MPT International 6/2016 (Dec)

Metallurgical Plant and Technology G 25074

ISSN 0935-7254

Hot rolling | Revamp increases capacity of a bar and section mill

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December 2016

Cold rolling | Upgrade of a tandem strip mill to continuous operation

We transform … the world of revamps and modernization

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planning, for instance taking advantage of scheduled maintenance stoppages and minimizing production losses. Your bottom line: You save time and money.

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EDITORIAL

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Investments in modernization to KPETGCUG RNCPV GHƂEKGPE[ No business can afford to stand still. So also steel producers are always required to move their businesses forward. Even in the current period of sluggish steel demand with production capacities not fully utilized, we see that steel producers are indeed executing remarkable investment projects.

For example, about a year ago Macedonian Dojran Steel decided to start a multi-phase modernization and expansion project of their merchant bar production facilities. By next year, when the revamp will have been completed, the modernized merchant bar mill will be able to produce a wider range of products in greater quantities using new plant equipment. The idea of this project is not just capacity expansion, but first and foremost an increase in efficiency and consequently higher earning power in the short term.

Featured in this issue are various recent technological developments in long products manufacturing. For example, a new minimill currently being built in Oman will use “continuous mill technology” which involves the direct transfer of the hot continuously cast billets to the rolling mill. By eliminating the need for a conventional reheating furnace, capex, opex and the environmental impact will be markedly reduced.

Dipl.-Ing. Arnt Hannewald

As a further example, Chinese steel producer Yongfeng Steel is installing a billet welding system at the bar rolling mill to enable continuous operation (called endless rolling).

Raising plant output and utilization levels by several percent, the investment is expected to pay for itself within 18 months.

Also smaller-scale modernization projects can help to improve reliability and decrease downtime of plants. Durgapur Steel Plant (a SAIL company in India) has implemented an advanced speed control automation system for the cooling bed roller table of the bar mill.

The new system has substantially improved the performance of the production facilities.

Besides long products, this issue also covers aspects of flat product manufacturing, particular emphasis being on cold strip mills and strip processing technologies. Our articles present recent developments in in-line thickness measuring technology, strip (back-) tension units and continuous operation of cold rolling mills.

At the end of the day, companies constantly strive to improve their market positions.

Especially in a situation where global steel demand is projected to be through the bottom of this cycle, as stated by World Steel Association recently, this will be coming increasingly into focus.

MPT International 6 / 2016

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››› CONTENTS

International industry news 20

World Steel Association 2016 annual conference held in Dubai, UAE Global steel demand is through the bottom of this cycle amid escalated uncertainties

Company profile 26

Danieli group intends to continue consolidation and expanding its business Coverphoto: Measuring systems from IMS for industrial use in the metal industries: billet contour gauge at the exit of billet caster or exit of billet rolling mill hot metal detector at the entry of crop shear of an HSM 3D slab inspection at the exit of the caster, DWHS RB@QÖMF NQ DMSQX NE SGD QNTFGHMF LHKK slab dimension gauge at the exit of the caster, entry or exit of the reheating furnace IMS Messsysteme GmbH, Heiligenhaus, Germany Contact: www.ims-gmbh.de E-mail: info@ims-gmbh.de

Hot rolling 28

Mechanical revamp at Dojran Steel increases bar and section mill capacity to 350,000 t per year After modernization the bar and section mill will be able to produce a wider range of merchant bar products, including angles, channels and sections

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Moon Iron & Steel to build latest-design rebar production site in Oman The new minimill will be the first production site in the region to be equipped with continuous mill technology, which involves the direct transfer of the hot continuously cast billets to the rolling mill

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Yongfeng Steel to install a billet welding system to enable continuous rolling operation Due to continuous operation plant output and utilization levels shall boost by 3 – 6%

Automation

Quality assurance

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42

Speed control of cooling bed roller table to improve performance of merchant mill An advanced speed control automation system has recently been designed and implemented in the merchant mill at SAIL’s Durgapur Steel Plant

Lasers – the cost-effective alternative to radiometric and tactile thickness measurements The new “VTLG” thickness measurement system has passed the acid test at of a 20-roll cold rolling mill

Cold rolling

Strip processing

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Salzgitter Flachstahl upgrades tandem mill to continuous operation A smart and efficient solution was developed and implemented that will optimize coordination between the tandem mill and the upstream pickling lines

MPT International 6 / 2016

Exact setting of strip back-tension – at any position in the processing line Bridles can build up strip back-tension exactly where and as high as needed

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46

Columns 8

International industry news

56

Literature service

52

Technical innovations

57

In the next issue

55

Cartoon

57

Imprint

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MPT International 6 / 2016

Danieli QSP technological layouts and process know-how fully satisfy the widest market demand in terms of product mix, high productivity and flexibility, tight geometrical tolerances.

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››› INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRY NEWS

The Americas Chile CAP Huachipato signs mill services contract. The Metals & Minerals division of Harsco Corporation has concluded a multi-year extension and expansion of its onsite mill services to CAP Huachipato. This seven-year agreement calls for the continuation of Harsco’s core mill services for metal recovery and meltshop support, and adds a number of new services including scrap management.

Harsco has provided continuous onsite services to CAP Huachipato since 1981.

Mexico Tenaris Tamsa orders roller hearth furnace. Tenaris Tamsa has ordered a roller hearth furnace from Danieli Olivotto Ferré for the heat treatment of carbon steel tubes in a protective atmosphere. The new furnace will process tubes of 15 to 120 mm diameter and 3 to 16 m length, using different treatments, such as normalizing and tempering. Production capacity will be rated at 24,000 t/year of tubes. The contract includes automatic loading and unloading tables, heat treatment furnace, normalizing cooling section and final water jacket cooling chamber for a total overall length of 107 m. The new furnace is scheduled be installed in the Veracruz plant by January 2018.

vising the installation and start-up of the plant. The mill will have an annual production capacity of 200,000 t. It will roll strips of low-carbon and highstrength steel grades with an entry thickness ranging from 0.7 to 2.0 mm down to exit thicknesses of between 0.3 and 1.0 mm. The strip width will range from 900 to 1,650 mm. The project is due for completion by early 2018.

USA Big River Steel concludes full service contract. In Osceola, Arkansas, SMS Technical Services has opened a new service and maintenance workshop less than two miles away from the steel plant of Big River Steel (BRS).

SMS Technical Services will take care of all service and maintenance activities for the CSP® plant. SMS Technical Services will also provide the roll grinding machines and auxiliary facilities for the two on-site roll shops servicing the hot and cold rolling mills.

The Osceola workshop offers a service range similar to that available at SMS group’s Oil City workshop in Pennsylvania. However, in Osceola, SMS Technical Services will be able to offer even more services as the new workshop has a high-capacity CNC horizontal milling center designed for additional machining and turning processes and various shot-blasting and paint-spraying cabins. Being a full service workshop with state-of-the-art electroplating facilities, the Osceola workshop will also offer reconditioning services for copper moulds.

Mexico USA Talleres y Aceros orders reversing cold rolling mill. Talleres y Aceros has awarded Primetals Technologies an order to supply a new reversing cold rolling mill for its production plant in Ixtaczoquitlan. The cold rolling mill is another element in the steelmaker‘s strategy of extending its portfolio to include flat products. The mill will be designed as a single, four-high stand.

Primetals Technologies will supply the complete process equipment, electrics and automation from a single source, and will also be responsible for superMPT International 6 / 2016

Nucor to build specialty cold mill complex. Nucor Corporation is adding an additional cold mill at its Nucor Steel Arkansas division. The specialty cold mill complex will expand Nucor’s capability to produce advanced high-strength, high-strength low-alloy, and motor lamination steel products. The mill is expected to be operational in approximately two years.

The specialty cold mill complex will give Nucor the capability to produce products the company currently does

not make, adding to Nucor’s comprehensive product portfolio.

USA Nucor Steel Berkeley orders surface inspection system. Nucor Steel Berkeley has awarded Primetals Technologies the order to supply a SIAS surface inspection system for the company’s hot strip mill in Huger, South Carolina. The surface quality of the hot strip will be checked after the finishing mill on the top side and before the down coiler on the bottom side. The improved quality control will optimize production costs and maintenance activities.

In addition, the system offers real-time classification of defects as well as coil grading and width measurement. The system is scheduled to be commissioned in the last quarter of 2016.

Asia China Yongxing Special Stainless Steel to install billet grinder. Danieli will supply a new billet grinding facility to Yongxing Special Stainless Steel in Huzhou. The facility will perform full skin conditioning, including corner and spot conditioning, on a wide range of special steels, including stainless grades 200, 300, and 400 series, and high-temperature and anticorrosion alloy steels.

The 200 kW grinder will be driven by the HiGrind system which will control the consistency of the material-removal depth, and monitor all the processing and safety functions. Danieli’s supply will include loading and unloading benches for a fully automated process.

The equipment, designed to process approximately 40,000 t/year of 150, 180 and 220 mm square billets, is scheduled to be fully operational in the first quarter of 2017.

China Ningxia orders high-speed equipment for new wire rod mill. Ningxia

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››› INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRY NEWS

News in brief Daehan Steel, South Korea, has issued to SMS group the FAC for the modernization of the VCC® line (vertical compact coiler) of the rebar mill in Pyeongtaek.

SSAB, Finland, has recently started up at the Raahe works the last of three LD (BOF) converters supplied

by Primetals Technologies. The first converter was started up in October 2015, the second one in May 2016.

Baotou Steel, China, has successfully processed the first coil on the continuous annealing line No. 1 supplied by Fives.

Tata Steel, India, has awarded Fives the order to upgrade the level 1 control system of the gasfired pusher-type reheating furnace installed at the merchant mill in Jamshedpur.

Lusosider Aços Planos, Portugal, has contracted Fives for a furnace revamp. The project is aimed to increase production of its continuous galvanizing line.

Outokumpu Stainless, Sweden, has installed and commissioned a flatness gauge supplied by Shapeline for the plate levelling line in Degerfors. The flatness gauge is used for plate leveller adjustments and quality assurance of the 3.2 m wide stainless steel heavy plates.

NLMK has been honoured at the Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards 2016 international festival for its #teamNLMK communication campaign organized in support of NLMK’s new corporate film.

Aumund, Germany, and Sweidan, Saudi Arabia, have opened a spare parts stock in Riyadh. For onsite services, local Aumund supervisors are at any time ready to assist the customers, for troubleshooting, technical advice, installation supervision, preventive maintenance service and equipment inspection.

MPT International 6 / 2016

Iron & Steel based in Zhongwei City is expanding its product portfolio and increasing its capacity with new highspeed wire rod mill equipment from SMS group. The core equipment supplied by SMS group for the new one-strand mill will include a ten-stand wire rod block, a high-speed pinch roll unit and a loop laying head. The new mill will be designed to produce 600,000 t/year of wire rod.

Commissioning of the mill is scheduled for 2017.

China Guangdong Guoxin Industrial to build two new wire rod mills.

Guangdong Guoxin Industrial has awarded SMS group the order to supply the mechanical core components and the complete electrical and automation package for a new wire rod mill complex. The new complex will be built in the Sino-German Development Zone, Jieyang City, Guangdong province, with production scheduled to commence in 2017. The works will be designed for an annual capacity of 1.4 million t (700,000 t/year per mill).

The two one-strand high-speed mills will roll wire rod in diameters from 5.5 to 25 mm and rebars in diameters between 6 and 14 mm at rolling speeds of up to 105 m/s. As core equipment both wire rod mills will feature compact cantilever stands (CL stands) in the intermediate mill, six- and four-stand wire rod blocks and a loop laying head. The CL stands will be of identical design and exchangeable with one another.

SMS group will supply wire rod blocks in six- and four-stand design. The division into two blocks means that all final dimensions can be finish-rolled in a maximum of four passes. Besides the mechanical equipment, SMS group will supply the complete electrical and automation package, from the roller table at the exit end of the reheating furnace down to the coil transfer system, and perform the commissioning activities.

company, is building a three-strand continuous billet caster at the production site of Orissa Metaliks, located near Kharagpur, West Bengal. The plant is designed to produce 384,000 t/ year of carbon steel billets with a cross section of 100 mm for further processing to commercial rebars. The aim of the project is to increase capacity. To save energy, the casting machine is designed for hot direct rolling of billets to rebars without reheating. The caster has a machine radius of 6 m, a metallurgical length of 11 m and a curved tube mould. Maximum casting speed is 4.1 m/min. Concast (India) is responsible for designing, engineering and manufacturing of ladle support, tundish and tundish support, mould and oscillator, straightener segments, secondary cooling, dummy bar system as well as pusher and cooling bed. The hot charging system will be provided

by Orissa Metaliks. Concast (India) will also supply the basic automation (level 1) and HMI system. The plant start-up is scheduled for November 2016.

India RINL to install heat treatment plant for railway wheels. Tenova LOI Thermprocess has received a contract for the delivery of a heat treatment plant for railway wheels from Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL).

In RINL’s new plant, fully automatic production is to be achieved. All wheel transportation processes from the forge via the cooling section to the hardening furnace as well as the handling in LOI’s hardening device will be automated. During the final tempering process, the hearth cars will automatically pass the tempering furnace and one of the three cooling sections before the wheels are forwarded to the machining line. The heat treatment plant will have a capacity of up to 40 wheels per hour. It is scheduled to start producing in autumn 2018.

India

Taiwan

Orissa Metaliks builds continuous billet caster. Concast (India) Ltd., a Primetals Technologies Group

Tung Ho Steel to build ERW line.

In order to increase the productivity of the Taoyuan No. 1 bar mill, Tung Ho

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INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRY NEWS

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will install a new EWR/K-welding line to perform endless welding rolling. Installed at the delivery side of the re-heating furnace, K-welding is an automatic continuous in-line welding system for head-to-tail flash welding of billets for uninterrupted production of long products. The EWR process also constitutes the necessary upgrade to produce compact coils of 3.5 to 5 t. Start-up of the new line is scheduled to take place in autumn 2017.

Taiwan Gloria to build new minimill. Gloria Material Technology awarded Inteco an order for the engineering and supply of a new minimill for the production of 180,000 t/year of special steel and the revamping of the existing 35 t plant. Inteco will be responsible for engineering, supply as well as supervision of erection, commissioning and start-up of the new special steel plant. The main equipment to be installed will be a 60 t electric arc furnace with spout, a secondary metallurgy complex as well as a casting area. The steel refining area will consist of an AOD converter, a ladle furnace as well as a VD/VOD plant. The casting area will include a conventional ingot casting pit for ingots of up to 50 t and Inteco’s advanced teeming system.

Two segment casters with two strands each for blooms of up to 1,200 mm diameter will complete the casting area.

The revamping of the existing 35 t facility at Gloria will include major modifications to the EAF as well as some interventions to the existing ladle furnace and fumes treatment system.

Thailand NS BlueScope to install new metal coating line. NS BlueScope Coated Products is a 50/50 joint venture of Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation and BlueScope Steel Limited, Australia, focusing on coated products, such as hot-dip galvanized steel sheets, painted steel sheets and roll-formed building products. The company has decided to install a third metal coating line at NS BlueScope (Thailand) and enhance production capacity of zinc/aluminum hot-dip alloy coated steel and painted steel to capture the growing demand of the building and construction market in Thailand.

