

Sanicro 31HT

253MA

TP347 TP321

353MA TP304

10

Fig 6: High temperature creep rupture strength of 253 MA and AISI 310 under different temperatures for 105hours (h)

Alloy 600

TP316 TP310

4C54

1 600

700

800

(N) and other elements from diffusing into the substrates, which lower the corrosion rate.

The oxide scale on the substrates of stainless steel has a great influence on the corrosion resistant properties of the material; a denser oxide scale results in better corrosion resistant properties.

The greater the adhesive force between oxide scale and substrate, the better the protective property since the oxide scale is less prone to flaking.

The oxide scale significantly influences wear resistance and this is reflected in the enhanced chemical properties of 253 MA into which 1.6% silicon (Si) and 0.05% cerium (Ce) have been added. These elements form three layers of oxide scale on the substrate comprising, from outside to inside, Cr2O3, silicon dioxide (SiO2) and cerium oxide (CeO).

Because the oxide scale has high density and strong adhesive force within the substrate, it has excellent oxidation and carburisation resistance properties.

September 2015

STAINLESS STEELS T sandvik.indd 2

900

1000

1100°C

Oxidation Oxidation can occur at any temperature, and the oxidation rate will increase with the temperature if the amount of oxygen is high enough. A further advantage of oxidation is that the formed layer on the outer surface of the tube can protect the component as long as the layer is dense, continuous and adherent.

It is through these processes that 253 MA has very good oxidation resistance.

Tests in the air heated to 1,150°C (2,100°F) over a period of 100 hours revealed the rate of oxide growth to be 0.3mm/year.

The average oxide growth rate for this time period is 0.2mm/year. 253 MA has excellent oxidation resistance properties under isothermal environments, and better oxidation resistance properties under high temperature cyclic oxidation environments or temperature fluctuation environment.

Comparisons of 253 MA and AISI 310 by Sandvik included a high temperature cyclic oxidation contrast test. The materials were

heated to 1,150°C (2,100°F) for 24 hours and then cooled to room temperature.

The cycle period comprised five 24-hour periods, and the contrasting test results are shown in Fig 4.

The results show that, when the temperature is lower than 1,150°C (2,100°F), 253 MA has an extremely low oxide rate, which is demonstrably lower than 310S. Carburisation test The inside of the lance tube pulverises the coal and there are plentiful gases like carbon dioxide (CO2) in blast furnaces. Such factors can create a reducing atmosphere, which may cause carburisation corrosion of the front of the lance tube.

Carburisation at high temperatures decreases the material’s toughness.

Because there are large differences between the thermal expansion coefficient of the carburisation layer and the substrate, temperature fluctuations will cause spalling (when flakes of the material break off) and thickness reduction of the tube, thereby aggravating the effects of wear on the material.

Based on this knowledge, high temperature carburisation tests were conducted between 253 MA and AISI 310S in order to compare their high temperature carburisation corrosion resistance properties. Each was assessed in a test environment of 10%CH4 + 90%Ar + 0.5%O2 over a period of 500 hours (h) at different temperatures to test the carbon content located 0.5 mm away from the surface of the materials. The lower the carbon content, the better the carburisation resistance.

Fig 5 shows the contrasting high temperature corrosion test results exhibited by 253 MA and AISI 310. With added silicon (Si) and rare earth elements, 253 MA can form a good protective film to prevent carbon atoms from diffusing into the substrate. Because of this, 253 MA has excellent carburisation corrosion resistance in high temperature carburisation and oxidation environments.

High temperature creep High temperature creep is the tendency of a solid material to bend or deform permanently under the influence of little mechanical stresses at high temperatures.

The temperature of a PCI lance tube’s working environment is generally 1,1001,300°C. Such conditions can easily cause bending and deformation problems in tube components, as shown in Fig 2a.

At the same time, the pulverised coal flow rate within the lance tube can reach more than 15m/s placing high demands on the high temperature wear resistance property of the material.

