feb 2014.pdf

World Steel Association estimated that steel demand in India would grow at

3.4 per cent in 2013 and touch 74 million tonnes, higher than the 2.6 per

cent growth rate recorded in 2012. In 2014, the demand is poised to grow at

even a higher rate of 5.6 per cent helped by efforts to implement structural

reforms.

Also a research shows that steel consumption is expected to grow at an average rate of 6.8 per

cent to reach 104 million tonnes by 2017 driven by rising infrastructure development and

growing demand for automotives.

However, steel consumption in India continued to languish at 0.7 per cent growth Y-o-Y during

April -February period of current fiscal at 67.25 million tonnes over the same period last fiscal

at 66.78 million tonnes.

Typically steel consumption rises by 1.1 times of the GDP growth rate for an economy. It

remained largely subdued so far in the current fiscal considering India's slow GDP growth.

India's economy grew below expectations at 4.7 per cent in October-December on falling

output in the manufacturing sector. The country's GDP had expanded 4.8 per cent in the July-

September quarter and 4.4 per cent in April-June. Growth in the first nine months (April-

December) was 4.6 per cent.

The poor consumption scenario is in contrast with the latest figures by World Steel

Association which has revealed that India's steel production increased by 3 per cent to 59.62

million tonnes in the first nine months of 2013, as against 57.90 million tonnes in the

corresponding period last year. Moreover, the data showed that India's rate of production

growth was the second-best following China among the major global producers.

India's steel production capacity is expected to increase to around 135 million tonnes in next

1-2 years from the current level of about 90 million tonnes per annum as all steel producers

have taken up capacity addition projects. So, in all likelihood, an oversupply situation looms

afar owing to this disparity in consumption growth and production growth.

So, which are the overseas markets to for this surplus volume? How to increase domestic

consumption?

It is high time for one and all associated with this industry to take up a cohesive approach to

find answers to these questions. Else, the coveted production figure will remain a mystical

figure with no reason to step up production for long term viability.

Editor & PublisherNIRMALYA MUKHERJEE

DirectorSHAMPA MUKHERJEE

Executive AssistantANKIT MUKHERJEE

Editorial AdvisorMANORANJAN MUKHERJEE

Sub-EditorARNAB MONDAL

DGM - PR PRADIPTA SENGUPTA

Sr. Executive - Business DevelopmentAYAN BHUIYAN

Production ManagerDEO KANT JHA

Design & Layout SUMALENDU BASU

Scanning & ProcessingSTEEL & METALLURGY

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Slow Consumption Trend Creates Doubts over Steel Production Target

Vol. 16 No. 04 February 2014

From The Desk 1

Industry Analysis

4

Realising Indias Steel Dream: Some Suggestions

Special Feature

14

A Look Through The Saga Of Essar Steel

Statistics 66

News Desk 51

Technology Update

20

Most Modern SBQ Pro-duction Technology

Rolling Mills 32Modernization Solutions for Long Product Rolling Mills to Increase Pro-ductivity, Utilization and Product Quality

Product Profile

45

Risk More Weight With igus Drylin W System

ECOFLUX * Corrugated Tube Heat Exchangers

Company Profile

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Precision Speed and Length Measurement (down to Zero) Laser Sur-face Velocimeters LSV 1000 / 2000

Zumbach At Tube 2014

Industry AnAlysIs

STEEL & METALLURGY 4 FEBRUARY 2014

and the Steel industry and the above agencies started running behind mak-ing money by auctioning and export-ing Iron Ore at the exorbitant prices.

On the one hand Government wants the Steel industry to grow and give proper competition to the world and on the other hand the main raw ma-terial available here in India started to be diverted out of India. This point should be considered very sincerely by the apex bodies, the media and the Government i.e. States as well as Cen-tre. The Government Agencies should first feed the domestic industry charg-ing Cost +20-25% premium. If they do not agree, their leases should be withdrawn and the Mines should be auctioned globally. The Government will receive a good exchequer at least.

Realising Indias Steel Dream- Some Suggestions

Raw Material SourcingIron Ore

S.S. BeriwalaChairman, Shyam Steel Industries Ltd.

The fortune of steel industry is in-trinsically linked with the economic growth and development of any coun-try. India is the 4th largest steel produc-er logded 5.86% growth in production in FY : 2012-13, the largest among the major global producers.

India Steel Vision 2020 or 2025 pro-poses to draw a roadmap for the In-dian Steel Industry, the next decade to produce 300 million tonnes of steel by 2025. Whether it will remain a dream or we will fetch the target, is the main question before the country.

The Government expects the country to become the 2nd largest steel pro-ducer by 2015 on the back of capacity addition. But the experts take it oth-erwise. Following points may be taken and considered sincerely to reach the target:

1) Raw Material Sourcing.

2) Technology Status.

3) R&D Facilities.

4) Logistics and Infrastructure.

5) Market Demand.

Let us compare one by one.

Ore, the basic raw material required for Steelmaking. But the easy availability of Iron Ore to the actual consumers at a fair price and right quality specially to the small players of Steel, who produce about 50% of the total Steel in India is far from reach. Even some quantity of Iron Ore was imported from abroad to feed the actual consumers, last year.

The reason mainly goes to mismanage-ment of the Steel Ministry, Govern-ment of India and factual policies. The large blocks of Iron Ore mines were allotted to mostly main Steel produc-ers for captive mines and to NMDC, OMDC, OMDC and JMDC as merchan-dise mines to feed the domestic small Steel players. With the passing of time Government of India as well as states have forgotten the main prin-ciple of development of the country India has abundant quantity of Iron

Industry AnAlysIs


Coal

R&D Facilities

Logistics & Infrastructure

Technology Status

I am not taking the matter of Coking Coal, which is not easily available in India. We should consider about the availability of Non-Coking Coal, which is available plenty in India, but owing to mismanagement of Coal India Limited, negligible efforts for underground min-ing since a long time and the faulty poli-cies towards the supply of Non-Coking Coal to the actual Steel Consumers, by Government of India. Non-CokingCoal has also become a scarce raw ma-terial and the huge quantities of Non-Coking Coal are being imported to feed the actual Consumers. The large blocks should be allotted to some big Government agencies whether State or Central with the complete environ-ment and forest clearance to feed only domestic small manufacturers of Steel in India at fair prices with the quality as per the declaration in the invoices.

The Government should adopt practi-cal policies pertaining to the technol-ogy towards the development of the Steel industry. China had produced the Steel during the fiscal year 2011-12 at

726.33 million tonnes, whereas India produced only 78.12 million tonnes during the same fiscal. The consider-able point is that China produces each so much of Steel, which is the total production in India. But we are very happy on the pretext that we are the 4th largest Steel Producer. Actually China has established several insti-tutions, who research the technol-ogy regularly. Steel producers and the manufacturers have no other choice but to be affiliated with one or the other institutions for the technology.

It is unfortunate part of India that the Government had been following whim-sical populist policies and disburses the funds to unproductive sectors. Paucity of funds and some other faulty poli-cies of land acquisition etc. have not allowed the Government to bring the logistic and infrastructure, according to our needs. We are always lagging behind with the target in infrastructure and logistics. This situation is so bad that we have to pay much more freight from Odisha to Kolkata in comparison

The suitable institution should be equipped with full facilities for R&D and should be opened by the Govern-ment and then autonomous status should be provided to such institution with strict laws and terms & conditions.

Here in India, we have no such insti-tutions even after such a long time of independence. The largest pro-ducer of Steel i.e. SAIL/TATA/RINL even whenever establishe their new Steel Plant, they go in joint venture with the Plants in abroad and claim it their modernisation. Research and Development work is negligible.

Industry AnAlysIs


to the freight from Odisha to Colombo.

It is a surprising fact; we fail to feed even our power projects with the proper coal through existing logistics. What will be the position in 2025, if we will have to cop up with the five times more requirement of raw ma-terials; finished goods and power. The logistics and infrastructure can-not be created overnight. We should take practical policies and initiative should be given to infrastructure and logistics so that industry as well as ag-riculture growth may happen properly.

a) There should be single Minis-try comprising of Steel, Power and Commerce and Industries, also com-prising of the Secretaries from Fi-nance, Logistics and Infrastructure.

b) A single window channel should be set up for the necessary clear-ance for logistics and infrastruc-ture planning inclusive of neces-sary clearance from environment, land acquisition and forest etc.

The Government should adopt very strict rules for land acquisition towards the public interest for logistics and in-frastructure and payment to the land owners should be made immediately at fair market prices. No political par-ties should be allowed to raise the voice for increase in land price, afterwards in favour of original land owners, which may occur with passing of the time.