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Vietnam Nam Kim Steel to build cold mill. Nam Kim Steel Joint Stock Company has ordered a third cold rolling mill from Esmech Equipment, an Indian joint venture company of SMS group. The new reversing cold mill will roll strips between 650 and 1,250 mm wide down to final thicknesses of a minimum of 0.11 mm from entry thicknesses of up to 4 mm. Maximum rolling speed will be 1,400 m/min.

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MPT International 6 / 2016

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››› INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRY NEWS

production facilities located in the Binh Duong province, near Ho Chi Minh City, with SMS group equipment. Esmech already supplied a first six-high CVCplus® reversing cold mill to Nam Kim, which has been in operation since 2015. Furthermore, installation of a two-stand compact cold mill, also in six-high CVCplus® design, is underway. That mill and the newly ordered one are both scheduled to be commissioned in 2017.

Vietnam Hoa Sen orders twin-stand cold rolling mill. Hoa Sen Group is building a new cold rolling mill complex at Vinh City, Nghe An province in Central Vietnam, to expand their production capacity. For this project, Hoa Sen Group has placed an order with Esmech Equipment Pvt. Ltd., an Indian joint venture company of SMS group, for the supply of a twin-stand reversing cold mill (CCM®). The mill will be designed for low-carbon steel strips with a maximum width of 1,250 mm and minimum final gauges down to 0.11 mm, at an annual production capacity of up to 400,000 t. The six-high mill stands will be equipped with small-diameter work rolls allowing high reductions per pass.

Rolling will take place at speeds of up to 1,400 m/min. Also included in the supply are fluid and media systems, such as high and low-pressure hydraulics and

the emulsion plant, which comprises a selective spraying system for roll cooling and a separate spray header for roll gap lubrication.

Europe Austria Böhler Edelstahl to modernize flat rolling block. Primetals Technologies has won an order from Böhler Edelstahl, a company of the special steel division of Voestalpine, to modernize the flat rolling block at its Kapfenberg plant. The flat rolling block consists of three horizontal and two vertical stands, and produces flat bars in widths ranging from 43 to 205 mm and in thicknesses from 4.5 to 86 mm.

Primetals Technologies will be supplying new main and auxiliary drives with Sinamics S120 frequency converters, a new operator control and monitoring system based on Simatic PCS7, and new main gearboxes. The elimination of the hydraulic systems will reduce maintenance costs and increase plant availability which, in turn, will boost the productivity of the rolling line. Energy requirements as well as the consumption of hydraulic oil and cooling water will fall substantially. In future the “RollMaster” software will handle the generation and management of the pass schedules, establish-

News in brief Grupo Frisa, Mexico, has carried out the first heat in the new stainless steel plant. The plant, supplied by Inteco, includes an EAF, LF, VD unit, an alloy addition and an ingot casting plant.

Grupo Frisa manufactures open die forgings and rolled rings.

Kyoei Steel, Japan, has successfully introduced EFSOP® off-gas systems at two of its EAF operations. The systems were provided

by Tenova Goodfellow.

ing the link between the production planning system and the plant automation. Modernization work is scheduled to take place during a one-month plant shutdown in mid-2017.

Czech Republic Tāinec Iron and Steel Works to install new grinding line. Tāinec Iron and Steel Works is building a new billet grinding line to guarantee the production of top-quality wire rods and bars. The complete technology for billet grinding will be installed in a new hall equipped with exhaust filter systems. The new line

INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRY NEWS will include equipment to straighten the 150 mm x 150 mm square billets of 12 m length and shot blast and grind the surfaces. The entire process will take less than twenty minutes. The line is scheduled to go on stream by the end of 2017.

Germany Thyssenkrupp transfers former coal mine site to city of Duisburg. The steel division of Thyssenkrupp and the city of Duisburg are planning to jointly develop part of the former Friedrich Thyssen coal mine and convert the land around “Shaft 2/5” into a new “Friedrich Park”. After 80 years in operation the coal mine was closed in 1976. The land belongs to Thyssenkrupp and will be transferred to the city of Duisburg as part of the development. This major urban development project will create a roughly 25 hectare green area between the districts of Marxloh and Fahrn with good links to existing public green areas, as well as a business park.

Romania ArcelorMittal Galati to revamp continuous slab caster. ArcelorMittal Galati has placed an order for a continuous caster upgrade with Danieli.

The 9.7-m-radius slab caster installed in 1978 will receive a new, longer mould, optimized secondary cooling on a new segment 0, and completely new level 1 and level 2 systems. The upgrade will be performed during a 21 day shutdown in September 2017. After the revamp, the plant will produce slabs in low-carbon, peritectic, medium-carbon, micro-alloyed, high-carbon and silicon steel grades. Slab thicknesses will range between 220 and 250 mm and slab width between 700 and 1,900 mm.

Russia NLMK to expand use of recoverables. NLMK Group as completed hot testing of its new crushing and screening unit for the processing of steelmaking slag at its Lipetsk production site.

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The project will double the amount of scrap, or metal inclusions, extracted from waste and returned to the production process. The new unit will process 2.4 million t/year of slag, replacing an obsolete unit, which processed 1.7 million t/year. Metal extraction efficiency at the new unit will be as high as 95%.

Recovering production waste is one of NLMK’s priorities as part of its operational efficiency improvement efforts.

NLMK Group is currently building a new briquetting plant at the Lipetsk site. Briquettes will be manufactured from a mix of iron ore concentrate and blast furnace slag formed in the process of wet blast furnace gas cleaning. The plant will recycle more than 350,000 t of blast furnace waste per year.

Russia JSC Ural Steel to build heavyplate heat treatment line. JSC Ural Steel has placed an order with Tenova LOI Thermprocess for the supply of a heavy-plate heat treatment line. The new line, replacing an existing heat treatment line, will be ready for production in 2018. It will have a capacity of 200,000 t/year. The product range will comprise plates with a maximum width of 2,650 mm, a maximum length of 12.8 m and a thickness between 7 and 60 mm. The line will consist of a continuous roller hearth furnace for heating and a continuous quench for plate quenching.

Spain Asturiana de Laminados orders curing ovens. Asturiana de Laminados entrusted Fives with a contract to supply curing ovens for their new colour coating line at its plant in Asturias. Asturiana de Laminados, operating under the brand elZinc, offers a wide range of zinc strip and sheets designated for classical and modern architectural applications. The curing ovens, used in painting and pretreatment sections in the colour coating line, cure the strip paint at proper temperature and high homogeneity to ensure a perfect final strip coating quality. The project for Fives will include the design, MPT International 6 / 2016

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››› INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRY NEWS

News in brief Al Ghurair Iron & Steel (AGIS), United Arab Emirates, has begun commercial production of its second continuous galvanizing line.

Feralloy, USA, has completed the cut-to-length line upgrade at its South Carolina facility. The upgrading measures, which included a new hydraulic roller leveller, a closed loop system to compensate for machine deflection and a quick change roll cartridge system, were designed, manufactured and installed by Butech Bliss.

NLMK has put blast furnace No.6 back into operation after a scheduled overhaul at the group’s main production site in Lipetsk. The overhaul has increased the maximum output of the furnace by 7%, from 2.9 million to 3.1 million t/year.

Acciaierie Bertoli Safau (A.B.S.), Italy, has successfully installed a turnkey dioxine abatement system (DAS) to control dioxin/furan emissions at the fume treatment plants. The project was carried out by Danieli Environment and MORE. Taewoong, South Korea, has produced the first heat in its new steel plant supplied by Inteco. The steel plant for melting and ingot casting operations consists of a 150 t EAF, an LF, a VD/VOD plant and equipment for both conventional casting and vacuum ingot casting for up to 700 t.

El Marakby, Egypt, has officially opened the new compact steel plant supplied by SMS group.

The plant comprises a 45 t electric arc furnace, a ladle furnace with a transformer rating of 8 MVA + 20 percent, a raw materials handling system and a three-strand billet caster supplied by SMS Concast.

MPT International 6 / 2016

manufacture and supply of two Stein curing ovens, fume treatment and energy recovery systems with a thermal oxidizer, and Stein dry blow equipment for the chemical pretreatment section.

caster will have a machine radius of 9 m and a metallurgical length of 29.8 m.

Ukraine

SGL group to sell graphite electrode business. SGL group has signed the sale and purchase agreement to sell its graphite electrode business to Showa Denko (SDK), Japan. The transaction is in line with SGL group‘s strategic realignment, focusing fully on the growth areas “Composites – Fibers & Materials” and “Graphite Materials & Systems”.

Showa Denko is one of Japan’s leading chemical companies. Following the closing of the transaction, approximately 900 employees and six production sites in Germany, Austria, Spain, USA and Malaysia will be transferred from SGL Group to their new owner.

ArcelorMittal starts up pulverized coal injection system. ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih has brought on stream the new pulverized coal injection system at the No. 9 blast furnace in Kryvyi Rih. This is one of seven projects of an extensive investment programme dedicated to that plant. The pulverized coal injection complex includes the pulverized coal injection unit, the coal storage unit, installation of two mills with a total production capacity of 83 t/h of pulverized coal, ventilation systems and the power supply systems.

Ukraine MMKI orders continuous caster and secondary metallurgy facilities. Primetals Technologies has received an order from PJSC “Ilyich Iron and Steel Works of Mariupol” to supply a two-strand continuous slab caster, a twin ladle furnace with an alloying station, and the associated dedusting system. The previous orders for the basic and detail engineering, received in 2014 and 2015, have already been successfully executed by Primetals Technologies. The two-strand caster CC4 will be designed to produce 2.5 million t/ year of slabs. A level 3 heat-pacing solution will coordinate the steel production with the casting operation. MMKI produces steel with three BOF converters. The new 150 t twin ladle furnace will be used to help set the desired steel grades and the correct casting temperature. A transformer with a rated power of 28 MVA will provide the electrical energy for the ladle furnace. Primetals Technologies designed a dedusting system to clean the off-gases from the ladle metallurgy facility. The equipment order for the continuous slab caster covers all the installations from the ladle turret and the tundish car through to the exit zone with its weighing, torch cutting, marking and deburring machines. The

Companies

IRISA and PSI collaborate on production management solutions in Iran. PSI Metals and IRISA, a leading Iranian industrial automation and IT solutions provider, have signed a collaboration agreement. Using the local expertise of IRISA, PSImetals solutions will be introduced and implemented at Iranian and regional metals companies. IRISA was founded in 1992 as a spin-off from the Iranian steel producer Mobarakeh Steel. Already in 2008, PSI und IRISA were working together to design a new supply chain planning concept for Mobarakeh. With the removal of the sanctions, both former partners were interested to restart the relationship. After intensive negotiations, a long term collaboration package was crafted with a focus on joint sales and implementation activities.

Eurofer’s view of post-Brexit EU steel market. In 2017, apparent steel consumption in the EU is seen moving sideways. Post-Brexit uncertainties are expected to weigh on confidence, thereby affecting investment. In combination with the ongoing anti-dumping investigations it could also lead to cautious inventory management in the steel supply chain. This will result

INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRY NEWS in an almost neutral stock cycle over the year, thereby offsetting the slight increase in real steel consumption.

Total activity in steel using sectors is forecast to rise by 2.4% in 2016. Similar growth is expected for 2017. The mild improvement foreseen for global economic growth should benefit export-oriented sector activity. In the EU, activity in the consumer-related sectors is seen remaining strong, while output in the investment-related sectors is not expected to gain much traction.

The economic recovery in the EU was sustained in the second quarter of this year, albeit at a slightly lower growth rate than in the first quarter. Growing exports and a mild rise in private consumption were not sufficient to offset stagnation in investment. Sentiment surveys signal that so far the impact of the yes vote in the UK referendum on confidence has been rather minor. Sharp knock-on effects on economic activity and the common currency were absent. Against this background and taking the latest indicators and hard data into account it seems justified to conclude that the EU economy

‹‹‹

17

is not on the brink of a major slowdown.

However, uncertainties in the wake of the UK referendum and the risk of global growth remaining stuck in slow motion could have a negative impact on investment and exports.

one share of the entire share capital in Magnesita. The combined refractory company, to be named RHI Magnesita, will be established in the Netherlands and listed in London. The transaction is expected to complete in 2017.

Nextsense opens US office. Austria-based Nextsense, specialists in non-contact measurement technology, have opened their first foreign subsidiary in the USA. The US office in Atlanta, Georgia, will allow Nextsense to be more responsive to local market needs. So far, the company has served the US market through sales partners.

Berthold Technologies to partner with Nireco. Berthold Technologies, providers of measurement solutions for the steel industry, has partnered with Nireco Corporation to enhance market presence in Japan. Within the context of the partnership, Nireco will be the exclusive provider of Berthold Technologies’ products and solutions for the Japanese steel market. This cooperation completes Nireco’s product range of modern radiometric mould level systems for continuous casting plants.

RHI and Magnesita to combine operations. The management board of RHI has agreed to sign a share purchase agreement with Magnesita’s controlling shareholders regarding the acquisition of a controlling stake of at least 46%, but no more than 50% plus

Liberty House sets up metal recycling business. The Liberty House group has launched a metal recycling

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››› INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRY NEWS

business, Liberty Metal Recycling (LMR), as a major step towards the achievement of its greensteel vision to create a competitive and sustainable steel sector in the UK. LMR will develop a network of advanced collection and processing facilities for both ferrous and non-ferrous metals. LMR plans to set up a processing centre at Newport, South Wales, where the group already operates a hot strip mill and where it aims to recommence liquid steel production in the near future from recycled scrap.

In addition to Newport, the group’s aim in the UK is to locate recycling centres in regions of high scrap metal generation and close to Liberty’s steel melting and rolling facilities. Liberty will simultaneously develop its recycling business in the USA and on continental Europe where it has already opened a scrap collection and trans-shipment operation in Gdansk, Poland.

Danieli, Primetals and SMS group sign MoU for anti-corruption initiative. The collective action initiative for the metals technology industry (MTI) brings together the three leading companies in the metals technology industry Danieli, Primetals Technologies and SMS group. Anti-corruption collective action is increasingly being recognized as a means to bring together companies and other stakeholders to address various forms of corruption risk. The MoU is complementary to and reflective of key elements of their respective anti-corruption compliance programmes. The MTI collective action initiative provides a forum for the exchange of anti-corruption compliance best practices and related developments in the metals technology industry among its members to collaborate further in the development of joint anti-corruption initiatives in countries in which they operate.

Messe Düsseldorf introduces single brand for international wire, cable and tube trade fairs.

Trade fairs for metal production, processing and finishing, for wires, cables and tubes, iron and steel have a long tradition in Düsseldorf. ‘Join the best – worldwide’ is the new slogan sumMPT International 6 / 2016

ming up the international portfolio of wire, cable and tube trade fairs.

For more than 30 years, the wire und tube trade fairs have taken place jointly in Düsseldorf. Meanwhile, there are ten international satellite trade fairs for the wire and tube industries. As of now, they will present themselves with a unified logo to show that they belong to a single umbrella brand.

