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By Stefan Wahlund, Tom Adams, Mats Söder, Zhi Zhang

By applying high-end rolls with utmost performance and superior surface quality, hot strip mills can be further optimized. Operations in the mill have been also waiting for improved roll solutions that can minimize required roll changes which impact production efficiency. Limitations are usually due to the low performance and surface degradation of the rolls in the late finishing stands (F5 – F7). VICTURATM is the most recent developed grade for rolls utilized in the late finishing stand at Union Electric Åkers (UEÅ). These rolls have been tested and applied in mills all over the world. A significant improvement over the enhanced ICDP rolls has been observed. Hot strip mills are realizing improved operating efficiency and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) through the transition of their entire roll inventories to these break-through products.

Oct 1, 2019

By Marcus Vinicius Laudares Mendonça

SMS calculates and improves tooth and flank profiles individually to realise a homogeneous pressure distribution over the complete load flank. With a tooth profile and flank profile according to AGMA, ISO or DIN standard the contact pressure varies along the load flank. To realize a homogeneous distribution of the contact pressure and to avoid a premature mesh, SMS improves the tooth profile and flank profile in three steps. First SMS is doing a preliminary calculation and design according ISO, DIN or AGMA standard, with safety factors based on more than 125 years of experience. Second SMS calculates and checks the local contact pressure at the load flank under consideration of shaft, gearing and housing deformation, as well as the bearing behaviour. Finally SMS calculates and designs an improved tooth profile and flank profile to receive a homogeneous contact pressure at the load flank. The result is an increase of the torque transmitting capacity of up to 30% of the SMS advanced gears with the same outer dimensions than traditional gears.

Aug 17, 2017

By Stefano Baf

This paper describes the main technical and process solutions applied to the extrathick and wide slab caster built at Yingkou (Liaoning, P.R. of China), as well as all the features required to achieve the surface and internal quality targets.

Aug 16, 2017

By Gilmar Ferreira Bataglia

The possibility of parameterization of hot tensile data together with creep data is investigated, for Aluminium Alloy 7475-T7351. This study represents part of a broader research program aiming at the validation of a methodology recently proposed for analyzing both kinds of data together, considering different metallic materials. The results presented in Part 1 of this work, were analyzed according to 4 traditional methods of the literature for parameterization of creep data, namely: Larson-Miller, Orr-Sherby-Dorn, Manson-Succop and Manson-Hafferd. The compatibility of the hot tensile test results with those of creep is remarkably good, indicating the possibility of using both kind of data together also in extrapolation schemes. The criterion proposed for equivalence between hot tensile and creep data is verified to work well also for this kind of material, under the present experimental conditions.

Aug 8, 2018

By Marcos Paulo da Silveira, Carolina Conter Elgert, Messias Prado de Almeida, Rafael Stella Galdino

Microalloyed steels have been intensely studied as an alternative to increase strength by grain refinement and/or precipitation hardening. Long steel products have a wide range of opportunities to apply well-defined principles of controlled rolling (CR) in order to increase strength and toughness with reduced costs. To evaluate the effect of microalloying elements as Nb and Ti with thermomechanical treatment, three conditions were tested: DIN 16MnCrS5 with hot rolling (HR), DIN 16MnCrS5 with Nb and CR and DIN 16MnCrS5 with Nb+Ti and CR. Austenitic grain size, obtained by direct quenching after rolling, has shown a decrease 32% with Nb addition, and 29% when Nb and Ti was added. Controlled rolling generated higher grain refinement and pancacked grains near the surface. When comparing ferritic grain size, controlled rolling plus niobium and titanium additions resulted in significant reduction of 35%. Yield strength increased 15% with microalloying and CR and more than 270% in impact toughness, even at -40°C.