Suggestion

Market Demand

the demand in India on the lame excus-es as it has been done in recent Gadget Notification No. 4(8)2010-SD-1 dated 12.12.2013 issued by Government of India, Ministry of Steel. It appears from the Notification that the Government has instructed the Steel consumers to purchase Steel only from the integrated Steel Plant. The definition of integrated Steel Plant has been given having the minimum capacity of 1 million tonne per year as per the said notification. It appears that only such producers are capable to feed those consumers. It seems that the Notification has been issued in haft. It is pertinent to state that since independence not a single infrastructure project has issued the tender or fixed auction for even 1 lakh tonnes Steel at a time, not to speak of 10 lakhs tonnes as mentioned in the Notification. If the Steel producers, large or small, failed to supply the Steel as per the relevant quality and within the time schedule towards supply, it is automatically be blacklisted. The Steel Ministry has no authority to as-sess the capability of supply of Steel.

The backbone of every developed country stands on the development

of its small industries. But the Steel

Ministry appears to perish this sec-tor, which produces about 50% of the

total Steel in India. This will result to

cartelization of a few big ones and

the projects will have to bear the ex-orbitant prices of Steel unnecessary.

Being a core sector, the Steel indus-try reflects the overall growth of the

economy in the long term. Consump-tion of Steel has taken to an indica-tor of economic development. The

demand of Steel is also derived from various sectors such as infrastructure,

automobiles, consumer durable, en-gineering industries, housing & real

estates etc. each sector of produc-ers should be given equal preference.

With the Steel consumption of only

approximately 70 million tonnes, sky

is scope for development of Steel

industry in India. We should for-mulate such policies so that we can

feed the world with the cheapest

Steel, which we have, the capacity.

Some of the following points may

be reckoned, as given below:

Government should adopt such poli-cies, which may create Steel demand in the market. A minimum of 70% of the Steel produced in India should be con-sumed domestically in India itself and the rest should of 30% should be ex-ported worldwide. It should not be left over the large producers only to feed

Industry AnAlysIs


1) Logistics should be prop-er in such way that the mines and queries should be linked with the sufficient railway tracks and roads to all the cities in India.

2) The administration both, at the State and Central level, should be strict against anti-social activities in the name of local syndicate for logistics.

3) GDP of 8% sustainable in next decade-Higher growth requires mo-bilisation of higher resources and the sufficient number of use; US$1 trillion investment in infrastructure in the next 5 years through Public Investment Plan (PPP), recommendation of non-plan expenditure, higher flow of FDIs and ofcourse full utilisation of such money.

4) Empowered co-ordina-tion process on clearances for high impact Infrastructure Projects.

5) Multi pronged strat-egy to boost manufacturers.

6) Very low rate of interest should be imposed for purchase of land, Plant and Machineries and installation charg-es for manufacturing units. No industry can be established or run competitively on the higher rate of interest, which at present comes to 15/16% globally.

7) To create an atmosphere where workers and staff are promoted to produce at par with the workers and staff abroad. Though it is stated that cheap labour is available in India, but no Government tries to verify the pro-ductivity of workers and staff in India, in comparison with global productivity.

Last but not least, the Government should make proper amendment in the Constitution of India in such a way to

i) Allow 2/3 political parties only

to come in power or to contest the

election so that hang Parliament can

be avoided and elected Government can liberally work at least for 5 years.

ii) Administration should be free of any political interfer-ence. The Ruling party/Ministries

should only be permitted to for-mulate firm and stable policies and

iii) Strict action may be tak-en against the authority of what-ever position it is, if found guilty.

iv) This will automatically re-duce the day-to-day interference of judiciary, which is not the healthy

trend for any democratic country.

Apex bodies, the local Chambers and As-sociations should come forward to bring

the facts before the Ministers in place

of praising every policy wrong or right.

specIAl FeAture


A Look Through The Saga Of Essar Steel

Genesis & Evolution

Current Operations

Product Basket

Milestones

For the young Essar Group that was born with a vision to match the step of developing nation that was in the making, it was a giant leap to ven-ture into the steel production sphere.

The journey started in 1989 by set-ting up two DRI modules at Hazira in the state of Gujrat with capacity of 0.9 million tonnes (MT). Then, the com-pany advanced to build a pellet plant in Visakhapatanam, and eventually a fully integrated steel plant in Hazira.

Today with a production capacity 14 MTPA and footprint in India, Canada, USA, Indonesia and the Middle East and significant presence in the key markets of Asia, Europe, Africa and North America, Essar Steel is a world class flat steel producer to reckon with.

Essar Steel India Limited, Haz-ira with capacity of 10 MTPA

Essar Steel Algoma, Canada with production capacity with 4 MTPA

PT Essar, Indonesia with a down-stream production capacity of 0.4 MTPA

Essar Taconite Plant, USA un-der construction with a pro-duction figure of 7MTPA

Essar Steel India is an integrated steel producer with an annual production ca-pacity of 10 million tonnes which com-prises ore beneficiation, pellet-making,

The company has specified plants for value added steel products such pipes and plates. It has leadership position in the cold rolling, galvanising and pre-coated segments. Apart from that Es-sar Steel has the ability to provide all kinds of steel with versatile produc-tion lines cut to length, slitting, shot blasting, burnt to shape, trapezoidal, and factory-welded beams through Essar Processing and Distribution.

In its 25 years of existence Essar has

many encouraging accomplishments

to its credit. In 2011 Essar Steel com-pleted expansion and modernisation

of its Hazira Steel complex with a cost

of around Rs. 37,500 crores which

iron-making, steel-making, and down-stream facilities including cold rolling mill, galvanising, pre-coated facility, steel processing facility, extra wide plate mill and a pipe mill. The Hazira Steel Complex has modern infrastructure like a power plant and a port that can handle 30 million tonne cargo annually.

Essar Steel, Canada is an integrat-ed steel producer with a flexible manufacturing process and special-ises in the production of hot and cold rolled sheet steels in carbon and high strength low-alloy grades.

Essar Steel Minnesota LLC, with an ac-cess to over 1.4 billion tonnes of iron ore reserves, is Essars ambitious project.

PT Essar Indonesia is the largest pro-ducer of cold rolled steel in Indone-sias private sector with a current rolling capacity of 0.4 MTPA along with a galvanising line of 0.2 MTPA.

Aerial view of the Essar Steel complex at Hazira, Gujarat, India

Apart from this it operates an 8 MTPA Pellet Plant at Bailadila and is setting up a 12 MTPA Pel-let Plant at Dabuna in Odisha.

doubled the capcity to 10MTPA making

Hazira the single largest location flat

steel producer in India and the fourth

largest in the world. Essar Steel incurred

a cost of just $750 per tonne of steel as

compared to industry standard of US

$1 billion for a million tonnes of steel.

In 2007 Essar Steel achieved another

milestone by laying 267km slurry pipeline

which is the second largest in the world.

Essar has commissioned a 6MTPA ca-pacity pellet plant at Paradip, Odisha

in the first phase of 12 MTPA plant.

This pellet plant Paradip along with Vi-sakhapatanam pellet plant will provide

20 MTPA pellet capacity to Essar Steel.

Technological Devolopment

Sustainable Run

Essar Steel has adopted three iron-making technologies: HBI/DRI, CO-REX and BF. These technologies of-fer flexibility in raw material inputs:

The complex uses varying grades of iron ore including lump

ore, fines, slimes, sinter and pellet

The complex uses different energy sources, including natu-ral gas, coking coal, COREX export

gas, BF gas and non-coking coal.

Also in its expansion and moderni-sation efforts, Essar Steel installed

worlds first 3-stand CSP plant by

SMS Siemag with an annual capacity

of 3.5 MTPA of hot rolled strips and a

range of products that cover carbon

steel as well as pipe grades silicon

and duel phase steels. The CSP Mill is

capable of producing HR strips down

to 0.8mm thickness, lowest in India.

Sustainability is of utmost importance to Essar Steel that has been ensured with safety and e n v i r o n m e n t a l aspects that are given due impor-tance in the design, construction and operation of the plant. The steel complex reiterated this effort with adoption of COREX process which has better environ-mental compatibil-ity. This effort has resulted in mak-ing Essar Steel the lowest emitter of greenhouse gases and zero waste among the Indian steel producers.

Essar Steel Pro-cessing and Dis-tribution is Indias

largest steel solu-tions chain with a

capacity of 5MTPA,

located in seven key industrial hubs in India Hazira,

Pune, Chennai, In-dore, Bhuj, the NCR

region, Kolkata and

three international

Processing &

Distribution Network

specIAl FeAture


The Journey Ahead

Essar Steel is focusing on the comple-tion of its remaining capacity expan-sion by 2014, a plan that is expected

to boost earnings three-fold and stave off liquidity crisis. The immediate chal-lenges before the company are raw

material crisis, particularly drop in gas

availability and delay in constructing

the slurry pipeline from Dabuna Ben-eficiation Plant to Paradip Pellet Plant.