Nucor to acquire Independence Tube Corporation. Nucor Corporation will acquire Independence Tube Corporation (ITC), independent manufacturer of hollow structural section steel tubing. The addition of ITC to Nucor’s portfolio will allow Nucor to offer a wider selection of products to its fabricator and service centre customers and strengthens the company’s presence in the key nonresidential construction market.

Personalities Tata Sons replaces chairman.

The board of Tata Sons, India, has replaced Cyrus P. Mistry as chairman of Tata Sons. The board has constituted a selection committee to choose a new chairman. Ratan N. Tata will act as interim chairman until a final decision has been taken.

Changes on Outotec‘s executive board. Kalle Härkki, who has been member the executive board of Outotec since 2008, most recently as head of the Minerals Processing business unit, has been appointed executive vice president and president of Metals, Energy & Water business unit. Jyrki Makkonen, who has been acting head of the Metals, Energy & Water business since April 2016, will return to his position as head of Non-Ferrous business line of Metals, Energy & Water.

New head of investor relations at SSAB. Per Hillström is to be the new head of investor relations at SSAB. Per

Hillström was earlier head of investor relations at Scania, but will join SSAB from Ellos Group, where he is currently head of communications.

Per Hillström

Alzetta left Danieli. Franco Alzetta (58), chief operating officer of Danieli’s Plant Making business segment, left the company after 31 years of service, of that 15 years in leading management positions. He was also member of the company’s executive committee and member of the board of directors. His tasks have been taken over by Alessandro Brussi (director accounting, administration, finance) and Giacomo Mareschi Danieli (director sales and plants), according to their respective field of expertise.

Events ›

20 – 22 April 2017 Mumbai, India Organizers: Ministry of Steel Government of India, FICCI www.indiasteelexpo.in

India Steel 2017. The third edition of this international exhibition and conference will provide latest information and networking opportunities for steel industry stakeholders. Areas covered will include machinery and technology for steel and metal manufacturing as well as buying, sourcing and processing of raw materials.

›

25 – 27 May 2017 Bergamo, Italy Organizers: Associazione Italiana di Metallurgia AIM www.aimnet.it

ESSC & Duplex 2017. The 9th European Stainless Steel Conference and

INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRY NEWS the 5th European Duplex Stainless Steel Conference and Exhibition will be staged as a single event. Technical topics covered will include austenitic, ferritic, martensitic and Duplex stainless steels, metallurgy, corrosion and in-service problems, surface properties, market issues, etc.

›

18 – 22 June 2017 Amsterdam, The Netherlands Organizers: Steel Institute VDEh, TEMA Technologie Marketing www.sct2017.com

Organizers: The Austrian Society for Metallurgy and Materials ASMET www.ifm2017.org IFM 2017. The 20th Forgemasters Meeting will cover topics such as recent developments in the forging industry, advanced forging materials and production technologies, products for aerospace, energy tooling, offshore, etc., testing and quality management, numerical analysis and simulation.

›

‹‹‹

19

4 – 6 October 2017 Porto Alegre, Brazil Organizers: Senafor www.senafor.com

Senafor Conference. The 36th Senafor Conference will combine the 21st International Sheet Metal Forming Conference and the 22nd International Forging Conference. The focus of the conferences will be on innovations, new processes and energy reduction.

SCT 2017. This conference on “Steels, Cars and Trucks” will cover topics such as body structure, forged and stamped parts, engines, axles, shafts, etc, which are of interest to all involved in the automotive industry. Papers will also feature intelligent forming processes, heat treatment techniques, joining techniques, modelling and simulation processes.

›

27 – 28 June 2017 Düsseldorf, Germany Organizers: Messe Düsseldorf www.itps-online.com

ITPS. The second International Thermprocess Summit, which will consist of a conference and an accompanying exhibition, will attract industry, research and development, and other relevant stakeholders. The programme will include topical issues such as energy and resource efficiency, new business models innovative solutions and best practices in the key engineering sectors of automotive, aviation, electrical and mechanical engineering.

›

11 – 14 September 2017 Graz, Austria

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››› INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRY NEWS

World Steel Association 2016 annual conference held in Dubai Global steel demand is through the bottom of this cycle amid escalated uncertainties.

Weakness in investment globally continues to hold back a stronger steel demand recovery. However, a better than expected forecast for China, along with continued growth in emerging economies, will help the global steel industry to move back to a positive growth path for 2016 and onwards.

Edwin Basson, worldsteel director general, T.V. Narendran, worldsteel economics committee, and John Ferriola, chairman, worldsteel (from left)

Every October, World Steel Association hosts the annual conference for its members, which usually begins with meetings of the executive committee and board. This is followed by a series of presentations and panel sessions.

This year the 50th worldsteel annual conference was staged in Dubai, the populous city and business hub in the Middle East region.

The World Steel Association (worldsteel) is one of the largest and most dynamic industry associations in the world. It represents approximately 150 steel producers (including 9 of the world’s 10 largest steel companies),

World Steel Association, Brussels, Belgium Contact: www.worldsteel.org E-mail: info@worldsteel.org

MPT International 6 / 2016

national and regional steel industry associations, and steel research institutes. Members represent around 85% of world steel production.

Short range outlook for 2016 – 2017 In its short range outlook for 2016 and 2017, worldsteel forecasts that global steel demand will increase by 0.2% to 1,501 million t in 2016 following contraction of -3.0% in 2015.

In 2017, it is forecast that world steel demand will show growth of 0.5% and will reach 1,510 million t.

Commenting on the outlook, Mr T.V. Narendran, chairman of the worldsteel economics committee said, “the steel industry environment remains challenging, with escalated uncertainties driven by geopolitical situations in

various parts of the world. Recently the UK referendum outcome has further raised uncertainty on the long-awaited recovery of investment in the EU. Weakness in investment globally continues to hold back a stronger steel demand recovery. However, a better than expected forecast for China, along with continued growth in emerging economies, will help the global steel industry to move back to a positive growth path for 2016 and onwards. We expect this slight growth momentum to remain weak for the time being due to the continued rebalancing in China and weak recovery in the developed economies.

Downside risks to this outlook come from the high corporate debt and real estate market situation in China, Brexit uncertainties and possible further escalation of instability in some regions. On a positive note, steel demand in the emerging and developing economies excluding China is expected to accelerate to show 4.0% growth in 2017 thanks to the resilient emerging Asian countries and stabilization of commodity prices.”

Globally investment remains weak Investment is subdued in many regions, not only in China, which is undergoing a rebalancing away from investment driven growth. In the developed world, despite persistently low interest rates, private investment remains weak due to a pessimistic outlook on future demand and other continuing uncertainties. To help confidence, governments have only limited monetary and fiscal policy tools left to boost investment. In many emerging and developing economies, weak commodity prices, geopolitical tensions and highly leveraged corporate

INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRY NEWS sectors all add up to undermine momentum for the needed investment.

Decline in Chinese steel demand softened by government stimuli Chinese GDP growth in 2016 will be at its lowest level since 1990, but interestingly with a higher contribution from services and consumption.

To soften the impact of rebalancing, the government issued a number of mini stimulus measures, boosting infrastructure spending and real estate market and auto sales. As a result, steel

emerging economies are showing signs of stabilization. After two consecutive years of double-digit contraction, steel demand in Brazil will start a moderate recovery in 2017. The minor rebound in oil prices helped to stabilize the decline in Russia and prevent further deterioration of the Mexican, South American and GCC economies. However, lower and unstable oil prices and geopolitical instability are continuing to undermine the outlook for the MENA region.

Indian steel demand is expected to report solid growth in 2016 – 2017 backed by consumption-boosting reforms and infrastructure investment, but its sus-

Regions

2016

2017

change

European Union (28)

154.8

156.9

+1.4%

42.1

43.4

+3.7%

Other Europe CIS

49.6

50.7

+2.1%

133.6

137.4

+2.9%

Central and South America

40.8

42.5

+4.1%

Africa

39.5

41.1

+3.9%

Middle East

53.0

53.1

+0.1%

987.9

984.3

- 0.4%

1,501.3

1,509.6

+0.5%

399.5

403.8

+1.1%

NAFTA

Asia and Oceania

World Developed economies Emerging and developing economies

1,101.8

1,105.7

+0.4%

China

665.6

652.3

- 2.0%

World excluding China

835.7

857.3

+2.6%

Short range outlook for apparent steel demand (million tons)

demand decline in 2016 will be less severe than the worldsteel April 2016 forecast. However, the rebound in the real estate market is limited and not sustainable as inventory levels remain very high and apartments are increasingly unaffordable to most residents.

The construction sector will therefore continue to drag down steel demand and manufacturing sectors have only limited room for recovery. Steel demand in China is projected to decline by -1.0% in 2016 and by -2.0% in 2017.

Emerging economies show signs of stabilization The emerging economies are hit by low commodity prices and geopolitical conflicts. In 2016 some low performing

tainability is under question as key levels of investment are being provided by the government while private investment remains weak. In the ASEAN countries, benefiting from stable macroeconomic policies, construction will continue to drive strong steel demand growth. Steel demand in emerging and developing (excluding China) economies is expected to expand by 2.0% in 2016 and 4.0% in 2017.

Developed economies will maintain a moderate recovery The EU steel demand recovery stays on track backed by resilient consumption and a mild recovery in construction despite heightened uncertain-

‹‹‹

21

ties following the UK referendum on Brexit. The UK’s steel demand for 2016 and 2017 is expected to reduce due to the referendum result however the longer term impacts of Brexit are difficult to predict at the moment. The refugee crisis also poses challenges to the EU, but the immediate impact on steel demand appears to be minor.

While the US economy continues to show strength, steel demand in the US is struggling to grow due to the strong dollar, which hurts the manufacturing sector, and the collapse in shale related investments. Likewise, Japan’s steel demand growth is subdued due to structural issues and is negatively affected by the appreciation of the yen after the UK referendum. Steel demand in developed economies is projected to increase by 0.2% in 2016 and by 1.1% in 2017.

John Ferriola elected as worldsteel chairman John Ferriola, chairman, chief executive officer and president of Nucor Corporation, USA, was elected chairman of the World Steel Association. The board of directors of worldsteel elected as vice chairmen: Kosei Shindo, representative director and president of Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal Corporation, Japan, and Dr Wolfgang Eder, chairman and CEO of Voestalpine AG, Austria; as treasurer: Eiji Hayashida, president and CEO, JFE Steel Corporation. The new officers are elected for one year, until October 2017.

The board of directors of worldsteel also elected the 2016/17 executive committee: John Ferriola, Nucor Corporation; Wolfgang Eder, Voestalpine AG; Eiji Hayashida, JFE Holdings, Inc.; Heinrich Hiesinger, Thyssenkrupp; Sajjan Jindal, JSW Steel Ltd; André Gerdau Johannpeter, Gerdau S.A.; Oh-Joon Kwon, POSCO; Mario Longhi, United States Steel Corporation; Lakshmi Mittal, ArcelorMittal; Alexey Mordashov, Severstal JSC; Paolo Rocca, Techint Group; Kosei Shindo, Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation; Xu Lejiang, Baosteel Group; Yu Yong, Hesteel Group Co., Ltd.; Edwin Basson, World Steel Association.

The 2016 sustainable steel policy and indicators report The sustainable steel policy and indicators 2016 report highlights how MPT International 6 / 2016

22

››› INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRY NEWS

steel and the steel industry contribute to and perform in the areas of economic, environmental and social sustainability. It reports about the steel industry’s performance throughout 2015 against eight sustainability indicators, measured annually since 2003. Publication of the report reflects the steel industry’s efforts to continuously improve performance in sustainability in line with the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Reporting is voluntary, and in 2015 a total of 159 companies worldwide participated in the study, up from 42 in 2004. Crude steel produced by compa-

which a sustainable future is going to be built. By aligning our sustainable development goals with those of the United Nations we are making clear to the world that we understand the challenges we face and are serious about taking action.”

Commenting on the industry’s performance, Dr Basson said, “Although we commend the progress to date we are at no risk of becoming complacent. We will continue to champion the sustainable development of our industry and encourage wider participation among our member companies.”

worked in 2015 while the employee training indicator showed that employees (at both production & non-production facilities) received an average of 6.8 training days during the year.

For economic performance, investment in new processes and products in 2015 was at 12.6% of revenue while economic value distributed (EVD) reached 98.1% of revenue.

Safety and health excellence Worldsteel has recognized excellence in six of its member companies

Board of the World Steel Association during the 50th annual conference, Dubai in October 2016 (Pictures by courtesy of worldsteel)

nies who reported on one or more indicators for the 2015 fiscal year was 899 million t, representing 55% of global crude steel production.

Commenting on the industry’s performance, Edwin Basson, director general of worldsteel, said: “We in steel recognize the importance of proving our commitment to sustainability to the wider world. The sustainability indicators do just that. As such, I am delighted to see that participation levels among steel companies continue to go up and that we are continuing to improve our environmental, social and economic performance. Steel is the material on MPT International 6 / 2016

For environmental performance in 2015, average greenhouse gas emissions were at 1.9 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of crude steel cast and energy intensity was at 20.3 GJ per tonne of crude steel cast. Material efficiency indicator results showed that 97.3% of materials used on-site to make crude steel are converted to products and by-products. An 11.5% increase in employees and contractors working in production facilities with registered environmental management system (EMS) is recorded.

For social performance, the lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR) was at 1.2 injuries per million hours

for delivering demonstrable improvements in safety and health for steel industry employees. The recognized member companies are: ArcelorMittal, Arrium, Gerdau, Hadeed, Tata Steel and Ternium.

Although all traditional safety measures were in place at ArcelorMittal’s Belval (Luxembourg) plant in Luxembourg, indicators showed that safety standards were slipping. The introduction of the ‘Maturity Project’ aimed to bring about an ambitious culture change at the plant to ensure the highest safety standards were at the forefront of everyday production processes. A large-scale leadership train-

24

››› INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRY NEWS

ing programme was implemented to ensure that the plant leadership had the necessary technical knowledge and soft skills to empower staff.

Moly-Cop Peru, a member of Arrium, carried out a review that showed 87% of road transport incidents were the result of unsafe driver behaviour. They developed a ‘Driver awareness programme’ (DAP) that engaged and trained drivers on how to make sure they return home safely.

It also involved setting up structured communication channels for swiftly and accurately learning from incidents, and a formal audit programme to verify compliance with expected safety practices. The DAP has resulted in a 44% reduction of road transport incidents over the last three years.

Safety managers at Gerdau’s Ouro Branco (Brazil) plant noticed that an overhead crane used in the new rolling mill every time the rolls needed to be removed for grinding unnecessarily exposed shop floor employees to the risk of falling objects. Eliminating this risk entirely by replacing the crane with a hydraulic arm made the shop floor safer, with subsequent significant improvements in Ouro Branco’s ‘Safety cultural index’ (SCI).

The concentration of particulate matter in the air at Hadeed’s (Saudi Arabia) long product facility during steel refining operations exceeded re-

commended levels. Management initiated a specialized project that upgraded equipment where necessary and optimized the overall production process. The concentration of particulate matter in the air decreased significantly from 18.8 to 6.62mg/m³.