High temperature strength is crucial to www.steeltimesint.com

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STAINLESS STEELS

PCI lance tube, and this is shown through the creep rupture strength. The creep rupture strength of 253 MA and AISI 310 under temperatures varying from 500 – 1,000°C (930 to 1,830°F) is shown in Fig 6.

Improving high temperature creep The metallurgy of 253 MA contains 0.17% N and 0.08% C which can improve the high temperature creep property of the material through intermetallic strengthening. When the temperature reaches 1,000°C (1,830°F), the creep rupture strength of 253 MA is twice that of AISI 310, thanks to the three-layered oxide scale – the structure of which is Cr2O3, SiO2 and CeO from outside to inside – which forms at high temperature due to added 1.5% Si and 0.05% Ce. Ce gives the 253 MA scale a highly dense and strong adhesive force, which can prevent elements like O and C from diffusing into the substrate. As a result, 253 MA has high temperature oxidation and carburisation resistance properties. At the same time, the high temperature creep rupture strength of 253 MA is evidently better than that of AISI 310 because of added 0.17% N. Based on its studies into the corrosion

Conventional materials Type

Sandvik 253 MA

Service life

Type

Service life

TP 321

1 month

253 MA

3 months

TP 321

1-2 months

253 MA

6 months

AISI 310

2 months

253 MA

6 months

AISI 304L

2-3 weeks

253 MA

2 months

Table 2: The application of 253 MA PCI lance tube

resistance and creep rupture strength of PCI lance tubing when exposed to high temperatures, Sandvik concluded that 253 MA can improve the service life of the tube by more than three times in some cases. The broad application results are shown in Table 2.

The performance advantages of 253 MA are demonstrated by the Yong Steel Group Co. The company’s PCI lance tube lifecycles have reached one year since moving over to the Sandvik grade, having previously lasted for as little as one month using more standard stainless steel materials.

Because of these demonstrable performance improvements, 253 MA has been widely used abroad to replace PCI lance tubes manufactured from conventional materials such as AISI 310S,

TP 321H and 316L. Sandvik 253 MA is often preferable to stainless chromium steels which have insufficient creep strength and structural stability. Moreover, 253 MA can take the place of higher alloyed materials such as 25Cr/20Ni steels and Alloy 800H or even Alloy 600.

Longer life, reduced maintenance The increased cost can be offset by extended lifecycles and reduced maintenance costs. The high creep strength of Sandvik 253 MA, coupled with its oxidation and carburisation resistance in constantly carburising gas, makes it a suitable material for end users.

Sandvik 253 MA is used extensively in the metallurgical, petrochemical and power industries and is a trademark owned by the Finnish steelmaker, Outokumpu OY.

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PERSPECTIVES: MAGNEZIT

Beam me up, Scotty With 8,000 employees dotted throughout the world, Magnezit’s Sergey Odegov* claims that the superpower of teleportation would not only help him tremendously where personal communication was concerned, it would change the steel industry and the world 1. How are things going at MAGNEZIT? Is the steel industry keeping you busy?

We are always busy. Recently we realised huge investment projects aimed at developing new high-quality Siberian magnesite deposits and at modernising our production sites by transferring to clinker technology, which is unique to the CIS. It has allowed us to improve of our product range and propose new materials to the industry.

casting are being applied more widely.

Metallurgists are demanding high quality metal with less non-metallic impurities and this can be achieved using higherquality, more efficient and competitive refractories. Refractory producers, in turn, are striving to meet any demand today’s market may set.

4. Where in the world are you busiest at present?

Magnezit Group produces about 1.5Mt

2. In which sector of the steel industry does MAGNEZIT mostly conduct its business?

Magnezit Group is an integrated company, which ensures a complete cycle of refractories production from the mining of raw materials to engineering and field service. We have production enterprises in Russia, China, Slovakia and Ukraine as well as a wide network of service and trade offices globally.