However, the company is taking vari-ous measures including complet-ing the slurry pipeline and connec-tivity to the national grid to reduce

power costs, besides completion of

its coke oven plant. It also expects

locations- Dubai, UK and Indonesia.

Essar Steel has laid countrys first and

largest supply chain in the country

with its retail distribution brand Es-sar Hypermart with 520 outlets which

provide customised services to origi-nal equipment manufacturers (OEMs)

and retailers, along with meeting the

requirements of small and medium

enterprises (SMEs) with transparency

on pricing, availability and quality.

Odisha Government to allocate iron ore mines as promised in the MoU.

The steel firm has also seen rise

in demand for exports in recent

months and expects the momen-tum to continue in the future.

Essar Steel is taking all measures to

shrug off the dilly-dallying in its finan-cial and operational front to ensure

that all production capability come

on stream. Once the economy picks

up enough pace, Essar Steel will be

a major contender in Indias coveted

run up to touch steel production tar-get of 300 million tonnes by 2025.

Essar Steel has ambitious out-look for its future growth.

Industrial solutions for society.

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technology


Most Modern SBQ Production Technology

Introduction

PSM - The Advanced 3-Roll Technology

Guenther Schnell, General Manager Proposal and Sales,

Wire Rod and Bar Mills, SMS MEER GmbH

In 2006 the world wide first 3-roll block for SBQ production with ad-justment under load feature went into operation at Deutsche Edelstahlwerke (DEW) Siegen-Geisweid/Germany. The great opportunities of the advanced 3-roll technology with the hydraulic adjustment under load feature were obvious. The adjustment under load feature opened up possibilities in most modern SBQ production which were so far not available on the market.

The achievements and results after im-plementing the PSM set a new technol-ogy standard. After years of successful operating experience with the ad-vanced 3-roll technology a precise on-line measuring system in combination with the closed loop size control was added in order to achieve an even high-er process transparency. The fully auto-matic control system is interacting with the hydraulic gap adjustment system of the PSM and thus able to directly re-act online under load on real time mea-sured deviations from the target size.

In combination with the advanced 3-roll technology for most modern SBQ production the 51st pouring reel line of SMS MEER will go in operation in 2013. This pouring reel line is based on 62

years operational experience and rep-resents the most modern pouring reelline technology.

Demands such as improved coil formation and scratch free pro-duction of sensitive SBQ prod-ucts is part of the advanced state of the art pouring reel technology.

The advanced rolling technologies for most modern SBQ production are introduced in the technical pa-per and operational results shall un-derline the great potential of this most modern rolling technologies.

A new innovative rolling technology has been introduced in 2006 for spe-cial bar quality (SBQ) production and is represented by the Precision Sizing Mill (PSM). This advanced 3-roll technology is al-ready appreciated at several leading SBQ producers in Germany, USA and China and set with its features a new benchmark in the field of SBQ pro-

Keywords: advanced 3-roll technology, hydraulic adjustment under load, PSM, closed loop size control, MEERgauge, special bar quality (SBQ), sizing technology, free-size rolling, pouring reel technology, bar in coil production

duction technology.

The first advanced 3-roll block for wire rod and special bar quality produc-tion went into operation at Deutsche Edelstahlwerke Siegen/Germany (DEW Siegen). DEW Siegen is part of the SCHMOLZ + BICKENBACH Group, which with around 11,000 employees are the worlds largest manufacturer, pro-cessor and distributor of special steel long products. They are rolling at their Siegen works up to 460.000t quality steels, ball bearing steel, spring steel, cold heading steels, high alloyed stain-less steels and tools steels per year.

DEW Siegen has a long experience in 3-roll technology since they were the pioneer in 3-roll technology when they started up in 1979 the first industrial used 3-roll blocks for SBQ production.

Figure 1. PSM 3-roll sizing technology at DEW Siegen/ Germany

technology


From their start-up experience fol-lowed by 25 years operating experience of three 3-roll blocks of the first gen-eration, DEW Siegen immediately iden-tified one of the great key features of the advanced 3-roll PSM which was so far not available in the market: the hy-draulic adjustment under load feature.

Well aware that, at that time, a pilot installation has some risk and is also challenging, however, due to the out-standing advantages of the PSM and the great potential for further improve-ments of size tolerance they decided for the advanced 3- roll sizing technology supplied by SMS Meer. The first 3-roll PSM went into operation at DeutscheEdelstahlwerke Siegen/Germany 1) in 2006 replacing two of the three exist-ing 3-roll blocks of the first 3-roll gen-eration (Fig. 1). Today all sizes (22mm 85mm) are finished successfully with the 6-stand 3-roll PSM fulfill-ing all market requirements with tol-erances much better than required.

The PSM is offering all typical features of the 3-roll sizing technology such as:

Single pass family rolling (Fig. 2) - for all diameters - for all steel grades, - at any time

Free size rolling (9% of dia. / max. 3mm) - for infinite sizes

(NOT ONLY discrete sizes)

- requires less cas-sette/roll changes

- leads to less in-ventory (e.g. rolls, guides)

Quick cassette changing

- 5 min for indi-vidual or all cassettes

And beside all the typical features of a 3-roll system, one of the outstand-ing key features in addition to the before mentioned is the real time hy-draulic gap adjustment capability un-der load which makes this machine inimitable. Thanks to the advanced closed loop Technological Control Sys-tem (TCS) which is also used in other applications such as section mills.

Instead of having a black box where only the entry and exit size of the bar can be measured, the TCS offers full process transparency since each indi-vidual roll position and in addition, the individual roll force can be detected.

Furthermore the system is able to com-pensate individual mill spring, feeder variations and bar entering impacts but also is able to balance temperature

variations along the bar. Based on the TCS closed loop control system, the system can adapt to dif-ferent rolling conditions in order to immediately optimise the system for achieving maximum yield on highest availability.

The setup for achieving the required quality of Figure 2. PSM - Single Pass Family Rolling Principle

the final product will be planned by the SMS Meer Computer Aided Roll-ing Technology Application System (CARTA) for the PSM. Set point se-lections for the rolling mill setting can be easily determined and trans-mitted to the rolling mill automation system via the data network (Fig. 3).

The core element of the CARTA PSM is a central high-performance server with databases for mill parameters and result values. The server is intercon-nected with the basic automation sys-tem and can be linked to an unlimited number of workplaces, for example the rolling mill managers, technologists or the roll shop and operator staff2.

To quickly determine the rolling data the CARTA PSM system already in-cludes the concepts of rolling technol-ogy experience from SMS Meer as pre-setting. For a wide range of special steel grades and individual requirements, the operator is even able to flexibly adapt the setting values by means of agroove editor or create them complete-ly new from the diameter of the initial pass via the design of the actual grooveform up to the calculation of the relevant rolling speeds.

Simulations and visualisations of the systems support the operator at the set-up planning stage (Fig 4).

Figure 3. CARTA PSM - network structure

Danieli CorusP.O. Box 100001970 CA IJmuidenThe NetherlandsT +31 (0)251 500 500E [email protected] www.danielicorus.com

Danieli Corus India Pvt. Ltd. S3 Level, E BlockIntl. Trade Tower, Nehru PlaceNew Delhi 110 019T +91 11 4950 1000F +91 11 4950 1099www.twitter.com/danielicorus

120 BLAST FURNACE PROJECTS 209 HOT BLAST STOVES 63 PULVERIZED COAL INJECTION SYSTEMS 28 GAS CLEANING SYSTEMS 27 CASTHOUSE PROJECTS 35 CHILLED FURNACE RECOVERIES 20 SALAMANDER TAPS 22 BLAST FURNACE BLOWINS 23 OPERATIONAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS 41 PLANT AUDITS 114 SUBLANCE SYSTEMS 58 HOT METAL DESULPHURIZATION SYSTEMS

Recently, the fourth and fifth of a total of seven Sublance Systems were successfully commissioned at the SMS II operated by JSW Steel at Toranagallu, India. Operation of the three earlier systems commissioned at SMS I is stable and the remaining two will be installed at SMS II to become fully operational before the end of this financial year. This is the first successful implementation of SublanceBased BOF Process Control in India. This market has been very reluctant towards installing sublances, but operations at JSW Steel are now proving the value for the Indian market. The reduction in taptotap time, that may vary between 7 and 10 minutes, will allow for up to 20% of additional heats from the same steel plant. Additionally, the client will experience benefits from using the SublanceBased System in terms of increased hit rates, reduced consumption of fluxes, optimized utilization of scrap and hot metal and improved health, safety and environmental performance. Typically, benefits of SublanceBased Process Control for the SMS operator translate into value as follows:

SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF FIFTH SUBLANCE SYSTEM IN INDIA

Your benefits:

Taptotap time Reduced by 710 min.