Tata Steel’s ‘Felt leadership programme’ aims to put safety at the forefront of all activities and to demonstrate to all employees that when it comes to safety incidents, high level management is visibly ‘committed to zero’. This has involved a number of initiatives with management and senior union leaders leading campaigns such as ‘Find it, own it, fix it’, which have led to a decrease in Tata’s lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR).

Ternium’s Juventud (Mexico) plant carried out a project in order to reduce fire risk during the painting process in the painting line when handling, preparing and applying paint. In addition to establishing an emergency response procedure, monitoring systems were installed around the ovens, improvements were made to ventilation and fire protection systems were installed in storage areas.

Steelie awards The 7th Steelie awards winners were announced at the annual dinner to close the 50th worldsteel conference.

The trophies, known as Steelies, were awarded in seven categories this year.

The categories and winners were: ▪ Steel industry website of the year: Thyssenkrupp AG (www. thyssenkrupp.com), ▪ Innovation of the year: JSW Steel Limited for development of advanced high strength automotive steels with speed and innovation, ▪ Excellence in sustainability: Hesteel Group Co., Ltd. (Tangsteel) for urban recycled water as the only water source in iron and steel production, ▪ Excellence in life cycle assessment: Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe for implementation of LCA to assess the potential environmental performance and recyclability in their product development process, ▪ Excellence in education and training: Tenaris for their ‘Development maintenance programme’, ▪ Journalist of the year: Vera Blei (Metal Bulletin), ▪ Industry communicator of the year: Naveen Jindal, chairman, Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL).

The selection process for nominations varies between awards. In most cases nominations are requested via the appropriate membership committee and the worldsteel extranet. Entries are then judged by selected expert panels using agreed performance criteria.

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MPT International 6 / 2016

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26

››› COMPANY PROFILE

Danieli group intends to continue consolidation and expanding its business ,Q WKH ƂQDQFLDO \HDU HQGHG -XQH WKH 'DQLHOL JURXS DFKLHYHG UHYHQXHV RI PLOOLRQ HXURV DQG D QHW SURƂW RI PLOOLRQ HXURV 7KH JURXSŒV RUGHU ERRN DV RI -XQH DPRXQWHG WR PLOOLRQ HXURV 7KH WUHQG VKRZV DJDLQ D IXUWKHU GHFUHDVH LQ VDOHV IRU ERWK EXVLQHVV DUHDV RI WKH JURXS 3ODQW 0DNLQJ VHFWRU DQG 6WHHOPDNLQJ VHFWRU 7KH JURXSŒV ƂQDQFLDO SRVLWLRQ DQG VKDUHKROGHUVŒ HTXLW\ FRQWLQXH WR EH VROLG Revenues of the Danieli group are lower in the period for both operating sectors – Plant Making (engineering and manufacturing of plants for the production of metals – steel and aluminum), and Steelmaking (steel production) with the ABS Group (Ac-

ring in the plant-making areas, which will be recovered in the next financial year. The turnover of ABS Steelmaking, on the other hand, is affected by lower selling prices than in 2014/2015, although production volumes remained unchanged (about 1 million tons), ba-

In 2015/2016 Danieli group invested 35 million euros in direct and indirect research activities and more than 150 million euros in the management of innovative job orders (example: CFD modelling the behaviour of fumes)

ciaierie Bertoli Safau and ABS Sisak), albeit for different reasons. Danieli Plant Making did not reach all its production targets due to unforeseen events occur-

Danieli & C. S.p.A., Buttrio, Italy Contact: www.danieli.com E-mail: info@danieli.com

MPT International 6 / 2016

sically tied to a drop in raw material costs. Margins (of the Steelmaking operations), however, were satisfactory throughout the year even though the plants were only utilized at 70% capacity because of the downturn in European and international markets, Oil and Gas in particular.

Consolidated profit for the period is almost in line with the forecasts made

at the beginning of the year, albeit lower than the figure reported for the same period last year, which was largely tied to positive exchange rate effects that in 2016 were not significant. The group’s financial position and shareholders’ equity continue to be solid.

As regards capital expenditures, during the year the Plant Making sector saw the completion of both a production ramp up in the new plants in India and Russia, and the operational integration of the newly acquired FATA SpA into the group.

In the Steelmaking (ABS) sector, after the capital expenditures in the new blooming mill 1000 and the revamping of one of the continuous casting plants, the “Rotoforge� rolling mill was also started up successfully. This machine was developed and designed by Danieli and is the first in the world to combine the two traditional hot-working technologies for long products made of special steels: rolling and forging. The innovative content of the considerable capital expenditures made in ABS will bring about a significant improvement in the quality of the products being offered, while broadening the range and covering new market segments more competitively.

Danieli also took part in the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), and in 2015 was among the most worthy Italian and European entities, showing a marked improvement in classification thanks to an increasing commitment to developing SusSteel and Green Steel solutions for its customers. The CDP Climate Change initiative helps more than 800 institutional investors identify from among thousands of corpora-

COMPANY PROFILE

Plant Making

Steelmaking

Total

vs. 2015

1,887.1

621.3

2,508.4

- 9%

EBITDA

149.3

62.1

211.4

- 17%

Net profit

76.6

11.7

88.3

- 45%

Order book

2,652

162

2,814

- 11%

Employees

8,204

1,215

9,419

- 14%

Sales

Forecast for 2016/2017 Sales EBITDA Order book

1,750 / 1,850

650 / 750

2,350 / 2,500

150 / 160

65 / 75

210 / 230

2,500 / 3,000

150 / 200

2,700 / 3,200

(million euros)

tions the ones that are the most motivated to grow sustainably by managing the effects of climate change on their businesses.

Worldwide prospects for the metals producing sector In the first half of 2016, world steel production was almost 795 million tons, reporting an approximate 1.9% decrease over the same period in 2015.

Forecasts for 2016 point to an overall decline of around 1 – 1.5 %. In 2016, therefore, the steel market is stabilizing at levels lower than pre-recession figures, due to the lack of a Chinese driving force together with a slow global economy. Gianpietro Benedetti, Danieli chairman and CEO, comments: “We believe that we have entered a new normal phase similar to the one that characterized the years 1970 – 2000, when steel consumption remained almost unchanged. That could continue for at least 5 – 6 years or more. The low energy and raw material prices, together with a shift in Chinese industry from an investment-based economy to a consumer or servicebased economy, are having a decisive impact (together with the effects of an accommodating monetary policy being implemented by the major central banks) on world growth. A shared strategy is still needed, especially in Europe, to bridge the development gap in some countries and promote greater competitiveness in the weaker economies.”

It is expected that, in essence, steel consumption will remain at current levels for the next 2 – 3 years, after

which it will grow by 1 – 2% per annum. This will also depend on the trend of oil and raw material prices to stimulate the economies and investment in developing countries.

Medium-term strategies The Danieli group will continue to consolidate and expand its business in order to ensure greater competitiveness in terms of innovation, technology, quality, costs, productivity and customer service. Not only is Danieli known for its capabilities in the supply of plants but also for its manufacturing know-how: in Europe, for its noble and high-tech products; in Asia, for the design and manufacture of consolidated, proven products made with the same quality as those in Europe.

Danieli aims to set up a new organizational model for the group, promoting multicultural intellectual growth and creating solutions to meet current market requirements more effectively.

In particular, in order to consolidate these strategies, the company plans to expand the Danieli Academy to train junior employees, provide refresher courses for senior staff, and make the most of talented youths.

As Danieli is convinced that the global metals industry has entered a “new normal” phase that will last for at least 5 years, the group considers the drop in investments in new plants as an established fact. During this period, a drop in new plant projects will be offset by the revamping of existing plants and services. But this is not sufficient. More innovation and downstream business

‹‹‹

27

Figures of the Danieli group for the ƂPCPEKCN [GCT CPF HQTGECUV for the current period

are needed, and Danieli is working on a vision in this respect for the medium-long term.

The group’s order book is in line with the figures expressed at the end of the last fiscal year (see table), and is well diversified according to geographical area and product line. The recognized strategic role of the metals industry as well as its multiplying effect on employment and the development of the manufacturing industry generally continues to drive this sector through investments in innovative plants in both developing countries and in those with mature economies.

The downturn in the Asian market has led to a reshaping of the facilities in India, Thailand and China, which in any event will still account for 40% of the group total since Asia produces approximately 55% of the steel produced globally.

Danieli continues to pursue innovation, efficiency and quality of customer service at a fast pace, promoting team excellence, which is taking on an increasingly important and strategic role for the success of the company.

Consequently, this confirms the importance of carefully managing and making the most of the potential and aptitude of people in order to ensure that the group’s training programmes are in line with the best practices.

Danieli group operations The Danieli group runs two main businesses: the first (Plant Making) is in the field of engineering and manufacture of plants – including turnkey plants – for the production of metals. Its principal operating companies in the Plant Making segment are in Europe and in Asia, with service centres around the world. In the Plant Making sector, Danieli is one of the top three manufacturers in the world for metal making plants and machines.

The second business (Steelmaking) concerns the production of special steels through the companies Acciaierie Bertoli Safau S.p.A. (ABS) and ABS Sisak d.o.o. (ABS Sisak).

MPT International 6 / 2016

28

››› HOT ROLLING – MODERNIZATION

Mechanical revamp at Dojran Steel increases bar and section mill capacity to 350,000 t per year In January 2016 the Macedonian company, a subsidiary of the Sidenor Group from Greece, signed the contract for the multi-phase expansion project. After the revamp, the modern bar and section mill will be able to produce a wider range of merchant bar products, including angles, channels and sections. Plant startup is scheduled for March 2017.

Dojran Steel, a company of the Sidenor Group (a steel producer based in northern Greece), selected Russula to revamp its merchant bar mill. Backed by internal demand, the revamp is the first phase of a multi-phase project that will increase the merchant bar production from 50,000 to 350,000 t/year. Dojran Steel is located in Nikolic, F.Y.R. of Macedonia, on the coast of Dojran Lake, approximately 100 km from Thessaloniki, Greece.

Thanks to this mill expansion project, Dojran Steel will be able to produce the entire range of small to medium-sized merchant bars to command a higher value in the market place.

These include 8 – 40 mm rounds, 16x4 – 140x20 mm flats, 8 – 40 mm squares, 20x20x2.5 – 120x120x12 equal angles, 30x20x3 – 120x80x10 unequal angles,

Daniel Sánchez, Sales Director, Russula, A Coruña, Spain Contact: www.russula.com E-mail: daniel.sanchez@russula.com

UPN channels with a section height from 30 to 140 mm, IPE from 80 to 120 mm and T sections from 20 to 50 mm.

This plant is the only producer of merchant bars in the Balkan region. [1]

Bar and section mill 350,000 t/year In the first project phase, the existing 20 t/hour reheat furnace will be used in conjunction with the existing three-high open type roughing mill, crop shears, quenching system and a cold cutting shear. In the second project phase, production capacity will increase to 350,000 t/year when the existing 20 t/hour furnace is replaced with a new 60 t/hour reheat furnace.

Furthermore, the existing three-high open type roughing mill will be replaced with four new 2-high stands for continuous production.

For the first project phase, Russula will supply 18 new RCS heavy duty, housingless stands for the roughing, intermediate and finishing mills, con-

verting the existing trio into a semi-continuous process. All the stands are housingless type and can be installed in a horizontal or vertical arrangement, without any further modifications necessary. Each stand is completed with on board systems, arranged in such a way to minimize piping and simplify adjustments. The new stands will be pre-assembled in the workshop with all their interconnecting piping already assembled and connected, which will considerably reduce on-site assembly and start-up time. All components are designed for high durability and maximum uptime. Moreover, Russula will supply 7 new loop formers, one crop shear, one dividing shear, stands bypass roller table, accelerating roller table with lifting aprons, rake-type walking beam cooling bed, and step-by-step chain transfer and layer extraction trolleys. Also new wheeled stopper for cutto-length and chain transfers are foreseen. For the time being the existing bundles forming and bundling station will be re-used.

10

11

12

9

1

2

3

4

Plant layout scheme of the new bar mill MPT International 6 / 2016

6

5

7

8

1

Furnace

5

Finishing mill

9

Cooling bed

2

Three-high open roughing mill

6

Quenching

10

Future straightener

3

Roughing mill

7

Dividing shear

11

Cold shear

4

Intermediate mill

8

Accelerating roller table

12

Bundling machine

HOT ROLLING – MODERNIZATION

‹‹‹

29

Construction site in mid 2016

Existing rolling mill equipment will be adapted to the new rolling conditions. One crop shear, a quenching system and cold shear will be upgraded and re-utilized, reducing the total capital expenditure of the modernization.

At the roughing mill, the existing three-high open type stand will be complemented with two new housingless stands in H and V configuration.

The intermediate mill is made up of 8 housingless stands in H, V and existing H/U (Universal) arrangements. Existing cartridges for the universal stands will be adapted to the new rolling conditions.

The finishing mill consists of 8 cartridge type stands in H, V and H/U configurations. Seven new loop formers will be supplied located between each pair of finishing stands. Also, five bypass roller tables will be supplied to replace stands when they are not required by the production schedule.

Cooling bed area. After cooling in the quenching system, the material is fed into a start-stop dividing shear that divides the bars into multiple lengths.

The straight bars will then accelerate down a 72 m long roller table with lifting aprons to be positioned correctly before discharging onto the cooling bed.

The bar and section mill will feature a 42 m x 12 m rake-type walking beam cooling bed fitted with a movable frame, an automatic step-by-step chain transfer, a cut-to-length cold shear, plus a run-out roller table fitted with a movable stopper. In the second phase of the

project, the cooling bed length will increase to 66 m. The layers of bars are fed to 6+6 m chain transfers and then to existing tying and collecting facilitates.

Fully integrated process control system Dojran Steel will capitalize on the automation experience Russula has gained in installing and manufacturing over 170 control systems throughout the world. Russula will supply a new automation system for the mill using a recipe-based system employing Siemens controllers, an HMI, main operator pulpit, distributed remote I/O and local operator panels. The main functions of the level 1 and level 2 system are cascade speed control, tension and loop control, shear cut control, automatic cobble detection, rest cut disposal and material tracking. The new automation system will put in place safe operating practices and smoother mill operations. As a consequence, the mill utilization and yield will improve.

Bar and section mill start-up March 2017 Russula is also responsible for the basic civil engineering, detailed me-

chanical and electrical engineering, start-up supervision and training. The mechanical and electrical equipment was delivered in November 2016. Cold and hot testing are scheduled to start in March 2017. Signed in January 2016, this contract represents the 3rd major mechanical project for Russula in the last three years.