3. What is your view on the current state of the global steel and refractory industry?

Metallurgical plants remain the primary consumers of refractories with a global share of 65-70%. Volumes of steel making in Russia haven’t changed a great deal for a decade. Methods of manufacture however, did change, along with requirements for refractories. High-tech magnesia products are gradually replacing aluminium silicate materials. For example, the share of steel made in open-hearth furnaces in Russia decreased from 26% in 2007 to just 6% in 2014. This caused a corresponding decrease in demand for regular medium-section products like magnesia grain and chromite-magnesia.

Today we’re looking at increasing demand for high-tech products: gunning masses, concretes, and other unshaped materials, various magnesium fluxes and oxide-carbon products. This is because of changes in steelmaking where steel production in EAFs and converters, out-offurnace treatment of steel and continuous

of refractories per year. It is number one in the CIS with a 73% market share of magnesia refractories, and 75% in Russia. We actively develop other markets worldwide.

5. Can you discuss any steel contracts you are working on?

Magnezit Group has built strong partnerships with leading metallurgical companies including ThyssenKrupp Steel, ArcelorMittal, Anyang Iron and Steel Group Corporation, Evraz Group, MMK, MECHEL, Norilsk Nickel and Severstal. We have a long history of co-operation with ArcelorMittal Temirtau (Kazakhstan).

At JSC MMK, one of the biggest metallurgical plants in Russia, we are testing new products for electric

furnaces and converters based on our new materials Russian Magnezit™ – fused and dead-burned magnesia with MgO>97%. Nowadays at ”MMK” we are also developing a new market niche – production of ceramic cups for blast furnace numbers six and eight.

6. In fact, talking of ‘green issues’ and emissions control, how is the refractory industry performing in this respect?

The question of ecology is important for us as many of our production facilities are located near marvellous natural sights. In 2014 we won The Best Environmentally Aware Enterprise of the Region at the Second All-Russia Industrial-Ecological Forum, RosPromEco-2014.

We've implemented a number of big investment projects, which correspond to the most advanced international ecological standards. At the Satka production site, Chelyabinsk region, Russia, Magnezit Group commissioned a multi-hearth furnace and two hightemperature shaft kilns (one of them is the most powerful in the world – 80kt/yr).

Recently we have modernised many old production facilities and equipped them with the most advanced gas purification and air aspiration systems.

7 Are steel producers looking to companies like MAGNEZIT to offer them solutions in terms of energy efficiency and sustainability?

Yes of course. There is a tendency towards energy efficiency and sustainability projects.

Consumers increasingly look toward measurement of refractory total costs so they can evaluate all costs accrued during the refractory lining life cycle, including those related to energy efficiency and environmental safety.

In such a situation one can only compete on the market by abandoning outdated technologies and offering newer solutions, products and service that meet consumer requirements.

* CEO Magnezit September 2015

PERSPECTIVES Magnezit.indd 1

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8/26/15 11:58 AM

PERSPECTIVES: MAGNEZIT

8. Where does MAGNEZIT lead the field in terms of refractory production technology?

“Magnezit” produces about 1.5Mt/yr of refractories for all kinds of thermal units. The Group has one of the leading engineering centres in Europe and is 100% self-sufficient in terms of highquality magnesite ore.

Thanks to unique raw materials from new deposits in Siberia, large-scale modernisation of production facilities and the introduction of new clinker technology has created a new level of development and created a wide range of refractories that meet all customer requirements.

9 How do you view MAGNEZIT’s development over the shortto-medium term in relation to the global steel and refractory industry?

The company's strategy of sustainable growth includes not only the development and supply of refractories, but adherence to the growing technological demands of consumers in terms of best quality/price ratio.

We intend to invest in new modern production facilities, including workshops of fused magnesia in the Satka, Chelyabinsk region, and Razdolinsk, Krasnoyarsk Territory; the development of a raw material base, energy saving and environmental protection projects.