Hot metal consumption Reduced by 10 kg/ton

Scrap consumption Increased by 10 kg/ton

Oxygen consumption Reduced by 1.0 Nm/ton

Aluminium consumption Reduced by 24 kg/heat

Ferromanganese consumption Reduced by 60 kg/heat

Energy savings Equivalent to 20C

Refractory wear Reduced by 20%

Ergonomics Improved working conditions For these sublances, the newest generation of measurement computer, DIRC VI, is implemented. This new version allows for future additions to the measurement system. Phosphorous measurement will be implemented as well.

technology


The MEERgauge at the exit side of the PSM operates on the basis of the light cut technology(Fig. 7). Based on laser/image technology four sensors mea-sure synchronous and contact free the entire cross section of the bar. With a scanning rate of 500 scans per second a true-shape cross-section is estab-lished of up to 400 measuring points and displayed with highest precision.

The essential characteristic values of the individual measurements are sent to the Technological Control Centre (TCS) of the PSM via a direct pro-cess field bus connection in real time. The TCS logic analyses the values

and assigns relevant adjustment set points for gap corrections if required.

Due to a combination of a highly dy-namic control system and a true-shape measuring system a fully automatic roll-ing operation of the PSM could be suc-cessfully realised with the MEERgauge - independent from the operator.

It is a fully automatic size control sys-tem which is able to directly react on-line under load on real time measureddeviations from the target size. It in-teracts in closed loop mode with the hydraulic gap adjustment system of the PSM. The basis for the closed loop operation of the rolling gap is the adjustment under load capability.

For each bar the CARTA PSM system stores the setup/calibration data of the rolling mill and the most important rolling results. The data can be evalu-ated by tables and graphics. In addition, they can be deposited in an empirical database which ensures possible reuse.

Another feature is the tool manage-ment function which is of tremendous support to the operators and mill man-agement in order to optimise the tool/roll ring costs. The roll ring sets and 3-roll cassettes can be tracked with the CARTA PSM system and informationabout e.g. wear is available. With the aid of the CARTA PSM system, cus-tomers are able to fine tune many de-tails in case it is required. These excel-lent features make the difference to any other system available in the market.

Furthermore the CARTA PSM system supplies all data for the setup of the

Figure 4. CARTA PSM - groove manipulation possible

3-roll cassettes and 3-roll guides in the roll shop. All cassettes and guides can be transferred directly into the PSM roll shop by the cassettes changing device and will be prepared off-line shop during rolling (Fig. 5). In case of very tight tol-erance requirements the rolls and rollers have to be aligned in the roll shop by means of an optical roll

positioning/aligning device. The rolls and rollers can be axial and radial po-sitioned with a measuring accuracy of 0.002mm by means of a CCD-camera.

In order to further expand the capabili-ties of the advanced 3- roll technology, SMS Meer and DEW Siegen successfully implemented in joint cooperation a high-ly dynamic closed loop size control sys-tem for the PSM: the MEERgauge. This is another milestone with regard to the advanced 3-roll technology.

The MEERgauge (Fig. 6) is installed down stream the 3-roll PSM directly behind the last 3-roll stand position and is replacing a conventional laser mea-

suring gauge which was working on the shadow measuring method. The short-coming of the conven-tional laser gauge is the number of mea-suring points around the cross section as well as the measur-ing method due to swiveling laser heads.Figure 5. PSM - cassette quick change equipment

Fig. 6: MEERgauge at the exit side of the 3-roll PSM

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This is realised by the advanced design of the 3-roll cassette (Fig. 8) in combi-nation with the three hydraulic cylin-ders. The hydraulic cylinders can adjust all three rolls concentrically but in case it is required the system is also able to adjust individually only one or two rolls. Thus symmetrical as well as un-symmetrical positioning adjustments of individual rolls under load offer pos-sibilities for fine optimisation of the netshape tolerances.

Another advantage of the design is, that during rolling operation occur-ring rolling loads are transferred via hydraulic cylinders into the stiff hous-ing of the PSM. Due to the inimita-ble design concept of the PSM wear and maintenance of the cassettes are reduced to an absolute minimum.

Since the beginning of 2012 the closed loop size control system has been in successful operation - interacting with the new precise true-shape measur-ing system. The commissioning was uneventful and shortly after start up expectations about the system have already been exceeded. Thanks to the advanced automation level and reliabil-ity of the PSM excellent results across

Figure 7. Light-cut sensor arrangement and true-shape cross section display

Figure 8. Advanced PSM 3-roll cassette

Figure 9. Screen shots of PSM rolling in closed loop mode

Operational Results3)

the whole size range can be reached in fully automatic mode independent of the skill/experience of the operators. Recent achievements are shown in thefollowing screen shots (Fig. 9).

Required product tolerances are eas-ily fulfilled and even exceeded even for the most demanding applications tolerances up to 1/8 DIN EN 10060 are achieved reliably and regularly. It goes without saying, that the MEERgauge does not necessarily help to produce even better tolerances with the PSM, but does support the operator to react on varying parameters such as feeder size tolerance, temperature variations along the feeder, size and steel grade changes, wear of rolls or even operates the PSM in a fully automatic mode.

The advanced 3-roll technology of SMS Meer pays off for their customers. Not only DEW Siegen/Germany benefits since 2006 from the great features of the PSM, since 2009 also Timken/USA established several production and quality records after the installa-tion of the advanced 3-roll technology.

Following the successful installations at DEW Siegen/Germany and Timken/USA three more 3-roll PSMs will be installed in 2013. One complete new state of the art SBQ rolling mill will be installed in China with pro-cess and key equipment for the spe-cialty steel production of SMS Meer. Beside a new 3-roll PSM including the CARTA PSM, Controlled Cool-

ing Technology systems (CCT) with online thermo-mechanical rolling pro-cess control packages will be supplied. The complete new SBQ rolling mill at Xining Special Steel Co. Ltd., will be equipped in addition with an advanced quick cooling bed transport of straight bars which is considered for tempera-ture sensitive steel grades in order to avoid cracks during cooling procedure.

Another 3-roll PSM will be installed at Steel Dynamics. In summer 2012 Steel Dynamics (SDI), Indiana, USA awardedto SMS Meer the contract to supply a new roughing mill and a new 3-roll Pre-cision Sizing Mill (PSM) to their Pitts-boro works. The new rouging mill will be operated in semicontinuous mode consisting of a two-high reversing millfollowed by eight rigid housing less stands in H/V configuration which will feed the existing mill.

The advanced 3-roll PSM will be in-stalled at the place where a former 3-roll block of the first generation was installed (Fig. 10) and will finish all spe-cial quality bars in the range from di-ameter 19-76,2 mm. Those high-quality products are used in a variety of trans-portation, industrial, energy and auto-motive applications. The PSM package consists of looper, two shear groups and in addition the automatic 3-roll cassette change system, a roll shop for assembly of the 3-roll cassettes and the3-roller guides as well as the tech-nology package CARTA PSM.

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The ideal combination for most mod-ern SBQ production is represented by the advanced PSM 3-roll technology and the state of the art pouring reel technology of SMS Meer. Based on 62 years experience in bar and coil tech-nology the 51st pouring reel line of SMS Meer will be installed at Fujian WuHang Stainless Steel Co., Ltd./China (FWSS).

The 51st pouring reel line (Fig. 12) of SMS Meer is arranged downstream the advanced 3-roll PSM. It is designed to fulfill not only todays market de-mands with regard to improved coil formation and scratch free production of sensitive SBQ products but is also considered to offer highest flexibility and availability with minimum mainte-

nance requirements.After the water cool-ing box an automatic switch guides the bar towards the pouring reel guide trough. For an optimum coiling temperature a water cooling box is installed considering an ap-propriate equalisation length before entering the pouring reel for the

wide range of different steel grades. The water cooling box is integrated and controlled by the Controlled Cooling Technology (CCT) system which can be either operated in off-line or in on-line closed loop control.

The bar feed line is of highly wear resistant mate-rial. The U-shapedbar feed line with covers allows quick elimination of roll-ing material in case of a cobble.

For head and tail cropping as well as for sampling a shear is installed downstream the water cooling box. After the shear a further switch is installed in order to guide the

bar than into the indi-vidual pouring reel for the coiling process. Special attention has been paid for the loca-tion of the pinch roll.

In order to have an optimal supported coiling process, oneindividual pinch roll is installed as close as possible upfront

State Of The Art Pouring Reel Technology

Figure 10. SBQ mill upgrade for Steel Dynamics / USA

Figure 12. Pouring reel line arrangement at Fujian WuHang

Figure 11. SBQ rolling mill at Fujian WuHang Stainless Steel

each coiler drum on a lift able platform. Attached to the liftable platform is also the guid-ing trough which makes theconnection to the spiral pipe lay-ing system which guides thebar to be coiled to the bottom of the water cooled coiler drum.