About Dojran Steel Since 2006, Dojran Steel has produced cut-to-length rebar, hot-rolled square and round bar, black and galvanized welded wire mesh for fences, prefabricated stirrup cages, copper coated electrodes and lattice girders. The plant includes a 20,000 t/year structural steel mesh unit and a 10,000 t/ year steel lattice girders unit. Thanks to its location, the plant can easily access raw materials as well as transport its production throughout Greece, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia and beyond at low costs. The steel bars are produced for consumption in F.Y.R. of Macedonia and Kosovo as well as smaller quantity exports to Serbia. The bar and section mill complements Sidenor Groups’ plant in Thessaloniki, mainly exporting to Greece and North Africa. [1]

Reference: [1] Dojran Steel Mill: Dynamic Steel Producer Opening New Rolling Mill. The European Times, March 17, 2014. www.european-times.com/sector/dojran-steel-2/ MPT International 6 / 2016

SMS group is supplying the 175 t/h steelmaking facilities

Moon Iron & Steel to build latest-design rebar production site in Oman 7KH QHZ PLQLPLOO ZLOO EH WKH Æ‚UVW SURGXFWLRQ VLWH LQ WKH UHJLRQ WR EH HTXLSSHG ZLWK FRQWLQXRXV PLOO WHFKQRORJ\ ZKLFK LQYROYHV WKH GLUHFW WUDQVIHU RI WKH KRW FRQWLQXRXVO\ FDVW ELOOHWV WR WKH UROOLQJ PLOO %\ HOLPLQDWLQJ WKH QHHG IRU D FRQYHQWLRQDO UHKHDWLQJ IXUQDFH FDSH[ RSH[ DQG WKH HQYLURQPHQWDO LPSDFW ZLOO EH PDUNHGO\ UHGXFHG Oman-based Moon Iron & Steel Co. S.A.O.C. (MISCO) has awarded SMS group the contract for a new rebar production complex. The new steel mill is MPT International 6 / 2016

being built in Sohar Industrial Estate – Sultanate of Oman, with production scheduled to commence in 2018. The EAF-based minimill will have a pro-

duction capacity for 1.2 million t/year of billets, of which 1.1 million t/year will be rolled into straight rebar with diameters ranging from 8 to 40 mm.

HOT ROLLING Energy savings by exploiting the heat of cast billets Moon Iron & Steel Co. decided in favour of a mill concept that, while saving capital and operational expenditure, also reduces the environmental impact. “Paramount among the requirements was to achieve lowest possible energy consumption and minimal emissions,” said Mr. Sasikumar Moorkanat, MISCO CEO. In energy-intensive steel production, any energy saving is an absolute advantage. To save energy in the hot rolling mill, SMS group developed the CMT® Continuous Mill Technology process.

This technology is based on extensive direct hot charging of cast billets into the rolling mill without passing a conventional intermediate reheating furnace. Instead, the equalization of the billet temperature (required before hot rolling) is performed by an in-line induction heater. Such continuous mill technology provides benefits in terms of conversion costs, CO2 emissions and plant logistics.

While in a conventional minimill it is established practice that cast billets cool down before being stored and subsequently reheated for independent rolling operations, the SMS CMT® (Continuous Mill Technology) process is based on extensive hot charging directly into the rolling mill. SMS introduced the technology a few years ago and, after visiting the successful installations in Asia, Mr. Sasikumar Moorkanat, CEO of MISCO, selected the SMS CMT® process.

With the CMT® process, the billet temperature cycle is completely eliminated as a result of the direct link between the continuous casting machine and the rolling mill. Billets are delivered by the CCM at high temperatures, already in the range required for rolling. Consequently only small temperature adjustments are required. This is achieved by an in-line induction heating system that, conveniently located, adjusts and equalizes billet temperature, both in cross section and lengthwise, thus ensuring ideal rolling conditions with minimum energy input.

SMS group, Düsseldorf, Germany Contact: www.sms-group.com E-mail: minimill@sms-group.com

In other words: Contrary to using an oil or gas-fired furnace, an inductive heating system does not reheat the billets but only equalizes the temperature profile. However, the induction heater provides perfect temperature control of the billet – in accordance to the billet speed – before entering the rolling mill.

The advantages of the CMT® technology are as follows: ▪ maximum energy efficiency because of the minimized heat losses, ▪ maximum flexibility because the system automatically adjusts temperature input for each single billet, ▪ power on-demand because the induction heater is energized only when needed; consequently, the induction heater is powered off during inter-bil-

‹‹‹

31

nace nominally operating with a charge mix of 70% scrap and 30% continuously charged cold DRI. The furnace will be designed for future operation with cold/hot DRI charges up to 100% and/or hot metal added to the mix.

A 150 MVA transformer and the ConsoTech oxygen injection/burners will provide the energy input for fast and efficient melting of the metallic charge. A process control system from SMS group will play an essential role here. Together with the latest generation of electrode regulation and the automatic foaming slag control unit, it will control and optimize the entire melting process ensuring consistency of performance and productivity.

The fume treatment plant captures the main emissions by means of an EAF primary fumes suction line

let time as well as during maintenance and emergency shut-downs, ▪ increased metallic yield, as almost no additional scale is formed due to the missing reheating cycle of a classic reheating furnace, ▪ ease of operation thanks to the integrated process control and automation system of the CMT® functional units, ▪ reduction of CO and CO2 emissions.

175 t-per-hour steelmaking facilities At MISCO liquid steel will be produced by an 140 t AC electric arc fur-

The electric arc furnace will be a key element in the production chain providing MISCO maximum flexibility in the raw material charge mix, with direct positive impact on the operational cost of the minimill.

Secondary metallurgy processes will be performed using a 140 t ladle furnace that refines the molten steel adjusting chemical composition and temperature of the heat, creating the conditions for long and efficient sequence casting. A 22 MVA + 20% transformer will provide the necessary power to cope with unscheduled delays in the supply of molten steel. The process conMPT International 6 / 2016

32

››› HOT ROLLING

trol system will optimize alloy addition to minimize conversion costs and perform the necessary calculations for fully automatic final temperature control.

Intercommunication and data transfer with all functional units as well as to meltshop laboratory will be performed by the level-2 automation system.

Productivity and the specific requirements of direct billet charging to the rolling mill without a reheating furnace have been considered in the design of the continuous billet casting machine. CONVEX® technology for high-speed casting was selected to meet MISCO’s specific needs to grant: ▪ excellent billet quality, ▪ high casting speed operation and ▪ optimum billet temperature distribution.

High casting speeds are essential to be able to eliminate the traditional reheating furnace, which is the key to minimizing the emission foot-print of the minimill and reducing transformation costs.

The steelmaking facilities will be equipped with a fume treatment plant to capture the main emissions by means of an EAF primary fumes suction line including a hairpin cooler and with the advantageous frustum canopy hood

The induction heating unit adjusts the billet temperature according to the rolling parameters

that optimizes the available overall suction capacity of 2.3 million m3/h. Upstream of the filtering unit, sparks will be arrested by the AB cyclone. Thanks to its innovative design it grants the lowest pressure drop while maintaining dust separation efficiencies at the highest level. The pulse jet filtering unit will

be equipped with polyester filter bags of increased diameter and length resulting in better filtering efficiency and reduced regular maintenance as a direct consequence of the limited number of filtering bags. Improved fluid dynamic features of the filter/fans group will result in lower electricity consumption.

The roughing and intermediate trains of the fully continuous rolling mill will be designed as housingless stands MPT International 6 / 2016

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››› HOT ROLLING

The new minimill will produce straight rebar with diameters ranging from 8 to 40 mm

1.1 million t rebar rolling mill The CMT® rolling mill will be designed for continuous hot/direct charging of the cast billets. The rolling capacity will amount to 180 t/h of rebar in diameters from 8 to 40 mm. The continuous mill will be equipped with fourteen stands arranged in horizontal and vertical configuration followed by two six-pass high speed “V” type finishing blocks. The roughing and intermediate mill stands will be of the SMS group HL housingless design type. The “V” blocks will be specifically designed for highly efficient and productive finishing of straight rebar up to 50 m/s. By using “V” blocks in high speed rolling process, very close tolerances of the final product will be ensured resulting in a considerable yield increase compared to traditional low-speed slit rolling.

Mechanical properties of the final product will be improved thanks to the thermoprocessing systems installed on all the rolling lines. The mill will also be equipped with the HSD® High Speed Delivery system for safe and reliable delivery of bars onto the cooling bed. The finishing area will operate in a fully automatic mode from the MPT International 6 / 2016

cold cut-to-length area to the double counting and bundling stations up to the double tying and storage areas.

Seamlessly integrated processes for plant-wide production management The SMS group supply will also comprise the complete electrical and automation package including level-1 and level-2 process control. In addition to seamlessly integrating the functional process units and implementing the state-of-the-art process solutions highlighted above, the automation system will allow MISCO to meet any market demands with built-in capabilities for plant-wide production planning, scheduling, tracking and reporting. The process engineers will receive great metallurgical support in the form of specific tools for designing the process chain (melting, refining, casting, rolling) in every detail, however, continuously taking it into account as a whole as required by the plant philosophy. Metallurgists will also benefit from advanced process data analysis and simulation tools provided to finetune the various optimization models

assisting the operators during production. Furthermore, the automation system will be complemented by business intelligence capabilities for statistical analysis and advanced reporting for product certification.

Conclusion CMT® Continuous Mill Technology takes the basic minimill concept another step forward: Directly linking the rolling mill with the upstream billet caster ensures short distances and provides savings in capex and opex.

By exploiting the casting heat rolling takes place without a time lag. CO2-intensive reheating furnaces can be dispensed with. Instead of an oil or gasfired furnace, an inductive heating system is employed. This system does not reheat the billets but only equalizes the temperature profile. The induction heater provides perfect control of the starting temperature for the rolling mill – according to the billet speed. This solution requires much lower investment costs. By eliminating the complete reheating stage, energy costs and the impact on the environment are markedly reduced.

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Yongfeng Steel to install a billet welding system at the bar rolling mill to enable continuous operation Welded billets permit endless rolling with high product quality. Due to continuous RSHUDWLRQ SODQW RXWSXW DQG XWLOL]DWLRQ OHYHOV VKDOO ERRVW E\ ŏ %HLQJ WKH ƂUVW installation in China, the investment is expected to pay for itself within 18 months.

Chinese steel producer Shandong Laigang Yongfeng Steel Corp. (Yongfeng Steel) has placed an order with

Primetals Technologies, Ltd., a joint venture of Siemens, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Partners; London, UK Contact: www.primetals.com E-mail: rainer.schulze@primetals.com

MPT International 6 / 2016

Primetals Technologies to supply ERTEBROS endless rolling technology for the company’s existing bar rolling mill in Qihe, Shandong province. The aim is to boost plant output and utilization levels by three to six per cent. The system welds together billets intended for rolling, thus enabling a continuous rolling process with a consistently high product quality. The new ERTEBROS® plant is scheduled to com-

mence operation in the second quarter of 2017 and will pay for itself within 18 months. It is the first system of its kind in China.

Yongfeng Steel is a subsidiary of Yongfeng Group Co., Ltd. and is one of the most important steel producers in Shandong province. Its principal products are ribbed steel (reinforcing bar) and wire rod. In 2015, the company produced around four million metric

HOT ROLLING The ERT-EBROS® billet welding system can boost output and yield of a bar and wire rod mill

tons of crude iron and steel products.

Yongfeng Steel’s bar rolling mill has an annual production capacity of 1.2 million metric tons of steel rods. It processes billets with a square cross-section of 150 mm x 150 mm. Final products are reinforcement steel – low carbon and low alloy steel grades – with diameters between 12 and 50 mm.

Innovative welding technology proves safe mill operation Primetals Technologies is responsible for project engineering and also assembly and commissioning supervision of the new equipment, and will be supplying the ERT-EBROS billet welding system, including a deburring station and additional equipment such as a roller table and a shear. The scope of supply also includes the hydraulic sys-

tems, the electrical equipment and automation system and as well technology packages for control of welding.

The ERT-EBROS system welds consecutive billets together so that, once joined in this way, they can be processed in an endless rolling process. This increases output while reducing downtime otherwise necessary between rolling of the consecutive billets separately. Utilization of cooling bed capacity can be enhanced, and production of customized coil weights is also possible.

The ERT-EBROS system is installed between the reheating furnace and the first roll stand. It uses a flash butt welding process with fast and intensive heating. This results in solid-state joining of the billets without the need for additional filler metal. A dynamic flash control system helps to control all the process parameters in real time and thus ensures high joint quality as

‹‹‹

37

well as reduced energy consumption and material loss.

After welding and head upsetting, joints are deburred on a self-cleaning deburring station. The deburring machine operates independently of the welding unit and so the cycle time is not increased. Active spatter protection secures the mechanical and electrical equipment from steel spatters. This is crucial for process quality, extends the life time of components and facilitates maintenance. The core of the electrical system are the integrated high-frequency transformers. These compact components are extremely reliable and can perform an indefinite number of welding operations without maintenance. Each transformer is equipped with diodes that convert the high-frequency square-wave voltage into a stable, extremely flat DC voltage. The square-wave voltage is generated by converters with which the current can be controlled ten times faster than with thyristor circuits. A stable voltage and short control times are essential for a stable and repeatable process flow.

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MPT International 6 / 2016

38

››› AUTOMATION

Speed control of cooling bed roller table to improve performance of merchant mill An advanced speed control automation system has recently been designed and implemented in the merchant mill at SAIL’s Durgapur Steel Plant. Introduced in the cooling bed roller table, this system has achieved substantial improvement in the reliability of the control system, a decrease in electrical downtime and, thereby, an increase in mill productivity.

Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) is the largest steel-making company in India. SAIL produces iron and steel at five integrated plants and three special steel plants. Among these, Dur-

Vikash Kumar, I. Banerjee, Chandan Kumar, Archana Sharan, S. Singh, D. Raj, Sanjay Kumar, A. K. Biswal, B. B. Agrawal, Research & Development Centre for Iron & Steel, Ranchi, India; Y. Ramesh, K. K. Thakur, Durgapur Steel Plant, Steel Authority of India, Ltd. (SAIL), Durgapur, India Contact: www.sail.co.in Email: vikas@sail-rdcis.com

gapur Steel Plant (DSP) in West Bengal is an integrated iron and steel works equipped with CO-BF-BOF process technology for steel making as well as casting, rolling and forming technology for mainly long products, i.e. blooms, billets, channels, angles, thermo-mechanically treated (TMT) rebars, beams, forged wheels and axles.

and 16 mm diameter TMT bars. Any breakdown in any of the control mechanisms leads to mill stoppage or generates cobbles.

The operations and controls take place from several pulpits and a motor room. In addition, the rolling mill is supported by several facilities that are critical to its operation as well as to maintaining quality.

There are two cooling beds consisting of various mechanisms like kickoff, carry-over, turn-over, bar lifting devices, and common run-on roller table etc. The cooling bed roller table is very critical to the operation of the mill since it feeds both cooling beds. There-

Merchant mill The merchant mill of DSP is a continuous mill comprising 13 stands for reduction of billets to different sizes and shapes. The mill is designed for rolling and finishing 25 mm, 20 mm

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MPT International 6 / 2016

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fore, availability of this equipment is to be ensured for smooth mill operation.

In case of a breakdown, these components were repaired or reconditioned and put back into service, all of which was a time-consuming process. Analysis of the root cause of a breakdown analysis and its elimination were also very time-consuming because of the old and not very user friendly control scheme as well as the lack of an online alarm and fault indication system. Also, maintenance of the existing system was difficult and uneconomic.