Oct 1, 2019

By Johanna Alegría-Ortega

Cr/CrN bilayer coating was deposited on AISI 440C by Cathodic Arc. The composition and structure of the Cr/CrN coating were investigated by scanning Electron Microscope, X-Ray Diffraction and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy. The results show that crystal structure obtained was CrN phase with preferred [220] orientation. The hardness and adhesion of coating also were studied. The evaluation of erosion-corrosion (EC) on 440C bare and coated with Cr/CrN was performed by carrying out wear tests using a slurry jet with impingement angle 90° at 4 and 8 m/s. Corrosion, erosion and synergism wear rate were evaluated following the procedure described in ASTM G-119-09. This study presents that the synergism wear rate exceeds 40% of the total mass loss for coating and 60% of mass loss for the 440C, being the most aggressive wear component. The increase in impact velocity generated a rise in mass loss for both 440C bare and coated. The Cr/CrN coating offers better corrosion and erosion–corrosion resistance under all the tested conditions.

Aug 8, 2018

By Johan Richaud

Achieving high surface quality steel in the continuous casting process requires optimal mould level control. The design of the casting channel from the tundish to the mould is crucial to prevent formation of undesired instabilities or biased flows that can cause level fluctuation. With the aid of CFD and with physical water models, the geometry of the stopper nose and the nozzle seat have been studied and optimized to improve the overall mould flow stability. A special stopper nose; Ripple Stopper (RST), has been developed that reduces the formation of large and unwanted eddies in the liquid steel that destabilize the port exiting jets. Instead, the RST produces a fast release of turbulence in the form of a large number of small eddies. The large sudden fluctuations in the mould level are reduced, which in turn reduces the occurrence of surface defects. An additional benefit is derived from the local pressure around the stopper nose region being greater which reduces the refractory erosion. For a tundish gate type flow regulation, a new design encompasses an offset in the Tundish Well Nozzle (TWN) that realigns the flow and reduces the bias flow that is common to tundish gate regulation. The steel recirculation regions below the throttling gate are decreased reducing the risk of oxide depositions. The RST and the Offset bore casting channel have been applied successfully leading to a superior flow control performance between the tundish and the mould.

Jul 30, 2018

By Emanuele Osto

In late 2013, the installation of the world's first application of a break-through technology for rail hardening was started at Baogang Iron & Steel (Group) Co. Ltd. in Inner Mongolia, China, one of world's leading rail producers. The "Injector Dualphase Rail Hardening" (idRHa+) system was developed by Primetals Technologies and Centro Sviluppo Materiali S.p.A. (RINA-CSM) a Technical Center headquartered in Rome, Italy. Baogang was a key partner, providing its large expertise of premiumrail producer, including its experience with existing offline technologies. With a design based on thermal, mechanical and metallurgical models, idRHa+ can apply customized cooling protocols, so to obtain the desired microstructure and hardness distribution across the rail head, with a high degree of accurateness and operation flexibility. idRHa+ can be installed in inline or offline configurations. During 2014, the system was successfully commissioned at rail mill #2 in the city of Baotou, Inner Mongolia, and entered the regular commercial production. This paper gives an overview of the key concepts behind idRHa+'s design, the progression of its commissioning and testing till the ramp-up to consistent industrial operation. Derived from idRHa+ research and experience, other water-cooling technologies are available for different applications such as: quenching & tempering of medium-large sections, control of distorsion of merchant bars, quenching of stainless grades for improving the resistance to corrosion.

Aug 16, 2017

By Simon Chiartano

A global reflection on the design of blast furnace main runner was investigated in this paper. TRB Company used its skills and expertise to understand what the best option for this sensitive component is, including some innovative tools: intelligent block design for safety lining, thermal & thermomechanical numerical simulation, immersive measurement by thermocouples, IR thermal camera, 3D laser scanner.

Oct 1, 2019

By Hongshuang Di, Tianyu Zhang, Huiqiang Huang

A CMnSiAl transformation induced plasticity (TRIP) steel was used to study the effect of retained austenite on room-temperature mechanical properties. The steel plates with retained austenite were obtained by hot rolling, cold rolling and subsequent continuous annealing. The starting and finishing temperature of hot rolling are between Ac1 and Ac3. Reduction ratio of cold rolling is 75%. The continuous annealing is carried out at different intercritical temperatures. The relationship between work hardening exponent and retained austenite was discussed. The results show that, the Ac1 and Ac3 were much high because of the alloy elements, and the temperature range between them was wide. Due to the high hot rolling temperature, the grains was hereditarily refined as a result of dynamic recrystallization. Annealing at intercritical temperature of 930 ºC, retained austenite with relatively high stability reached a maximum volume fraction of 25%, a maximum total elongation of 30.2% and a best ultimate tensile strength × total elongation of 20.1 GPa·%. Instantaneous work hardening exponent reflects strengthening mechanisms at different strain stages. The TRIP effect of retained austenite is the main mechanism during deformation. With retained austenite of sufficient amount and high stability, continuous work hardening was observed in the tensile specimen of 930 ºC.