Emphasis will be given to the elaboration and production of new high added value products and we plan to increase the company’s share of fast-growing products, such as oxide-carbon and magnesia-spinel and magnesia-chromite refractories for degassers, masses and concretes.

10. How should the industry react to the overcapacity situation?

It is necessary to improve competitiveness, meet customer requirements, improve quality and control costs.

11. What is MAGNEZIT’s experience of China?

Magnezit Group has been in the Chinese market for about 10 years and has started several joint ventures, including plants for the production of magnesia refractories and products for the continuous casting of steel. It has built long-term partnerships with Chinese steel mills and is now providing them with refractories and maintenance services for EAFs and ladles.

12. “Which breakthrough technologies will have a revolutionary impact and will it be something that is ‘one size www.steeltimesint.com

PERSPECTIVES Magnezit.indd 2

fits all’ or a number of different technologies?

Nanomaterials are our future. In Japan the Institute of Refractories develops and uses nanoadditives, and we understand that in five years or more a real qualitative leap in the production of refractories will be possible thanks to the use of nanooxides or carbon nanocomponents. Our specialists are working in this direction and are in a close contact with scientists from the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys, South Ural State University, Ural Institute of Metals and production companies that manufacture nanocarbon materials.

13. How optimistic are you for the global steel industry going forward and what challenges face producers in the short-to-medium term?

A decline in consumption and overcapacity

in China’s domestic market has increased pressure on all export markets. Chinese steel companies, faced with a sharp deterioration of market conditions, frankly plunged into panic. Accumulated surpluses are selling at even lower prices.

The losers are all other market players, particularly Russian steelmakers, faced with declining exports.

14. What exhibitions and conferences will MAGNEZIT be attending in 2015?

METEC, GIFA, THERMPROCESS and NEWCAST in Dusseldorf, Germany, and we also participated in MagMin – a leading refractory industry exhibition.

We are also planning to attend MetalExpo International Industrial Exhibition in

55

Moscow, 10-13 November.

15 MAGNEZIT is based in Russia, but what’s happening steel- and refractory-wise in the country?

Hopes for growth in metallurgy caused by the devaluation failed to materialise. Rather, the positive effect of the weakening of the ruble was noticeable, but it was brought down by weak domestic demand, which is currently the main problem for the Russian steel industry; its negative consequences can no longer be compensated by external supply. The pause in investment in Russia is getting protracted, there is a decline in construction and mechanical engineering, and the situation in the major steelconsuming sectors of the economy is unlikely to improve by the year-end.

16. Apart from strong coffee, what keeps you awake at night?

If I need to work hard, I prefer to combine it with sport. I am fond of golf and this, for me, is the best way of relieving tiredness.

17. What superpower, how would help you to improve the global steel and refractory industry?

Teleportation. Magnezit Group is a huge company with more than 8,000 employees in different parts of the world.

Moving from one place to another and spending just seconds would be really useful. Despite the Internet, there is very little personal communication. More faceto-face contact would make the decisionmaking process faster and more effective.

Teleportation would change not only the steel and refractory business, it would change the whole world. t September 2015

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56

HISTORY Fig 1: Neolithic cave painting using iron oxide pigments at Lascaux in southern France

Iron pigments through the ages

Fig 3

Fig 4

Fig 5

Fathi Habashi*

Fig 2

Fig 1

Fig 2 Ancient Egyptian tomb wall paintings

Fig 6

Fig 7

Fig 8

Fig 3: Johann Jacob Diesbach. Fig 4: Johann Conrad Dippel (1673 –1734). Fig 5: Pierre J. Macquer (1718-1784). Fig 6: Carl Wilhelm Scheele (1742-1786). Fig 7: Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (1778-1850). Fig 8: Leopold Gmelin (1788-1853)

IRON oxides are the most common minerals found in nature. They range in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown and contain hydrated iron oxide.