So in view of the above, an advanced speed control automation system was designed and implemented to improve the reliability of the control system and decrease electrical downtime. All this would increase mill productivity, among others, as a result of improved interfaces for monitoring and maintaining the system.

Drawbacks of the existing control system The roller table consists of 120 motors, which are divided into four groups of 30 motors each. The old control system comprised an exciter set with DC generator, AC squirrel cage induction motor, variable frequency alternator and the DC drive motor, and associated relay logic comprising 100-odd relays and a speed transmitter. The maintenance of the existing system was difficult and uneconomic.

The logic and control system for the above equipment was based on hardMPT International 6 / 2016

wired relay logic circuits, using relays as the control and logic devices and insulated wires for the interconnections between the relays. Setting up the system and fault finding was very time-consuming. This was due to an unreliable large number of electro-mechanical contacts and interconnections.

Power was supplied from the finishing mill bus bar to the variable frequency alternator. If any problem occurred in the mill, the operator had to stop the operations of the cooling beds. This resulted in cobbles and reduced mill productivity.

There was no motor protection at the motor control centre panel. Neither the tripping status nor the cause were known. This delayed fault elimination.

The system did not have modern online monitoring and fault diagnostic facilities resulting in tedious maintenance and delays in fault elimination, again resulting in reduced mill efficiency.

Architecture of the new system A new automation system was conceived, designed and implemented for the cooling bed roller table motors along with a maintenance management system. The new system includes a PLC and networking architecture with remote I/Os and other accessories.

Speed control for the roller table group motors was achieved with variable fre-

quency drives (VFD). Sine wave filters are used to reduce the voltage reflection that may result from the longer motor cable length from the drives to motors. A new motor control centre (MCC) panel was designed and implemented for each motor control with all the protection of the motor including single phasing, earth fault and trip and also fault status of motors.

With regard to the network, an integrated automation and control system architecture with PLC and distributed I/Os over an industrial network backbone was adopted. Distributed inputs/ outputs panels herein referred to as Remote I/O (RIO) nodes were strategically installed in the four MCC rooms 1, 2, 3, 4 and in CP#10 for centralized roller table motor speed control and monitoring. The system is set up using a PLC processor and RIOs platform on Profibus. Implementation of a reliable network based on a PLC system drastically reduced the problem of frequent mal-operation of equipment due to hardwired connections.

A new power distribution scheme was developed and implemented for the VFD feeder circuit as well as control power for PLC, Remote I/O, MCC panels and other equipments. Two new transformers (which already had been installed earlier) were used to feed the VFD panel for running the cooling bed roller table motors. A redundant power distribution scheme was implemented with proper isolation and protection. This has

AUTOMATION enabled the VFD system to operate independently. Also, there is no longer a linkage with the bus bar power supply of the finishing mill, as had been the case before. Operation of the cooling bed roller table is no longer dependent on the power supply of the finishing mill.

The existing AC squirrel cage induction motors (120) of the cooling bed were retained, along with the motor cables (from the VFD to the MCC panel and from MCC panel to the individual motors). These motors are driven by a VVVF drive (VFD). As mentioned above, the cooling bed is divided into four groups, with each group having 30 motors. All four groups run in tandem. One VFD panel is installed for each group and all the four groups’ VFD panels are networked and programmed so as to take care that operation of the cooling bed runs properly. The main issue was to have an effective motor cable length from the VFD to the motors.

In this case the cumulative motor cable length from the VFD to the motor had been much longer than the normal motor cable length in case the motors were directly run by VFDs. This problem had to be taken care of properly in order to avoid that localized heating may lead to the burning of a motor, due to voltage reflection or other effects. The VFD motor control scheme was therefore designed with a proper sine wave filter installed in the output of the VFD circuit to take care of the mentioned problem.

The system has been running successfully and no burning of motors has occurred to date.

New MCC panels were designed and implemented for all the motors of the cooling bed roller table, including indication of all motor protection measures, such as single phasing, earth fault and trip, and the tripping status of each motor.

Due to the high criticality of the system, it was necessary to design a user-friendly diagnostic system for quick trouble shooting and on-line monitoring. Features of the system include node and equipment diagnostics through PLC. The status of the com-

‹‹‹

41

plete integrated control system is available to monitor various current statuses of individual equipment parts, etc.

These measures have helped to achieve efficient maintenance reducing downtime in this critical section of mill.

... a passion for precision.

Results The new control system was commissioned in February 2016 and has been in continuous use ever since. The system has resulted in a reduction in electrical downtime in the area concerned by more than 75% (during seven months from March to September 2016). Troubleshooting in case of breakdowns/ faults/trip in a motor has become easy and faster, leading to effective operation of the cooling bed and efficient maintenance management.

The system has been designed in such a way that future expansion and modification can be easily implemented. The system also provides a backbone for integrated automation and interfacing with the existing plantwide LAN.

alpha.ti 4.0 simple – precise – mature laser optical thickness measurement for steel, aluminium and nf-metals

Conclusion In long product rolling mills, roughing, intermediate and finishing stands as well as cooling beds are critical to the operation of the mill. Therefore, 100% availability of this equipment has to be ensured. The centralized control system – based on PLC and a RIO-based distributed architecture, implemented within the framework of this project – is an important asset to improve the overall performance by reducing the mean time for repairs, extending the mean time between failures and improving coordination in mill operation. Replacing the outdated control system, which had comprised an exciter set with DC generator, AC squirrel cage induction motor, variable frequency alternator (VFA), the DC drive motor, and associated relay logic and a speed transmitter, with state-of-theart AC drive technology has facilitated an increase in mill productivity.

• material independent • temperature independent • speed independent • accuracy starting from 1 μm • laser class 2 • lowest cost of ownership, 10 years warranty on laser • sample scanning mode for laboratory use • compact system, simple integration • ... and much more

nokra Optische Prüftechnik und Automation GmbH

Acknowledgements The project team is grateful to the management of SAIL for the opportunity to successfully execute this project and their continuous support throughout the project.

The team expresses sincere thanks to all those who have directly or indirectly supported the project.

MPT International 6 / 2016

Max-Planck-Straße 12 52499 Baesweiler · Germany Phone +49 2401 6077- 0 info@nokra.de

www.nokra.de

42

››› QUALITY ASSURANCE

The 20-roll mill stand at the Hagen-Hohenlimburg site of BWS with the two thickness measuring systems (blue indicator lights) installed

Lasers – the cost-effective alternative to radiometric and tactile thickness measurements The new “VTLG” thickness measurement system has passed the acid test: under the extreme conditions of a 20-roll cold rolling mill, it most reliably measures the strip thickness in the immediate vicinity of the roll gap. Despite high strip temperatures and dense oil mist, it achieves a measuring precision of ± 1 μm.

At its Hagen-Hohenlimburg, Germany, works, Philipp Boecker + Wender Stahl GmbH & Co. KG (BWS) produces high-quality strip of stainless and special steel grades in widths of up to 400 mm on a precision cold rolling mill.

The product spectrum includes strip in thicknesses ranging from 4 mm down to 50 μm, on request even down to 20

Elke Roller, Friedrich Vollmer Feinmessgerätebau GmbH, Hagen, Germany; Stefan Schober, Philipp Boecker + Wender Stahl GmbH & Co. KG, Iserlohn, Germany Contact: www.vollmergmbh.de E-mail: roller@vollmergmbh.de

MPT International 6 / 2016

μm. BWS operates a 20-roll mill stand for cold rolling.

The company makes products that require the highest of precision also in terms of strip thickness. For example, for rupture discs or roller springs, the customers demand compliance with a thickness tolerance of just a few micrometres.

Also strip for medical products must comply with very tight tolerances, e.g. ± 2 μm for 50 μm thick strip. The precision of the thickness measurement therefore has to be ±1 μm.

The goal: precise, cost-effective thickness measurement For decades BWS has been using tactile thickness measuring systems from

Vollmer at all of its rolling stands and in its levelling lines to ensure such accuracy, as those systems reliably achieve the required precision. However, the mechanically operating devices in use at the cold rolling stand were getting close to their economic lifetime and demanded a great deal of maintenance. Furthermore, the diamonds were occasionally leaving undesired marks on the delicate surfaces, for example, of thin strip made of nickel or titanium alloys. As the systems could not be traversed across the width of the strip, it was not possible either to measure the shape – for example, the taper – of the incoming stock.

Therefore, after decades of successful operation, the time had become ripe

QUALITY ASSURANCE to consider an upgrade of the thickness measuring system. Instead of a complete modernization, BWS decided in favour of another future-oriented alternative.

It was clear from the outset that a contact-free technology had to be chosen. The variants isotopic, X-ray and laser technology were compared. However, the decision was quickly made in favour of the optical method, as it functions independently of the alloy.

Other arguments in favour of an optical system were the lower costs of investment and operation as well as the lower safety precautions to be taken.

Challenging conditions However, the prevailing conditions in the mill posed an obstacle for the installation of a laser-based system, as the installation space was very limited. The only possible installation location was on each side of the roll gap between the oil strippers and the shapemeter rolls – i.e. at exactly the same positions as the existing tactile thickness measuring systems. Just 200 mm in the rolling direction were available for the installation.

Furthermore, the dense oil mist arising from the up to 80°C hot strip being rolled at speeds of up to 650 m/min severely obstructs the view of the strip surface. Additionally, the high ambient temperature in the vicinity of the roll gap had to be coped with. Due to the confined space, it was difficult to effectively shield the measuring systems from the outside.

Vollmer therefore suggested the installation of the new “VTLG” optical thickness measuring system that had already proved effective in other works, but under significantly less challenging conditions. At BWS, Vollmer wanted to prove that the new system would function just as precisely and reliably under extreme conditions.

First, one VTLG system was installed on one side of the mill stand, replacing a tactile system. The tactile measuring system on the other side remained in operation for the time being and measured the strip thickness twice at each pass during that test phase. The results were compared with the values measured by the optical system. After a few optimization measures, the VTLG functioned so reliably that also the second tactile system was removed and replaced with a laser system. A few days after the installation,

the second system was ready for operation at the required precision. Since June 2016, both systems have been integrated into the highly dynamic thickness control system of the rolling stand.

First experience The results show that the systems consistently and reliably achieve the demanded precision even under the extreme conditions prevailing in the immediate vicinity of the oil strippers.

The systems provide precise measurements at the high strip speed and under the conditions of high temperatures and the resulting dense oil mist.

Since their installation, both systems have functioned trouble-free; there have been no unscheduled standstills of the cold rolling mill caused by the thickness measuring systems.

The changeover from the tactile to the optical technology was easy. No modifications to the mill stand had been neces-

‹‹‹

43

the certainty that the thickness measuring system is functioning reliably with each individual strip.

At the start of each pass, the VTLG now also measures the thickness distribution transversely to the rolling direction by moving the measuring frame across the whole width of the strip, so that any camber of the starting material can be corrected during rolling. Such measurement was not possible with the tactile systems.

While the current thickness is permanently shown on displays, the dedicated Vollmer software also generates a thickness profile over the strip length and width.

The systems require minimum service and maintenance. The optical components are so well protected that maintenance is limited to just cleaning twice a week the optical components accessible from the outside. This provides significantly higher availability of the cold rolling mill compared to the situation with the tactile systems installed.

C-frame of the VTLG system in parking position at the drive side of the mill stand (all pictures by courtesy of Vollmer)

sary. The installation space that the tactile systems had taken up proved to be sufficient for the optical systems. As all the systems have the same interface to the process control system, it had not been necessary to modify the control system.

The automatic calibration of the system before each pass has proved highly efficient. It gives the line operators

The technology in detail The new VTLG strip thickness gauge operates on the principle of laser triangulation. It is characterized by a very sturdy design. Although it contains optical components, it can be installed in the mill stand in the immediate vicinity of the roll gap. Even under such tough conditions, it achieves very high MPT International 6 / 2016

44

››› QUALITY ASSURANCE

Only 200 mm length are required for the installation of the thickness measuring system

precision. The VTLG thus opens up completely new possibilities for quick and precise thickness control and for quality assurance. With an internal scanning rate of 50 kHz, the scalable analogue output provides the input signal for high-speed thickness control within milliseconds.

VTLG uses an absolute measuring technique to measure the strip thickness, i.e. the measurement is not influenced in any way by the material properties. The measurement is contact-free and from a safe distance.

With a measuring accuracy of ± 1 μm, it achieves the same precision as tactile and radiometric gauges.

Vollmer offers the system for different measuring ranges, from a minimum thickness of 0.015 up to a maximum of 12.0 mm. With an air gap of the C-frame of 125 or 285 mm, the sensors are positioned at a safe distance from the strip. Depending on the gauge type, the measuring depth is between 400 and 1,200 mm. The space requirement in rolling direction lies between 160 and 200 mm, depending on the measuring range.

The VTLG is not only suitable for measurements in the rolling stand – it is equally suitable for use in pickling lines, the finishing shop, edge milling machines or slitting lines.

Four design features contribute to the high precision of the systems: temMPT International 6 / 2016

perature stabilization of the measuring frame, automatic calibration checks before each strip pass, air purging systems and synchronicity of the measurements.

The thermal expansion of the C-frame is compensated by means of an intelligent temperature management system. This ensures that the measurement of the strip thickness – in the rolling stand, at the exit of an annealing line or within the pickling line – is just as accurate as a measurement in an air conditioned measuring room. Furthermore, before each strip pass, the system checks whether it has been correctly set using a calibration standard integrated into the C-frame. At the start of the measurement, the C-frame moves automatically into the line, on its way measuring the thickness of four integrated standard gauging blocks representing the thickness spectrum of the rolling stand. The VTLG thus constantly monitors itself, automatically making any corrections as necessary.

The fact that the two sensors operate absolutely synchronously contributes significantly to the high precision of the system. The VTLG eliminates the influence of the strip movement during the measurement.

Air purging systems ensure reliable operation even under the rough environmental conditions in the rolling stand. Both the entry and exit win-

dows of the transmitting and receiving lenses and the beam path are constantly flushed with clean air so that vapours or mists from rolling do not affect the measurement.

The lasers conform to laser protection class 3B. This means that in most cases no additional occupational health and safety measures are necessary.

The system has all common interfaces for communication with the line control systems: PROFINET, PROFIBUS, hardware interface or TCP/IP. Operation via a touch panel is convenient and intuitive. Extensive diagnostic functions support the operator.

Conclusion With a precision of ± 1 μm, the VTLG meets the measuring requirements in cold rolling, including those applicable to thin strips having to satisfy extremely tight thickness tolerances. The experience at BWS has shown that even under very rough ambient conditions the optical system is definitely an adequate replacement for the tactile systems used before. And what is more, it operates fully independently of the alloy, protects the surface of the strip, allows the thickness profile to be measured transversely to the rolling direction and significantly reduces the maintenance effort, thus increasing the availability of the mill stand.