The pinch roll arrangement, an ad-vanced wobbling function as well as a stiff guiding steel structure assures a stable operation procedure which forms very dense coils up to 4000 kg/m.

In general special attention has been paid for a scratch free transport and guiding of the rolled bar in order to as-

sure a smooth rolled material surface. Therefore the whole curved guiding system of the pouring reel line includ-ing the spiral pipe laying system is equipped with air/oil lubricated rollers.The pouring reels are equipped with wear strips on the inner pins and outer rotating drum to pre-vent mechanical damage during the formation of the coil (Fig. 13).

An elevating coil plate assembly in-corporated in the pouring reel re-moves the coil from the tub. The coil plate height is adjustable to provide optimum drum depths for each prod-uct size or range of sizes to ensure

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the coil is formed at the highest pos-sible level to minimize the tail end length at the top of the formed coil.After the coiling process has been start-ed the spiral pipe laying system is lifted according to the increasing coil height.

In order to avoid scratches after com-pletion of the coiling process further measurements have been taken. Be-fore the coil is lifted out of the water cooled coiling drum, the inner sup-porting and forming pins are collaps-ing and thus the compact coil can be

Figure 13. Water cooled pouring reel

Figure 14. Coil discharging device

lifted without harm out of the coiling drum by a hydraulic cylinder which is installed below each coil drum.

As soon as the coil is lifted out of the coiling drum the discharging system (Fig. 14), a so called sugar tong, hands the coil over to a pallet transport sys-tem for further processing in one of the most complex coil handling systems.

Various inline post treatment routes are possible at Fujian WuHang Stainless Steel Co., Ltd. as can be seen from the layout such as heat holding, quenching, online annealing and others. However, those are not further considered in thispaper.

With pioneering spirit, courage and

persistence revolutionary technologi-cal milestones have been introduced by SMS Meer into the market. More

than 450 successfully installed wire

rod and bar mills represent trust and

great partnership of our customers.

The experience of the above men-tioned installations in combination with

the advanced 3-roll PSM with hydrau-lic adjustment under load capability al-ready stimulated the SBQ market. The

indisputable process transparency of

the 3-roll PSM offers a wide field for

further improving qualities of our cus-tomers products. The great potential

of the PSM/MEERgauge combina-tion still need to be further discovered.

The SMS Meer state of the art pour-ing reel line is the perfect comple-tion of the advanced 3-roll technol-ogy for most modern SBQ production

and an ideal combination. The im-proved coil formation and scratch

Conclusion

References

free production of sensitive SBQ

products is considered to offer high-est flexibility and availability with

minimum maintenance requirements.

The installation of the afore described

key technologies for special bar qual-ity and advanced wire rod produc-tion in demanding countries such

as USA, Germany, China are indica-tions for the huge potential of these

new technologies. They are installed

at highly reputable steel producers

which are in fierce competition in their

individual market but also abroad.

Those superior technologies are in-ventive solutions to follow the todays

and future demands of the individual markets. They are developed, de-signed, engineered and manufactured

exclusively by SMS Meer based on a

long experience in special quality steel

production. This in combination with

the vast process know how offers to

our customers inimitable possibilities.

1) Jens Eisbach, Dr. Thomas Helsper, DEW Siegen, Practical experience with the worlds first hydraulic adjust-able 3-roll block for bars, International Steel Conference 2011, Duesseldorf/Germany, November 2011

2) Dr. Axel Koermer, Dr. Peter Thieven, SMS Meer, Publication in Stahl und Eisen 131 (2011), Nr.5, p .51-58

3) Dr. Thomas Helsper, Jens Eisbach, DEW Siegen; Guenther Schnell, SMS Meer, The closed loop size control sys-tem in combination with the advanced 3-roll PSM at DEW Siegen-Geisweid, 30th international Steel Industry Con-ference, Paris/France, December 2012

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Modernisation Solutions For Long Product Rolling Mills To Increase Productivity, Utilisation And

Product Quality

Introduction

The Long Rolling Process Line

Roughing And Intermediate Mills

B. V. Kiefer and S. M. ShoreSiemens Industry, Inc.

With the current economic pres-sures faced by the global steel industry, producers need to continually modernize their operations to remain competitive. These modernisations must be done selectively in order to maximize the benefits. Developments in equipment and process designs for rod and bar rolling mills have made possible significant improvements in size control and mill productivity, mill utilisation, operating cost and product quality.

Through the intelligent combination of robust rolling stands and finishing blocks, high speed shears, pinch rolls, laying heads, ring distributors, coil han-dling systems and compactors, along with controlled temperature rolling and controlled cooling, many process im-provements in rod and bar mills can be realised. Mill upgrades can be done with a phased approach to minimise down-time, which minimises the effect on yearly capital expenditures and thereby maximises the return on investment.

Long product rolling mills continue to provide an essential segment of the industry with the capability for coiled and straight products in a wide range of sizes and steel grades for literally thousands of end-use applications. With the consolidation across the in-dustry in the last two decades, the long product mills that have survived have

been forced to streamline operations and cut costs to remain competitive. This trend is expected to continue as the world economy experiences very slow growth or additional contraction occurs in well-developed countries.

The recent evolution in the industry has also led to a severe lack of skilled/ex-perienced workers. The previous gen-eration of workers, because of their ex-perience, may have been able to make best use of aging equipment and pro-cess practices. Now, the key to success in sustaining/improving operations is to selectively replace the outdated equip-ment with new technology and increase the level of automation. Modernisa-tions can provide consistent operations with higher speeds, less maintenance and downtime, longer wear part life for more up time between changes, and as little operator intervention as possible.

From starting billet to finished coil or bar bundle, the conventional long rolling mill has many possibili-ties for improvement through equip-ment and process modernization.

In the roughing and intermediate mill area, modernisations could be as straightforward as stand and guide replacement to reduce maintenance

and give better section control. In multi-strand mills, options for stand replacement are limited. In single-strand mills, product quality can be im-proved by replacing horizontal stands and twist guides with a horizontal/vertical stand arrangement. Several options are available for upgrades with fixed or convertible stands, us-ing technology such as that available with the Red Ring family of stands.

Often of interest for modernisation of older rod and bar mills is an increase in billet size. This change requires ad-ditional reductions that can only be achieved with more stands. One work-able upgrade solution is the addition of a breakdown mill ahead of the rough-ing mill, typically a three- to six-stand arrangement, depending on the new billet size. Of course, the addition of stands ahead of the roughing mill means changes to the furnace area, al-though the new billet size may not be possible in the exiting furnace, so a new furnace may be needed. This could help with the logistics of the project, since itmay be possible to construct a new furnace and the breakdown mill up-stream of the existing furnace, so that much work can be done while the mill is still running. Processing a larger bil-let with breakdown mill stands will re-quire a roller table between the break-down mill and the existing roughing mill, so that the rolled billet from the breakdown stands can be a free bar,

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which can be decelerated to an accept-able taking speed for the existing mill.

Other common upgrades in the rough-ing and intermediate mill areas are with shears, to improve reliability, speed and cutting capacity. From up and down cut shears for billets and blooms to rotary and crank shears between sets of stands, several shear solutions are available for modernisation proj-ects. New laser speed measurement technology provides for improved cut accuracy and repeatability especially for bar mill divide shear applications for improved cut length optimization.

For rod mills in particular, the pre-finishing mill area can benefit signifi-cantly from an upgrade to the rolling equipment. It is common to have lim-ited rolling load capacity in the pre-finishing stands, which means that the stock temperature needs to stay relatively high and thus low tempera-ture rolling and quality improvements become more difficult. Replacement of older stands with a heavier-duty stand is a straightforward solution, but another successful approach has been upgrading the pre-finishing mill

The Morgan No-Twist Mill (NTM) still remains an essential piece of equip-ment for many new and revamp mill projects. With continued refinement over more than 35 years to the present Vee configuration, the NTM has proven to be capable of sustained, reliable operation at speeds up to 120 m/s. In addition to high speeds, the mills are rated for higher loads, providing the ca-pability to roll a wide range of grades from carbon steels through difficult heat-resistant alloys. These blocks can typically be supplied with pass reduc-tion of anywhere from 12% to 23% per stand. Subsequent changes in pass re-ductions are easily accommodated by a flexible design that facilitates bevel gear changes. The flexible design also

Pre-Finishing Mills

Finishing And Post-Finishing Blocks

Figure 1. Pre-finishing mill Vee Mini-Block

area with one or more Morgan Vee No-Twist Mini-Blocks. These blocks are well-suited to many upgrade situ-ations, offering a small footprint, good section control and ease of mainte-nance. The compact size allows the addition of water cooling boxes ahead of the finishing mill or an increased equalization distance for further im-provements in processing capabilities.

allows the mill to be configured with four, six, eight or ten roll stands, with any combination of 250mm, 230mm and 160mm housings. A relatively new development on No-Twist Mill technol-ogy is that of the Modular No-Twist Mill, which utilizes many of the design features of the patented Reducing / Sizing Mill technology. This provides added improvements through com-monality of rolling units, reduction in operating cost, and improvements in mill efficiency, as well as significant reductions in maintenance downtime through extended component life.