Red iron oxide is also widely available. The yellow and red oxides, known as ochre, were used as pigments in ancient times by many civilizations. Ochre is a Greek word (Okhrós) meaning pale. Paintings made with ochre pigments have been found in neolithic caves at Pech Merle and Lascaux in southern France and the cave of Altamira in northern Spain (Fig 1). The ancient Egyptians used ochre extensively in tomb painting (Fig 2). The Greeks and the Romans also used ochre in their paintings.

Around 1706 when the alchemists Johann Jacob Diesbach (Fig 3) and Johann Conrad Dippel (1673 –1734) (Fig 4) in Berlin heated dried blood with potash and then treated the aqueous extract with iron vitriol, they obtained an intense blue precipitate which became known as Prussian blue.

In 1752, French chemist Pierre J. Macquer (1718-1784) (Fig 5) showed that when Prussian blue was boiled with an alkali, iron oxide was formed and pale yellow crystals were obtained from the mother liquor. The crystals were called prussiate of potash which is now known as potassium ferrocyanide. When he treated Prussian blue with sulfuric acid it liberated a gas soluble in water to form an acid.

The acid was isolated in pure form and characterised in 1783 by Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele (1742-1786) (Fig 6) and given the name Blausäure (literally “blue acid”) because of its derivation from Prussian blue. In 1811, the French chemist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (1778-1850) (Fig

7) liquefied the gas (boiling point 26°C) and determined that its composition was HCN. In 1815 he also discovered cyanogen, (CN)2.

As we know today, blood contains the red pigment hemin which is an iron chelate containing a porphyrin structure.

The building units of this structure are alkylated pyrrole nuclei. On heating dried blood with potash, lemon yellow hydrated potassium ferrocyanide, K4[Fe(CN)6], is formed. When the hydrate loses its water of crystallisation it becomes white. When a solution is treated with ferric sulfate then Prussian blue is formed:

years before Friedrich Wöhler (1800-1882) in Germany made the reverse operation in 1828: preparing a typically organic compound, urea, from inorganic matter, ammonium cyanate: NH4OCN → (NH2)2CO

Prussian blue, therefore, ferric ferrocyanide.

In 1822, when Leopold Gmelin (17881853) (Fig 8) in Germany passed chlorine into a solution of potassium ferrocyanide he obtained red crystals from the solution now known as potassium ferricyanide:

Potassium ferrocyanide became a commercial product about 1825. Its major application was in preparation of lightsensitive paper for reproduction. Today, when we speak of “blue prints” we are unknowingly referring to Prussian blue.

It was found in 1842, that paper treated with a solution containing potassium ferrocyanide and ferric ammonium citrate becomes blue when exposed to light owing to the reduction of the ferric salt and subsequent formation of Prussian blue. Paper sensitised in this way was used to reproduce engineering drawings.

Production of potassium cyanide was followed by a few years. It was produced exclusively by fusing potassium ferrocyanide with potash:

2K4[Fe(CN)6] + Cl2 → 2K3[Fe(CN)6] + 2KCl

K4[Fe(CN)6] + K2CO3 → 6KCN + FeCO3

When numerous new compounds of the blue acid became known, Greek terminology was introduced to name them. Kyanos in Greek means blue, hence, the modern term cyanide was used for compounds derived from the blue acid. Thus the discovery of Prussian blue opened up a new field of chemistry – the chemistry of cyanogens compounds.

The preparation of Prussian blue, an inorganic compound, from typically organic matter like blood occurred many

The pure product is prepared today from methane and ammonia in the presence of oxygen at about 1200°C over a platinum catalyst:

3K4[Fe(CN)6] + 2Fe2(SO4)3 → Fe4[Fe(CN)6]3 + 6K2SO4

2CH4 + 2NH3 + 3O2 → 2HCN + 6H2O Sodium cyanide has been used in the extraction of gold and silver from their ores since 1887 when John Stewart MacArthur (1856-1920) invented the cyanidation process. t

*Laval University, Quebec City, Canada Fathi.Habashi@arul.ulaval.ca September 2015

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