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ANDRITZ AG Eibesbrunnergasse 20 1120 Vienna, Austria Phone: +43 50805 0 Fax: +43 (1) 813 76 45 metals.at@andritz.com

www.andritz.com

46

››› COLD ROLLING – MODERNIZATION

Salzgitter Flachstahl upgrades tandem mill to continuous operation For several years, Salzgitter Flachstahl has been operating a modern continuous pickling OLQH DQG D Ć‚YH VWDQG WDQGHP PLOO LQ DGGLWLRQ WR D SXVK SXOO SLFNOLQJ OLQH 5HFHQWO\ D VPDUW DQG HIĆ‚FLHQW VROXWLRQ ZDV GHYHORSHG WKDW ZLOO RSWLPL]H FRRUGLQDWLRQ EHWZHHQ WKRVH SODQWV $ FRQWLQXRXV HQWU\ VHFWLRQ WR WKH WDQGHP PLOO KDV EHHQ VXFFHVVIXOO\ LPSOHPHQWHG In its integrated iron and steel works, Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH (SZFG), Germany, produces wide hot strip, steel strip, plate and sheet as well as surface treated products between 0.4 and 25 mm thick and up to 2,000 mm

solutions that would optimize coordination between these production facilities. The original idea of coupling the continuous pickling line directly to the tandem mill was eventually rejected due to the long distance of about

was not changed, as this method was considered to be the best and safest way to cover the distance between the several production lines and the storage area. Hence, it was decided that the continuous pickling line and the tan-

Compact entry section with coil feeding area

wide. For several years, SZFG has been operating a modern continuous pickling line, in addition to a push-pull pickling line, and a five-stand tandem mill. SZFG worked with Duisburg, Germany-based engineering company BWG to develop smart and efficient

Thomas PreiĂ&#x;ler, Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH, Salzgitter, Germany; Christoph Schnoklake, BWG Bergwerkund Walzwerk-Maschinenbau GmbH, Duisburg, Germany Contact: www.bwg-online.de E-mail: info@bwg-online.de

MPT International 6 / 2016

500 m between the two facilities and the fact that such a concept would limit the production flexibility of the pickling line. BWG and SZFG together developed an alternative solution, which under the project name ESTA (German abbreviation for: entry looper tandem mill) was commissioned in 2013. This upgrade to the entry end of the tandem mill has markedly improved mill operation at SZFG. An important reason for implementing this particular concept is the fact that there was a large coil storage area adjacent to the tandem mill. The practice of moving the pickled coils into the storage area by transport vehicles

dem mill should remain decoupled.

Another aspect considered was the fact that SZFG sells a substantial part of the produced strip as pickled hot strip coils directly from the pickling line. Nevertheless, based on the proposal by BWG, it became possible and advantageous to implement a continuous entry section upgrade to the tandem mill despite the confined space situation. The solution was to reduce the size of the coil storage area at the tandem mill and use the newly gained space for the continuous entry section equipment at the tandem mill and accommodate the strip looper tower in a separate building.

COLD ROLLING – MODERNIZATION SZFG defined the following key objectives for the ESTA project: ▪ continuous operation of the tandem mill and, as a result, fewer incidents caused by individual coil threading, ▪ reduced off-size lengths and less overall off-size material, ▪ higher yield at the tandem mill and the downstream facilities, ▪ reduced processing costs (primarily by reducing roll wear), ▪ improved quality.

The possibility of using a horizontal strip accumulator, which is the most common solution for continuous tandem mill arrangements, had to be ruled out due to the limited space available.

SZFG was initially concerned whether a vertical looper would work given the strip thickness of up to 6 mm and the strip width of up to 1,900 mm for the pickled coils. BWG convinced SFZG by demonstrating a reference plant at Outokumpu Stainless in Sweden, where BWG had already installed a vertical looper for coils with similar strip dimensions.

After careful consideration, SZFG decided in favour of the solution proposed by BWG. The limited space available in the coil storage area turned out to be a major planning challenge for BWG. The task was to fit the new continuous entry section into the space available in the existing building. This required that parts of existing foundations, ducts for electrical cables and building columns had to be removed or relocated. At the same time, a new building with complex foundations had to be designed for the new vertical strip accumulator.

SZFG implemented the ESTA project in collaboration with BWG and its consortium partner Kleinknecht from Siegen, Germany. BWG designed and supplied the entire mechanical equipment. BWG also integrated a laser welding machine, separately ordered by SZFG, into the entry section equipment layout. Kleinknecht provided all the electrics for the new equipment. The automation company PA-Innovations GmbH, Linz, Austria, was responsible for adapting the existing electrical equipment of the tandem mill. Within the overall project, which was carefully coordinated between all parties involved, SZFG took care of all civil works, including the new foundations and buildings.

‹‹‹

47

Assembly of the looper tower on the SZFG premises

Coil transfer by the bay crane and the walking beam system

The continuous entry section to the tandem mill MPT International 6 / 2016

48

››› COLD ROLLING – MODERNIZATION

View of the helical turning device with connection to the looper and the tandem mill

Tailor-made strip preparation The pickled coils, weighing up to 32 tons, are removed from the coil storage area by a magnetic crane and placed on the first walking beam coil conveyor system. This procedure is supervised by sensor technology which indicates to the crane operator when the coil is centred, for secure placement onto the conveyor. At the end of the conveyor, the coil position, width, and diameter are measured. This data and the coil number are captured by a camera and transmitted to the mill control system.

The first walking beam system transfers the strapped coil to a lifting table, which places the coil on the next walking beam system equipped with cradles. The coils are positioned in centreline, and the straps are removed. The strip head is automatically detected and properly positioned for the next operation. In a downstream bending station, the coil is automatically turned so as to bring the strip leading end into a defined position in which, depending on the strip thickness and the steel grade, a ski shape is formed to facilitate strip threading into the mill.

Paying-off is handled by two reels in order to speed up the process. First, an auxiliary pay-off unit takes over the open coil and steers the strip head into the welding machine. This process is supported by a threading table which moves into the line from the side where it rests until the previous strip has been completely paid off. Before the strip enters the welding machine, the auxiliary pay-off reel guides the strip leading MPT International 6 / 2016

Chain-driven looper car of the vertical looper tower

end through a seven-roll leveller and a cross-cutting shear with a scrap removal device. Then a pinch-roll unit guides the strip head into the strip welder, where it is clamped and welded to the tail end of the previous coil, which is waiting – precisely positioned in the welding machine – for the head end. The new Miebach laser welding machine joins the strip heads and tails with a perfectly flat weld seam.

While the welding process takes place, the coil is being transferred from the auxiliary pay-off reel to the main pay-off reel, which handles the complete paying off of the coil. The advantage of such an arrangement over a solution with a double pay-off reel is that it requires less space and that the investment costs are less.

A key element of this space-saving layout is that the strip has to take a 90° turn. For this, a dedicated turning device was provided. A clamping set mounted on a steering frame steers the strip at maximum speed and perfectly centred into the helical turning device. From there the strip – now turned through 90° – runs directly into the new entry looper of the tandem mill via a second clamping device.

Vertical looper solves space problems BWG’s proposal of building a vertical strip accumulator actually paved the way for the implementation of a continuous strip entry section for the tandem mill because only by use

COLD ROLLING – MODERNIZATION

‹‹‹

49

Inside view of the looper tower front below

of a vertical looper design was it possible to accumulate the required strip length in the confined area available at the rolling mill. In strip processing lines, such as galvanizing and annealing lines, vertical strip loopers are the state of the art. However, while in those lines strip thicknesses between 1.5 and 3.0 mm and maximum strip speeds of 300 m/min must be handled, the looper for the tandem mill at SZFG had to be designed for strip thicknesses of up to 6.0 mm and maximum entry and exit speeds of 700 m/min and 500 m/ min respectively.

These requirements had to be taken into account in the looper design: for example, the height of the loops was not to exceed 45 m. In order to cope with the resulting high strip tension forces, the accumulator was made up of two accumulator units arranged in series and equipped with separate lifting drives. The endless strip runs through both of the units, each of which has the capacity of accumulating 300 m of strip in ten loops. Due to the high resulting forces, the lower looper cars are lifted via chain drives equipped with an automatic chain lubrication system. Several of the lower deflector rolls are driven by compensating drives and designed as steering rolls in order to overcome strip tension losses that occur when deflecting thick gauge, soft grade strips.

The looper tower was installed in a space next to the coil storage area during a 15-week construction period. The building enclosing the looper tower was built afterwards.

Switch-over within 13 days of line stoppage Downtime of the mill was to be kept as short as possible. Therefore, to the greatest extent possible, the dismantling of equipment and structures and the assembly of the new equipment took place with the tandem mill in operation. The tandem mill was only stopped to have the assembled and tested entry section connected to it. The components required for establishing the connection had been preassembled to a very large degree.

The most critical part was to assemble the new strip entry section into an independent functional unit complete with the vertical looper, the helical turning device and the clamping set on the steering frame and to test its operation independent of the running rolling mill using a temporary recoiler which provisionally served as a replacement for the tandem mill. To facilitate that procedure, a software integration test was conducted beforehand in order to test the complex functions and interlocks in advance.

When the mill was stopped as planned, the provisional recoiler was dismantled

and the final connections between the new mill entry system and the tandem mill were made. Only through this approach was it possible to restart the tandem mill with the continuous strip entry section in place in November 2013 after a stoppage of only 13 days. Performance tests were run in March 2014. In June 2014, BWG received the final acceptance certificate.

Convincing results Meanwhile the continuous tandem mill has been running without interruption for more than two years to SZFG’s full satisfaction. During that time, the new equipment layout has markedly improved the operating performance of the mill. Those at SZFG responsible for the project were pleased not only with the project execution, which was characterized by excellent team spirit and an adherence to the project schedule, but also with the results achieved. The specified project objectives were met or exceeded in all key respects.

Particularly notable are the following improvements: ▪ increase in mill availability, ▪ a marked decrease in off-size lengths and significant increase in the overall yield, ▪ less roll wear and improved surface quality.

MPT International 6 / 2016

50

››› STRIP PROCESSING

Exact setting of strip back-tension – at any position in the processing line Bridles can build up strip back-tension exactly where and as high as needed. Also thick strips or high-strength steel strips can be handled with ease. Bridle units may be swivelled through their vertical axis, for example, in order to reduce strip camber and adjust the strip position during side trimming. At cut-to-length lines, they position the strip edge perfectly perpendicular to the shear. The result is an exact, rectangular cut.

Strip handling in rolling mills and steel service centres Umlauf Bridles – a product of BTU Bridle Technology GmbH – are designed to ensure gentle strip transport without any deflection of the strip. They can be installed at virtually any position of a strip processing line. Umlauf Bridles can build up strip back-tension exactly where and as high as needed. Also thick strips or strips made of high-strength materials can be handled with ease. The bridle units have proven highly successful in numerous strip processing applications, such as in pickling, annealing, rolling, side trimming, galvanizing and levelling or, in steel service centres, in slitting or cut-to-length lines.

The Umlauf Bridles’ capabilities are not limited to building up or reducing strip back-tension. They are also employed to decrease residual stresses in the strip, optimize strip flatness and correct rolling effects such as camber.

Moreover, they minimize cropping scrap at the head and tail ends as well as side trimmings. The crawler-type bridle units transport the strip in a most gentle manner without any risk of strip surface damage as their contact surfaces come with an elastic coating.

Michael Umlauf, commercial manager of BTU Bridle Technology, sees clear cost advantages for his customers: “Operators of strip processing lines may use our bridle units at virtually any position of their lines to build up or reduce back-tension

The crawler-type Umlauf units are covered with an elastic coating, preventing any surface damage of the strip MPT International 6 / 2016

in a highly controlled way. Our bridles provide numerous possibilities to operate strip processing equipment in a most efficient way. As a result, more sellable metres are obtained from every coil.”

Levelling without rollers In conventional levelling arrangements, the forces required to push the strip forward are almost exclusively generated by the leveller. A disadvan-

STRIP PROCESSING tage of such arrangement is the risk of roller slippage which may result in longitudinal scratches on the strip surface. What is more, the drives of levelling rollers are often not powerful enough to handle thicker gauge strip, or universal shafts may break due to local overloading.

If an Umlauf Bridle is arranged behind the leveller, the strip can be pulled through the leveller in a controlled manner, relieving a major part of the load from the drives of the levelling rollers. The effect of the bridle unit may even be so high that some of the levelling rollers can be dispensed with or regular drives can be replaced by auxiliary ones. Under certain conditions, it may even be possible to do entirely without driven rollers. The Umlauf Bridles can build up back-tensions high enough to also level thick strips and strip made of high-strength steels.

Any damage of the strip surface is ruled out because neither the levelling rollers nor the crawler tracks of the Umlauf Bridle will slip on the strip.

An even greater effect can be achieved by combining two Umlauf Bridles in one application. With one unit arranged before and one behind the leveller, it is possible to apply – in a precisely controlled manner – a longitudinally acting force of several thousand kilonewtons (kN) on the strip.

Through this arrangement, levelling is performed primarily by stretching and only to a minor degree by bending. Actually, stretching may take over up to 90% of the levelling work. It may also be possible to use larger rollers in the leveller, resulting in a marked reduction of residual stresses and hence improved flatness of the strip. Due to the high strip back-tension of up to 6,000 kN achievable by the Umlauf Bridle, it has eventually become possible to continuously stretch-level strip without requiring any levelling rollers. Calculations have shown that this is not only much more economical than conventional stretch-levelling. It also provides a better result.

Christian Umlauf, BTU Bridle Technology GmbH & Co. KG, Hagen, Germany Contact: www.btu-bridle.de E-mail: christian-umlauf@btu-bridle.de

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51

Two Umlauf Bridles arranged up and downstream of a stretch-leveller can build up CP[ DCEM VGPUKQP YKVJQWV FGĆƒGEVKPI VJG UVTKR

Scale breaking without conventional bridle rolls For scale breaking and strip levelling ahead of pickling lines, Umlauf units can be used instead of conventional bridle rolls. As the Umlauf Bridles guide the strip linearly, i.e. without any deflection, no strain energy is required. This is an important cost factor, especially when dealing with thick strips. Additionally, the tensile strength distribution is more homogeneous as the Umlauf Bridle applies the tensile force uniformly over the entire width of the strip.

Norbert Umlauf, founder and managing director of BTU, explains: “We installed two Umlauf Bridles in a levelling line in which high-strength steel strip of premium quality in terms of shape and flatness is produced. In that application, our bridle units build up a strip back-tension of 1,200 kN and adjust the elongation rate with an accuracy of 0.1%. The equipment, designed for strips of up to about 4 mm thickness, also reduces strip camber in the process. Additionally, we measure the flatness of the strip in a tension-free state during the running process.�

The principle of the Umlauf technology Umlauf Bridles consist of two crawler-type units covered by an elastic coating. One unit is arranged above and one below the strip. They

guide and transport the strip linearly, i.e. without any deflection, at different stages of strip processing lines.

Thanks to their extreme compactness, they can be arranged at virtually any position in the line.

By applying the force over an area – and not concentrated in one point – any local concentrations of forces or relative movements between the crawler unit and the strip surface are avoided. Therefore, surface damage is ruled out, making this technology highly suitable for delicate strip surfaces.