Increases in production speed and operational reliability have also been aided by ancillary equipment and sys-tems for the NTM. High-speed roller entry guides accurately direct oval sec-tions into round passes while limiting scratching of the rod surface. The reli-ability and versatility of these guides have evolved to allow for sustained op-eration for 5.5mm product up to 3,000 tons at speeds in excess of 100 m/s, for example. In addition, special cooling entry and delivery guides help control temperature in the process section.

One of the most significant advance-ments in high speed rod mills was the development of the patented Reducing/Sizing Mill (RSM) in the early 1990s. This specialized piece of equipment serves as a post-finishing mill block. More than 60 strands of RSMs have been installed worldwide, mostly as part of major mill modernization projects. The justifica-tions for the installation of the RSM in these mills are as varied as the ben-efits provided by this technology(1, 2).

For most mills, especially pre-1980 vin-tage multi-strand mills, the RSM has provided significant increases in pro-ductivity, especially on small diameter product where the maximum finishing speeds were previously limited to less

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than 70m/s. Installing the RSM after an existing 10-stand NTM and rolling 7.0mm in the last stand to feed the RSM can increase the finishing speed for 5.5mm from 65m/s to nearly 100m/s, as was the case, for example, at Global Steel Wire in Spain. For mills producing a large percentage of 5.5mm products, the addition of the RSM can result in a significant increase in annual output. In the case of one Asian steel produc-er, with 85% of the product mix being 5.5mm, production was increased from540,000 tpy to over 740,000 tpy, with an increase in mill efficiency from 72% to 76.5% in conjunction with an increase in finishing speed from 70 m/s to 94 m/s.

Multi-strand mills already operating at, or close to, the maximum rolling rate on small diameter product have had little to gain from this benefit; howev-er, the installation of the RSM has still provided productivity improvements with added rolling flexibility. These improvements have been realized fol-lowing the introduction of the single family rolling method inherent with the application of the RSM technology.

The single family rolling method al-

lows a single roll groove to be used in each stand from the first stand in the roughing mill to the last stand in the NTM to produce the complete product size range through the RSM. The same concept is also extended to the Bar Re-ducing/Sizing Mill providing a true inte-grated rolling solution for combinationmills. This not only simplifies the mill setup, but also improves yield through reduced number of cobbles and elimi-nation of trial bars. It also significantly reduces the roll and guide inven-tory. With the multireduction exter-nal gear drive, the RSM can produce multiple finished sizes from a single feed section. This, coupled with of-fline roll units and the quick-change transfer car, allows size changes to be made within five minutes. As a result, even though the rolling rate or finish-ing speed has not been significantly increased, the mill is still capable of improving their productivity through increased operating efficiency with the reduction in downtime for roll changes.

Other benefits provided by the RSM include minimisation of roll and guide changes, ability to increase rolling cyclefrequency, and improved product tol-

A common limitation in rod and bar mills is the control of product tempera-ture through the process line. In many cases, there is lack of cooling capacity, making control of mechanical and met-allurgical properties, as well as amount and type of scale, difficult. Product quality requirements have therefore prompted many mills to upgrade their water box systems, usually replacing

erance and ovality typically 0.1mm tolerance and 0.1mm ovality. On spe-cial steel products such as stainless steels, the ability to produce a close-tolerance product has reduced the amount of peeling required, resulting in large savings from improved yield.

In addition, experience with the oval-round-round-round pass sequence in many mills has shown that the over-all pass life is double that of conven-tional rolling, thereby reducing the downtime for pass changes. This pass sequence is also beneficial to wire drawers and other subsequent users, since it minimizes circumferential sur-face variations at the parting areas.

An additional option for a post-finishing block is a Vee Mini-Block, which is usu-ally configured as a 2-stand block to rollsmall sizes in a rod mill. In many cases, this block has been used to increase productivity on small sizes by as much as 50 percent, while also improving control of product dimensions when compared with older upstream equip-ment. When used as a pre-finishing mill block, the Vee Mini-Blocks small foot-print simplified retrofit projects. The latest design of these blocks is modu-lar, with two-stand units that allow for fast changes and help minimise mainte-nance and spare parts inventory by of-fering compatibility with Vee No-Twist Mill and Reducing/Sizing Mill units.

Figure 2. Morgan Reducing/Sizing Mill

Water Boxes and Equalization Troughs

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The ability to roll small size product at high speeds, i.e., above 100m/s, is meaningless if the ring pattern on the Stelmor cooling conveyor is not con-sistent and the laying head pipe needs frequent changes. A bad ring pattern can result in failure to achieve the spec-ified tensile uniformities and additionalpersonnel required at the laying head or reform station to prevent cobbles in each coil. The Morgan High Speed Lay-ing Head was developed to operate at those speeds and has achieved a good reputation for reliable high-speed op-eration. Numerous mills have upgraded their laying head and pinch roll systems in recent years to increase production, reduce manpower, improve yield and ensure consistent product quality. Re-cent developments on the high speed laying head system have resulted in a new upgrade package. Design changes in the laying head and pipe support have led to even better performance at high speeds, with extremely low vibration levels. Also, a significant ad-vancement in the technology of the laying head pipe now enables many, many more tonnes of small diameter

products to pass through each pipe at high speeds resulting in a dramatic re-duction in downtime for pipe changes.

older systems with new technology with more efficient cooling that is easi-er to maintain. Depending on availablespace, more cooling can be provided to allow for an expanded range of prod-uct qualities. A necessary component of a new water box line is that of a temperature control system, such as the SIROLL LR Enhanced Temperature Control System, which provides the mill operator with the ability to closely control and monitor process tempera-tures on the finishing end of the mill.

To maintain a high level of mill utilisa-tion with minimum personnel, while supporting a multiple cycle rolling schedule, mill owners need fast chang-es of rolls and other parts throughout the mill, as well as quick changing of auxiliary equipment. The Siemens split bore cooling nozzle design allows op-erators to quickly and easily open a nozzle for inspection or cleaning and to remove cobbles. To avoid the neces-sity of manually changing the nozzles in the cooling line for a new product size, multiple lines of different bore nozzles can be arranged in a traversing box that can shift positions for the differ-ent nozzle bores, requiring less man-power an minimising mill downtime.

coil produced, to eliminate hot and out-oftolerance product on the ends of the coil. In most mills, the trimming is per-formed manually at a combination of locations on the cooling conveyor and at a trimming station in the coil han-dling system. To increase worker safety and improve trimming consistency and efficiency, high speed trimming shears are available for the process line. These shears have the ability to cut front and tail ends at extremely high speeds, while controlling the amount of mate-rial trimmed in order to maximise yield.

For example, the shear shown in Fig-ure 4 is a continuously rotating ar-rangement using two separate shears for trimming and cobble cutting with a high speed servo drive switch sys-tem, for improved cut length accuracy and repeatability. The system works in conjunction with front-end orienta-tion at the laying head to insure that the new trimmed head end is placed at the desired location on the con-veyor. The shear design can be used for a right or left hand mill, with a size range capability from 5mm through 20mm for speeds up to 120 m/s.

High Speed Trimming Shears

High Speed Laying Heads And Pinch Rolls

Figure 3. Traversing Water Boxes

Figure 4. High Speed Trimming Shear

A challenge for every rod mill is trim-ming the head and tail ends of every

An area of the process line that com-monly limits the success of a rod mill is that of the laying head and pinch roll.

Page No. 45

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The success of the laying head and pinch roll system is also dependent on the mechatronics package that is in-tegral to an equipment upgrade. This system provides for consistent coor-dination of speeds between the units, for repeatable front end positioning of each coil, fine control of ring diam-eter and wobble adjustment for large sizes. The Morgan Intelligent Pinch Roll incorporates servo control of pinch force and position, closed loop control of pinch force and speed, plus rapid and repeatable roll close times.

The patented Ring Distributor system has for many years defined rod mill coil reforming technology by, offering a consistent approach to the reform-ing of coils. With the Ring Distributor, coil rings from a Stelmor Controlled Cooling system are collected high in the reforming tub and are distributed for optimal placement by a rotating blade. The resulting coil package is dense and well-shaped. When com-pared with systems without the Ring Distributor, coil heights can be reduced between 15 and 20% on 5.5mm rod, for example. Reduction in coil height and enhancements in coil shape trans-late directly into improvements in shipping by allowing more coils to be placed on the truck or rail car bed, as well as a decreased risk of loosened coil ties or strapping during shipment.