Oct 1, 2019

By Mathias Woydt

The tribological and mechanical properties of binderless and metal-bonded niobium carbides (8 or 12 vol.-% of Cobalt, 12 vol.-% of Fe3Al) are presented. Rotating disks made of niobium carbide bearing hard metals were mated against alumina (99.7%) under unlubricated (dry) unidirectional sliding tests (0,1 m/s to 12,0 m/s; 22°C and 400°C) as well as in oscillation tests (f= 20 Hz, ?x= 0,2 mm, 2/50/98% rel. humidity, n= 105/106 cycles). Microstructure and phase compositions were determined as well. The tribological data obtained were benchmarked with different ceramics, cermets, hard metals and thermally sprayed coatings, where NbC bonded with 8% and 12% Co presented above 8 m/s the lowest wear rates so far in such a benchmark. Binderless NbC (HP-NbC1) and the metal bonded NbCs exhibited low wear rates under dry sliding associated with high P?V load carrying capacities. NbC-based hard metal bonded with 12 vol.-% of Fe3Al resulted in a higher hardness level than for 12 vol.-% cobalt. The tribological profile established revealed a strong position of NbC bearing materials under tribological considerations and for closed tribosystems against established reference tribo-couples.

Jul 31, 2018

By Claudio Fabbro

The increasing demand of wire rod high carbon grades for both small and large sizes are challenging the wire rod producers to enhance new technologies by combining high plant productivity and efficiency of superior quality finished products with extreme process flexibility. The possibility to change process route according to the final application of the rolled steel grade and to simplify production planning is one of the most important keys to success that distinguishes the mill plants developed by Danieli. This paper will focus on the most important metallurgical and process targets and on the in-line heat treatment technologies representing the core of Danieli know-how on high carbon grades production.

Jul 30, 2018

By F. D. Rodriguez, J. Ramirez Cuellar, J. Salinas Reyes, C. Gómez-de-la Garza

The Pickling Line and Tandem Continuous Mill (PLTCM) at Ternium Pesquería Facility with a Five Stands, Six High configuration started in 2013. Manufactured by PRIMETALS, to produce steel to exposed automotive market, Turnkey project, with supervision of best practices from Nippon Steel. The main equipment that the process has are; Laser welding machine, 3 loopers, Scale Breaker, jet Pickling tanks, Inspection Station and COGNEX System Side Trimmer (flying width change), Type of Mill: UCMW(S) Carrousel, 2 Tension Reels. The principals goals are, Simulate production programs, validate materials for thin thicknesses before processing, low Re-welds, optimization use Cognex, good performance in Thickness, flatness and productivity.

Oct 1, 2019

By Michael Windhager

UltimaTM rolls have been designed for intermediate and finishing stands of rod and bar and small and medium section mills. The rolls and rings are spun cast, with a highly alloyed working layer and a tough nodular iron core. Microstructure and hardness level can be adjusted over a wide range, which allows us to adapt the rolls to differing rolling conditions. After introducing the UltimaTM concept, this paper will describe the results of UltimaTM rolls achieved in various mill applications, like finish rolling of rebar, and slitting. Special emphasis is given to performance gains when using UltimaTM rolls, compared to standard rolls. This paper also examines the impact of UltimaTM rolls on mill and roll shop productivity.