A single bridle unit may be used to apply large forces to the strip, for example, in order to pull it through side trimmers or levellers. This aspect is of particular interest especially when processing thick strips. The unit may also be installed to decouple the back-tension of a line section from upstream processes or even reduce the back-tension to “zero�. Through this latter option, an Umlauf Bridle makes it possible, for example, to measure the flatness of the strip without any interfering effects.

As the Umlauf Bridles are arranged within the strip processing line, they build up strip back-tension before the coiler bites the strip head. This significantly increases the usable coil length, in some strip processing lines the yield per coil may be increased by up to 20 m.

The bridle units may be swivelled through their vertical axis, for examMPT International 6 / 2016

52

››› STRIP PROCESSING

ple, in order to reduce strip camber and adjust the strip position during side trimming. At cut-to-length lines,

About BTU Bridle Technology

while adjusting strip travel in a highly precise manner. That technology helped operators of strip processing lines in cold rolling mills or steel service centres to increase the efficiency and flexibility of their operations.

Since then, Umlauf Bridles have been in use all over the world at leading producers of steel or non-ferrous metals strip. The bridles have proven their worth in pickling, hot-dip galvanizing and annealing lines as well as in finishing facilities such as cut-to-length or slitting lines. More than 30 units are in use worldwide.

Several new installations are #P 7ONCWH $TKFNG ECP TGFWEG VJG UVTKR DCEM VGPUKQP VQ \GTQ KP QTFGT VQ CNNQY QRVKECN ĆƒCVPGUU currently underway.

Since 2016, Norbert measurement in a complete tension-free state Umlauf’s sons, Christian they position the strip edge perfectly technology capable of flexibly build- and Michael, have taken up active perpendicular to the shear. The result ing up or reducing the back-tension roles in the company, which today of strip in strip processing lines is based in Hagen, Germany. is an exact, rectangular cut.

BTU was founded in 1985 by Norbert Umlauf who had developed a

Incremental encoder for explosive atmospheres SPECIAL EQUIPMENT Explosive atmospheres are a special field in heavy industry subject to stringent safety requirements. With this in mind Johannes HĂźbner Giessen developed the incremental encoder Ex FG 40 for applications in extremely harsh and explosive gas environments. The Ex FG 40 is certified according to both the latest ATEX 2014/34/ EU directive for European countries and the international IECEx concept for zones 1 and 2 (gas) and zones 21 and 22 (dust). Dual certification means it is possible to deploy the encoder in a very large number of countries without the need for additional national certificates of conformity. The device is built to achieve protection level db (flameproof enclosure) for gas-laden environments and tb (protection by enclosure) for dust-laden environments.

While the electronics of the ex-proof encoder have been derived from the standard HĂźbner encoder FG 40, the mechanical components are completely new. Distinguishing features of the device are the extremely rugged construction thanks to the thick-walled enclosure, a long service life due to the large ball bearings and robust stainless steel shaft with feather key, its resistance to shock and vibration as well as the high level of corrosion protection thanks to the high-quality anodic coating. Despite the high protection class IP66, the Ex FG 40 offers a wide speed range up to 6,000 rpm as well as suitability for an ambient temperature MPT International 6 / 2016

Ex-proof encoders

range from -40°C to +60°C. In addition, the device is made of salt-water proof aluminium. The flange attachment option with 30° grid alignment makes it possible to install the encoder perfectly aligned to the lay of the cable. The device can be deployed with dual signal output for applications requiring a second output signal.

Contact: www.huebner-giessen.com

TECHNICAL INNOVATIONS

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53

Blasting and preservation lines SURFACE TECHNOLOGY Surface quality has become a key issue in numerous production processes. Therefore, there is a growing demand for economic blasting concepts with subsequent preservation of the surface of sheet metal or metal sections. For such products AGTOS, specialists in wheel blasting technology, offers roller conveyor blasting machines. The high-performance machines ensure economical operations and provide good accessibility for maintenance. The turbines, which are the most important components of the shot blast machines, come in different variants, to ensure long service lives even when aggressive abrasives are used.

Contact: www.agtos.com

Blasting wheel

Complete security solutions for the manufacturing industry INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Within the framework of their strategic digital alliance, Siemens and Atos cooperate in the field of cyber security for industrial companies. The cooperation provides services that help industrial companies to keep up with continuously changing threats to their security and to safeguard the productivity of their enterprises. The increased networking of industrial infrastructures, and production and office IT make adequate protective measures essential. In the “assess security” phase, both Siemens and Atos conduct assessments to determine the actual situation in a company. The results form the basis for protective measures, jointly proposed by Siemens and

Atos as an integral implementation plan, including such elements as the installation of firewalls and virus protection programmes, with which the security level can be raised even further. To manage security, Siemens and Atos will also support customers with a range of proactive services to successfully counteract ever-changing cyber threats.

These include, for example, the continuous monitoring of plants and offices. Finally, both partners will support industrial companies with their certification in the certify security phase.

Contact: www.siemens.com; www.atos.net

Conveyor for hot DRI STEELMAKING Aumund has built a specialized conveyor for hot DRI for the new steel plant of Tosyali in Algeria. The 116-m-long conveyor (type BZB-H-I 900/400) has been de-

signed for a capacity of 323 t/h hot DRI at 750°C. Aumund’s patented bucket conveyor features improved sealing to protect the material from environmental influences. The inert system prevents re-oxidization of the highly reactive bulk material and permits the transportation of the DRI without great losses in the level of metallization. The conveyor will be used as the connection between the Midrex shaft furnace and an electric arc furnace.

Tosyali is building a Midrex direct reduction plant with a production capacity of 2.5 million t of DRI and the option to produce either hot or cold DRI. Compared with cold charging, the conveying of hot DRI saves up to 6% on electrode consumption. The tap-to-tap times and primary energy source carbon requirements are reduced, so this in turn reduces CO2 emissions. When hot DRI enters the furnace at approx. 600°C, the energy saving is more than 120 kW per t of liquid crude steel.

Steel plant with conveyor for hot DRI

Contact: www.aumund.com MPT International 6 / 2016

54

››› TECHNICAL INNOVATIONS

New generation of coil compactors LONG PRODUCT ROLLING Danieli group company Sund Birsta is going to sell its first Sirius coil compactor. The compactor will be installed in France in the Sam Montereau mill operated by the Riva Group. The new Sirius coil compactor will use mainly electromechanical drives, only to a limited degree hydraulic power. The equipment will be supplied with all systems on board, reducing installation and commissioning time. The Sirius compactor will use approx. 20% of the energy consumed by conventional compactors on the market. Carriages with electrical gear motors move quickly

and at low force. Final compacting is done by short-stroke, high-force hydraulic cylinders. The two press carriages are locked together before final compacting is done. Wire feeding is entirely electrically driven using frequency converters to control the speed. The new fully electrical binding unit uses servo motors to operate. Machine dimensions are smaller than those of traditional compactors. Thus older compactors can be replaced without changing existing foundations.

Contact: www.danieli.com

Quality tracking project for steel coils QUALITY ASSURANCE As of 1 February 2016, the EuroA unique 1D bar code is printed along the coil in a regpean Steel Association (Eurofer) took over the management ular pitch at a minimum of 500 mm. The information of the quality tracking system for steel coils. The system is from for example the automatic surface inspection sysan innovative solution to provide more quality informa- tem (ASIS) is synchronized with the bar code to provide tion to coil processors by using a 1D barcode the position of the defects. The quality information transferred to, for example, a 2D as unique address for each ‘steel unit’. It was the result of a five-year technical collaborabar code allows the user of the coil to obtain tion between ArcelorMittal, Tata Steel Europe information from a server which indicates and Thyssenkrupp. The project operates to the position of the defects to the blanking achieve a common goal: to support the zero line. The deployment of the system is supported by ArcelorMittal, Tata Steel Europe, defect vision for final products, and to optiThyssenkrupp, Voestalpine and Salzgitter. mize the resource efficiency of the steel supThe aim is to standardize the technical ply chain. Being ready for industrialization, it is open-source, cost-effective and can be solution so that coil users can employ a applied by steel producers of coils, all users single system on coils from all steel proof steel coils such as car makers, part man- Scan this QR code to watch ducers. ufacturers, steel processors, service centres, the quality tracking system blanking line builders etc.

Contact: www.eurofer.eu in action

Laser-based thickness measurement QUALITY ASSURANCE The “alpha.ti 4.0” gauge is a milestone in laser-based thickness measurement. Equipped with an array of standard interfaces, it enables flexible, customized integration in the plant equipment environment. The most important new features include temper-

ature-independent measuring accuracy, flexible measuring ranges with tool-less sensor replacement without needing adjustment, as well as the quick-exchange sensor panes and invisible air knives to keep the optical paths clear. The system is available as C- or O-frame, in both cases the measuring operation can be traversing or using a fixed measuring track. Due to its simplicity and compactness, it is possible to use the alpha.ti 4.0 as an off-line system for laboratory measurements. For this purpose, a sample scanning mode is available to deliver either a single measurement or a composite area profile of an entire sample section efficiently.

Contact: www.nokra.de

“alpha.ti 4.0” thickness gauge in C-frame design MPT International 6 / 2016

“Steel plants operate at very high temperatures. What considerations do I need to take into account when choosing a lubricant?”

Steel mill machinery is often subjected to demanding high-temperature operating conditions and therefore requires robust lubricants, specifically designed to offer reliable equipment protection.

In steel plants, where machinery operates at very high temperatures, there is a risk that a conventional mineral-based lubricant may not offer sufficient protection due to degradation resulting from oil oxidation, or due to the loss of base oil from grease bleed and evaporation.

There are a number of products available that can help overcome this challenge. Mobil SHCTM oils and greases, for example, offer considerable advantages; the upper operating limit for Mobil SHCTM lubricants is typically 50°C higher than the maximum operating temperature for high-quality mineral oils. They also have excellent thermal stability and oxidation resistance, reducing deposit formation while extending oil drain intervals.

One customer that has benefited from this is a hot rolling steel mill in Germany that switched the gear spindles to Mobil SHCTM 639 synthetic lubricant, more than tripling its equipment lifespan, resulting in a reduction of gear spindle maintenance and generating annual savings of approximately €1,000,000.

The gear spindles had originally been grease lubricated, which had provided a service life of around nine months. As a result of the switch the gear spindles’ lifespan increased by 250 percent, with no failures or unplanned spindle maintenance in 32 months. There was also a reduction in oily waste generated for disposal.

Response from Jarmo Vihersalo, ExxonMobil Industrial, marketing advisor EAME and MPT’s expert Contact: www.mobilindustrial.com

Disclaimer: This advice is provided for general guidance only and should not be relied on for any specific situation. You should always contact your own lubricants supplier in relation to your specific issues and needs. MPT International and ExxonMobil companies do not accept any liability incurred by you as a result of relying on the advice in this column.

© Utz Peter Greis, Düsseldorf

Cartoon

MPT International 6 / 2016

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››› LITERATURE SERVICE (QTIKPI JCPFNKPI CPF ƂNVGT VGEJPQNQI[ 12 pages, English A brochure setting out the range of forging and handling technology offered by Dango & Dienenthal. The equipment described includes forging manipulators, heavy-load robots, charging and stoking machines and skimming equipment. Filters are provided for liquid and solid filtration as manually operated or self-cleaning units.

Contact: E-mail:

www.dango-dienenthal.de dds@dds-gmbh.com

'NGEVTKE CEVWCVQTU 34 pages, English, German A detailed catalogue of electric actuators supplied by EUBA. The catalogue provides descriptions of the actuators offered, including technical drawings and specifications of the products of standard design, complete spare parts lists, wiring diagrams and special actuators.

Contact: E-mail:

www.euba.de info@euba.de

8CNXGU HQT ETKVKECN CRRNKECVKQPU 24 pages, English, German A brochure presenting the range of products and services provided by valve specialists IMI TH Jansen. Valves for iron and steel applications include hot blast valves, goggle valves, three-lever valves, wedge gate valves, butterfly valves as well as numerous specialized solutions.

Contact: E-mail:

www.imi-critical.com imithj.sales@imi-critical.com

%GTVKĆ‚GF TGHGTGPEG OCVGTKCNU 6 pages, English, German The brochure summarizes the services and products available from the Labmix24 web shop.

Available are more than 30,000 products as certified reference materials, recalibration samples, etc. Organic custom mixtures can be composed and ordered in a fast and convenient way.

Contact: E-mail:

www.labmix24.com info@labmix24.com

4GHTCEVQTKGU HQT VJG KTQPOCMKPI KPFWUVT[ 10 pages, English A brochure covering the solutions and products offered by Seven Refractories for blast furnaces and casthouse equipment. It provides detailed and clearly structured information as to the types of refractories to be used in the various zones of the blast furnace and runners.

Contact: E-mail:

MPT International 6 / 2016

www.sevenrefractories.com info@sevenrefractories.com

IN THE NEXT ISSUE…

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57

Ironmaking Opening of the HBI plant in Texas marks start of a new era at Voestalpine With the completion of the direct reduction plant in Corpus Christi, Texas, the Voestalpine group has set a further milestone in implementing its international growth strategy. The plant is the largest investment ever made in the USA by an Austrian company. Each year the plant will produce two million tonnes of high-quality hot briquetted iron, a sophisticated pre-material used in steel production. The plant is already regarded as an environmental benchmark and is an important first step on the company’s path of reducing GHG emissions.

Steelmaking Environment-friendly and energy-efficient steel plant for the production of quality steel IISCO Steel Plant, a SAIL group company, India, has successfully commissioned a converter shop for the production of quality steel grades at the Burnpur location in the Indian federal state of West Bengal. The steelworks comprises three converters, three stirring stations, two ladle furnaces, a vacuum degassing plant, primary and secondary gas cleaning systems and a converter off-gas recovery system.

Secondary metallurgy Minimill project for specialty steel production in Taiwan Gloria Material Technology Corp., the largest producer of speciality alloys in Taiwan and one of the global leading companies with a product portfolio comprising more than 500 steel grades and a worldwide supplier of high-quality materials has officially started a new minimill project. The company ordered a new minimill for the production of 180,000 t/ year of special steel and the revamping of the existing, smaller steel plant. The main equipment to be installed is an electric arc furnace, a secondary metallurgy complex as well as a casting area. In detail the steel refining area will consist of an AOD converter, a ladle furnace as well as a VD/VOD plant.

This preview may be subject to change.

Metallurgical Plant and Technology

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Published by: Verlag Stahleisen GmbH P.O. Box 10 51 64, 40042 Düsseldorf, Germany e-mail mpt@stahleisen.de Publisher: Steel Institute VDEh Executive Member of the Management Board: Dr.-Ing. Peter Dahlmann Internet: www.mpt-international.com Editorial Staff: Chief Editor: Dipl.-Ing. Arnt Hannewald

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MPT International 6 / 2016

AS ONE We are stronger

Two powerful companies in the metals industry have forged together. Mitsubishi-Hitachi Metals Machinery and Siemens VAI Metals Technologies have united to become the new global force in metals technologies.

Creating the future of metals as one. primetals.com