The coil handling and compacting sys-tem completes the process of making the best possible coil package, start-ing at the laying head and continu-ing on to the Stelmor conveyor and reform area. In most rod mills built before the 1980s, coil handling and compacting are in need of an upgrade.

Many existing systems use horizontal hooks for transporting cooling coils from the reform, through the compac-tor to the unloading station. Some old-er mills and many new installations use vertical stem pallets. The latest designs of horizontal hook carriers and vertical stem pallets systems are of modular design with standardised components for ease of maintenance. They are usu-ally custom-configured to fit into the available space and to meet the specific needs for production and coil process-ing, while enabling future expansion.

For compacting of coils, both horizon-tal and vertical compactor systems are available for seamless interfacing with the upstream coil handling system and with the downstream unloaders to coil storage and shipment. Some of the key features of these compactors include the capability of handling coils with a maximum 1450mm outer diameter and 750mm inner diameter, the possibility of using binding wire in diameters from 6mm to 8mm as-rolled, with cycle times for compacting and tying in the range of 30 to 35 seconds, depending on coil

Conveyor processing is critical for mills producing high quality products, since it directly affects as rolled properties and indirectly affects properties of products that are heat treated after rolling. The latest roller conveyor con-figuration improves cooling uniformity and surface quality and gives a mill thecapability to run continuously in a slow cooling, or retarded cooling mode. Im-proved cooling air distribution through the patented OptiMesh system and nozzle deck design between the fan plenum and rod surface increases product cooling and uniformity. In ad-dition, many conveyor upgrades in-

Stelmor Controlled Cooling Conveyors

Coil ReformingCoil Handling And Compact-ing Systems

clude increased fan capacities. Higher air velocities improve cooling rates and thereby reduce the total fast cooling length requirement. This is particularlyadvantageous for mills producing large diameter, fast-cooled prod-ucts. The addition of a roller conveyor in combination with, larger fan ca-pacity increases both average ten-sile levels and tensile uniformity(6).

Figure 5. Morgan High Speed Laying Head and Pinch Roll

A major benefit for the wire drawer is that coils have a better payoff with re-duced number of tangles. The system can be retrofitted into existing mills and has proven very beneficial in accommo-dating larger coil weights and reducing damage to coils in transit and in storage. Ring Distributors have been installed in more than 100 strands worldwide.

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weight. The compactors are versatile and can be offered with wire binding or strapping using hydraulic, pneumatic or electric systems. The wire binding heads are designed to make a consis-tent, high-strength knot for safe trans-port through storage and shipping.

Mechanical equipment upgrades can by themselves result in improvements to the long product rolling mill process and products. However, their contribution can be maximised when used in con-junction with upgrades to mill control, automation and management systems.

As mentioned above, water box tem-perature control is a necessary ingredi-ent in a cooling system upgrade and themechatronics package is key to the success of the laying head and Stelmor conveyor performance. Other typical areas of upgrades include mill setup and speed control, tension and loop control, sequencing and tracking, plus other mechatronics packages for mill equipment components. Modernisa-tion of these elements in the rolling mill can together help optimise the process and make the best possible product.

Automation And Mill Management Systems

Case Study 1 Wire Rod Mill Laying Head And Reform Modernisation

Case Study 2 Wire Rod Mill Reform And Coil Handling Modernisation

For the overall management of the mill, Siemens offers the XpertManager system, which provides seamless in-tegration of process data in real time, from the Manufacturing Resource Planning stage through to entire pro-duction process, including billet yard and coil or bar bundle yard manage-ment. This system has been imple-mented in numerous mills, providing operators and mill managers with up-to-date information on the mill pro-cess and performance. Management of rolls and guides within this system can further improve its effectiveness.

NUCOR Nebraska wanted to im-prove their coil package in order to reduce delays in the mill and to provide a better product for their wire drawing customers. Their mod-ernisation project focused on the laying head and the reform areas.

The new laying head equipment con-sisted of a Morgan High Speed Laying Head, which was to be the basis for con-sistently good ring formation onto the controlled cooling conveyor. The laying head was supplied with the patented tail end control deflector plate to help with the consistency of head and tail ends. To ensure proper delivery of the rings to the conveyor, a new adjustable entry section was added to span from the lay-ing head to the existing conveyor. The mean pipe diameter of the new laying head was chosen to match the coil di-mensions previously made on the mill.

On the reform end of the conveyor, a completely new reform station was in-stalled, with a Morgan Ring Distributor to further ensure formation of a good coil package. The reform tub was cus-tom designed to maintain the previ-ous coil dimensions. A new sliding exit section of the conveyor, designed to receive the rings from a drop off the ex-isting conveyor, enabled speed changes ahead of reform. A new section of the coil handling system vertical stem pal-lets was also provided, designed to in-terface with the existing pallet system.

With the above advances in rod mill equipment and system technology, Siemens VAI has been able to success-fully upgrade numerous mills around the world in recent years. Usually, the mill modifications have included an RSM as the main component to improve productivity, mill utiliza-tion and product quality. However, it is the combination of the RSM with the other equipment and controls that has enabled the full realization of the production and operational im-provements of these modernisations.

The single strand rod mill at CELSA Atlantic in Spain was built in 2006, primarily to produce ribbed reinforc-ing products and industrial grade rod in coil. The finishing end of the initial

Figure 6. Vertical Coil Handling System

Rod Mill Modernisations

0091 80 4512 7800 / 78010091 80 4512 7802

rollIng MIlls


mill consisted of a Morgan Vee No-Twist Mill, water boxes with interme-diate pinch rolls for HYQST produc-tion, Morgan High Speed Laying Head, Morgan Stelmor conveyor, reform with a two-arm mandrel and transfer car for interfacing with a horizontal hook coil handling system with a single horizontal compactor. After several years of operation, shifts in the prod-uct market and change of mill owner-ship resulted in the need for increased capacity in the coil handling system.

The solution included changes to the reform tub including a new nose cone to improve coil formation with the existing Ring Distributor, plus modi-fications to the lower reform area to replace the two-arm mandrel with an interface to a new section of verti-cal stem pallet coil handling. In addi-tion, the horizontal hook system was extended with a new section to pro-vide more coil positions and to inter-face with the new vertical stem pallet system, incorporating a transfer car and trimming stations. A second hori-zontal compactor was also installed.

Controls for the coil han-dling area were expand-ed to accommodate changes in the existing equipment and manage the new pallet system, in-terfaces and compactor.

Rolling mill equipment and process im-provements by Siemens VAI during the last decade have enabled many mills toundergo successful modernisations. Significant increases in rolling speed, production rate, mill efficiency and product quality have been realised with these modernizations. The combination of highly flexible and reliable equip-ment, superior process design and automation systems offer many pos-sibilities for improving mill operations.

1. Shore, S. M., Developments for High-Speed Rod Mills, Iron & Steel Institute of Japan, Nov. 2001.

2. Shore, S. M., Dyck, J. and Shore, T. M., New rod rolling technology for improved mill utilisation and product quality, MPT International, Aug. 1995.

3. Kiefer, B. V., Vincent, J. C. and Varo, R. A., Thermomechanical Pro-cess Improvements in High Speed Rod and Bar Rolling with Reducing Sizing Mills, Proceedings, International Con-ference on Thermomechanical Pro-cessing: Mechanics, Microstructure & Control, Sheffield, England, June 2002.

4. Vincent, J. C. and Kiefer, B. V., Mod-ernisation of Stelmor Conveyor Systems for Expanded Process Capability and Im-proved Product Quality, Proceedings, Wire and Cable Technical Symposium Interwire 2003, Atlanta, GA, May 2003.

5. Ichida, Y. et al, Overview of the New Finishing Block Mill and Coil Handling Line at the No. 7 Wire Rod Mill, R&D Kobe Steel Engineering Reports, Vol. 50, No. 1, Apr. 2000.

No-Twist and Stelmor are regis-

tered trademarks of Siemens Indus-

try, Inc. XpertManager and HYQST are

trademarks of Siemens Industry, Inc.

The single strand rod mill at Sterling Steel in the USA was originally installed in 1983 and underwent various up-grades over the years. Those included laying head modifications in the

late 1990s, a new Stelmor conveyor in the early 2000s, changes in the finishing block area, and new water boxes with a temperature control system in 2008.

The latest modernisation, which was recently completed, included extension of the Stelmor conveyor, a new reformstation with a Ring Distributor, a new vertical stem pallet system and a new-generation vertical compactor with wire binding. This upgrade has enabled Sterling to increase mill utilisation to more than 90% and to set several new production records. The totally vertical system, from reform through to com-pacting, has resulted in less distortion of the coil during cooling, so that the final coil package offers better coil stor-age, shipment and customer use. Fewer coils have to be re-worked due to loose or broken bindings. Also, coils have ex-perienced significantly less scratching, attributed to their less frequent manip-ulation. All components of the systems are easily accessible, improving worker safety, and the mechanical design has resulted in reduced maintenance costs.

Figure 7. Vertical compactor

Case Study 3 Wire Rod Mill Stelmor, Reform And Coil Handling Modernisation

Conclusions

References

Risk More Weight With igus Drylin W System

Linear technology that is lubrication-free and dirt resistant now with-stands the weight of a well-equipped middle-class estate car (up to 2 t). The new Drylin W linear guide size 25 from igus connects these characteristics.

Previously, a lubrication-free and cheap alternative to linear guide sys-tems that run on ball bearings was de-veloped with the Drylin W system. As early as the construction stage, the flexible and modular design with its most different accessories allows more freedom of design. New fields of application for the manifold linear guide systems such as in agricultural machines, automobile construction, but also in the field of medicine tech-nology or packing industry, offers now the high-load version in the size 25.

Like all members of the Drylin W family, the new version consist of

three simple basic elements: a guide rail made of hard-anodised aluminium, the housing bearings made of zinc die casting and the gliding foil made of the tribo-optimised plastic iglidur J200. The W25 double guide rail has a 25mm shaft diameter and 120mm distance

between shaft centres. Compared to the other drylin W sizes, these new dimensions give a higher load capac-ity, up to two tonnes, as well as resist-ing higher moments. Statically each of the four bearing housings made of zinc die-casting can take up to 480 kg. A gliding foil made of iglidur J200 is responsible for the lubrication-free travel of high loads at low friction val-ues and most minimal wear, especially developed for the use with hard-an-odised aluminium as friction partner.

All four sizes of the Drylin W sys-tem are easy to mount because the double rail makes the costly alignment of two parallel shafts or guides un-necessary. The rails are available up to a length of four meters. For longer travels, the rails can be easily placed in sequence. The factory-made at-tached bevel allows gliding of the glide elements from one rail to the other. The system is available from stock.

igus now introduces the fourth size in the Drylin W linear guide family: the size 25 (be-low). With a load of up to 2 tonnes possible, it can easily move the load of a properly

equipped middle class estate car linearly - maintenance-free and without lubrication.

Also the new size has been designed according to the successful principle of the Drylin W system: double guide rail made of hard-anodised aluminium. Its counterpart is the guide slide that consists of four zinc die casting bearings, equipped with a sliding foil made of the

tribo-optimized plastic iglidur J200.

product proFIle


product proFIle


ECOFLUX * Corrugated Tube Heat Exchangers

Salient Fea-tures / USP Product Application

thermal efficiency and

eliminates product

channeling. Thermal ef-ficiency is so improved,

that for typical thin film

applications heat trans-fer area can be reduced to less than half of that required in a plain tu-bular heat exchanger.

Compact tubular heat exchanger;

Long running times due to turbulent flow

Very low maintenance costs, mini-mum spares requirement.

Lower heat transfer areas.

Minimal fouling and hence high response to CIP

Wide choice of MOC. Heat exchang-ers can be made in SS 304 / L, 316 / L, Cu Ni, Hastelloy, Alloy 20, Duplex, Titanium, etc.

Uniform thermal processing.

More flexibility in annular space sizing.

ECOFLUX* Corrugated Tube Heat Ex-changers are used in varies industries for processing of pharmaceutical, chemical, petrochemical, fertilizers, ed-ible oil, paper & pulp, cosmetics, steel, cement, power, rubber, paints, brewer-ies & distilleries, waste & waste water management, sugar, automotive, fruit pulp, beverage, particulate ready-to-eat foods, milk & milk based products, nu-traceuticals and probiotic supplements. ECOFLUX* is used for an extensive range of applications like heater, cooler, condenser, reboiler, regenerator, hot water generation, chiller, pasteurizer, sterilizer, aseptic filler and evaporator.

Corrugated Tube Heat Exchangers are shell and tube heat exchangers which use corrugated tubes instead of plain tubes. This kind of tube combines

the best features of both the plain

tube and the plate heat exchanger. The

tubes are corrugated to induce tur-bulence in both flows (product & ser-vice) at lower velocities. This increases

K- Series

DT - Series

AS- SeriesMI - Series

coMpAny proFIle


Precision Speed and Length Measurement (down to Zero)Laser Surface Velocimeters LSV 1000 / 2000

Benefits / Advantages / Main Features

Zumbach Electronics pres-ents new, high-tech length and speed measuring gauges.

Precision speed and length measure-ments are critical for optimisation of continuous or quasi-continuous pro-duction processes. Proper utilization of these measurements can lead to lower production costs and higher product quality. The ideal sensor must exceed traditional contact encoder performance, increasing reliability and accuracy while minimising mainte-nance requirements and material yield.

The LSV Laser Surface Velocimeters have been designed as the ideal next generation sensors for non-contact length and speed measurement. They provide precise length and velocity data quickly and reliably for both process control and cut-to-length applications.

The LSV 1000/2000 measure reliably on almost any solid surface, whether con-trolling processes utilising carbon steel, shiny aluminium or oily sheets, or pro-ducing round wire and cable, or manu-facturing paper, cardboard or tissue.

Zero speed, direction detection (model LSV 2000 only)

Reduced operating and mainte-nance costs

Attractive ROI, fast payback

All-in-one system, easy integra-tion into production processes and control environments

Easy to operate and no re-calibra-tion required

Visible laser for easy alignment in the field

Robust sensor technology forreliable operation even under harsh conditions, protection classes IP 66 and IP 67

Fast, state-of-the-art signal pro-cessor with powerful command set for efficient system communication via se-rial or Ethernet interface

Includes two trigger inputs for ad-ditional light barriers or optical switch-es for high precision edge detection and offset length compensation

Hardware status signals for re-mote diagnostic functions available

User-selectable full quadrature pulse output and interfacing as LAN & RS 422/232

LSV 2000 Velocimeter

Zumbach At Tube 2014

Excerpt Of The Novelties

STEELMASTER SMR Gauges - New Rotating Gauges For High Speed Dimension Mea-surement In Hot Rolling Mills

PROFILEMASTER - New In-Line Profile Gauge For Hot Rolling Mills

ECOGAUGE Systems- New Compact And Low Cost Diameter/Width Gauges For Hot And Cold Processes

ZUMBACH Swiss Prime Measur-ing since 1957 - will join the inter-national trade fair for tube products TUBE 2014 in Dusseldorf, Germany, 7-11 April. Novel and intelligent solu-tions as well as cost efficient solutions for in-line measurement and con-trol of tubes, pipes and profiles are going to be the focus of Zumbachs exhibition booth at Stall No. 5E17.

These new gauges feature, among

others, a revolutionary new system

for fully contactless power and signal

transmission from the laser heads.

Additionally they offer novel and sig-

In addition to the existing line of profile gauges for cold steel and metal profiles, Zumbach exhibits this new version for hot applications. The gaugesare based on triangulation by camera vision, often

On show will be one of the new up-graded ECOGAUGE systems of sin-gle axis gauges. With new models, ECOGAUGE 160 and 550, the range of applications have been extend-ed to a diameter of 500mm (20in.).

Typical solutions are between roll-ing stands for bar or for strips or in conveyors, after hot extrusions, af-ter radial forges or in peeling and grinding operations. Mounting is very flexible and possible in hori-zontal, in vertical or any orientation.

nificant advantages over other gauges,

when it comes to fast and accurate capture of dimensions in longitudi-nal and radial direction. The mainte-nance for SMR gauges is close-to-zero.

The mechanical concept is extremely

simple and robust; no wear parts,

no collector rings, no brakes,etc.

Depending the applica-tion and the customer needs,

static STEELMASTER SMS or os-cillating SMO are also available

PROFILEMASTER SPS 300-S4 STEELMASTER Rotating SMR Gauge

also called light cut principle. Models

are available for any hot rolled profile

up to 500 mm (edge length). All models

are also available for cold applications.

coMpAny proFIle


The other two con-

tinuous casters,

CCM 01 and CCM

04, were erected in

Steel Making Plant

2 South, which is

Tiscos carbon and

special-steel works.

CCM 01 replaces

one of the two Sie-

mens continuous

casters which have

been in operation

there for many

years. The two

new casting plants are almost identi-

cal in order to optimize maintenance,

operation and spare parts stocks.

They have a machine radius of eight

meters and a metallurgical length of

27.6 meters. The thickness of the slabs

ranges from 200 to 230 millimeters and

the width from 830 to 1,630 millime-

ters. The two plants cast a wide range

of carbon steels and special steels with

high silicon content, and each has an

annual production capacity of one mil

lion metric tons of slabs.

All three Siemens casters feature a cas-

sette-type Smart Mold with a hydraulic

DynaFlex mol

feb 2014.pdf

Documents

cent growth rate

steel consumption

consumption growth

steel demand

steel producers

gdp growth rate

cent growth yo

world steel association