Jul 30, 2018

By Wujian jun

In the process of wire rod production, the rolled wire products must be cooled from the red-hot state to the normal temperature state. How to cool the wire rod after rolling is one of the key links of product quality control in the whole wire rod production process. In this paper, combined with the closed-loop transformation project of controlled cooling temperature of Xuanhuan iron and steel group co., LTD., the closed-loop related controlled cooling equipment (including water cooler, valve table, etc.), nozzle layout and process layout of water tank, and closed-loop software control system of controlled cooling temperature of high-line are analyzed and designed. Closed-loop system design USES temperature of cooling water cooling and water cooling two temperature closed loop regulating circuit, through temperature feedback and feedforward to achieve the uniformity of temperature adjustment, in order to prevent occur due to temperature closed loop control function with the phenomenon of a steel before and after the temperature difference is bigger, system Settings have "absolute temperature regulation" and "relative temperature regulation" selection mode. The system has a self-learning mode, which can modify the temperature feed forward formula. In addition, this paper takes the hard wire 82B rod as the test object, and studies the process parameters and the comprehensive mechanical properties of the rod before and after the water cooling system reform. The research results show that the temperature closed loop system, can ensure the rolled piece temperature control precision of plus or minus 10℃, enhances the stability of wire rod cleaner performance. It can reduce water consumption by about 186m3/h and improve the utilization rate of cooling water.

Oct 1, 2019

By Alessandro Martinis

The performance requirements for modern steelmaking facilities are ever more stringent, as customers and markets are continuously pushing for technologies which allow having high quality steel produced in an economic and sustainable way. In the details, this paper has the aim to present the excellent results obtained by integrated steel plant where an EAF is fed with high quality hot ENERGIRON DRI. The recent technology developments, combined with the affirmed basic process design, contributed to further maximize the energy of the DRI, reaching the EAF at temperatures above 600°C with a carbon content up to 3.5%, as confirmed by plant data. These improved input material characteristics resulted in reduced electrical energy consumption and increased liquid steel production.

Aug 16, 2017

By D. F. Rodríguez-Pérez, J. Salinas-Reyes, Luis R. Salazar-Garza, C. A. Gómez-De-La-Garza

The Pickling Line Tandem Cold Mill (PLTCM) from Ternium Pesquería started in 2013. It is a line with 5 stands, 6 high; focused mainly on the exposed automotive market, with a wide spread of products with high quality requirements. In addition the operational continuity is very important, for this, one of the greatest challenges is to ensure operational discipline, the order of production, the quality of the input (hot band), operational interruptions, equipment failure, breakage of strip in the mill, among others. In relation to this, it has a strong impact on productivity, customer compliance, damage to equipment, rolls, safety, quality, reprocessing among others. Here is present the results obtained in the project "decrease of strip breaks" which focused on several fronts, discipline in the order of production, previous review of raw material in surface and dimensional defects with automatic inspection equipment in the hot mill, as well as in PLTCM, generation of logic in the redundant systems of alerts and prevention to avoid or minimize strip breaks that were high impact in the past. All these multidisciplinary actions led as a whole to a significant improvement in the performance indicators of the PLTCM, in productivity, compliance, reprocessing and quality in the cold rolled mill.

Oct 1, 2019

By Juergen Meisel

The paper will explain how to successfully implement a robotic solution from the initial idea to a working industrial solution. Primetals Technologies can call upon 10 years of experience in installation of Robot solutions in the harsh environment of steelmaking plants - the so-called LiquiRob. To enhance an existing shroud manipulation system, the idea to connect the shroud with a bayonet mechanism to the ladle nozzle was born in accordance with the requirements of a well-known steel producer. The paper will describe the development steps from the first simulations and prototype testing in the laboratory, it will show the intensive system testing under workshop conditions and will finally depict the successful integration into the plant. Furthermore, operational experience will be shown as well as the advantages of such an installation compared to other shroud manipulation systems.

Oct 30, 2017

By Felipe Beluche Lima, Caio Augusto Silva Santos

Brazil is the largest producer of crude steel in the Americas by BOF process and many challenges come along with the increasing market demand. In the BOF, a tubular wall hood structure has been showing premature failures related to the overlay welded tube technology placed in the hood wall. The main root causes were: thermal fatigue at 1800°C, hot spot formation, high heat-affected zone (HAZ) leading to susceptibility of stress cracking, carburizing corrosion and superficial wearing. Based on that, co-extruded tube technology (named composite tube by Sandvik) was the alternative chosen to enhance hood performance without compromising BOF process. In order to rises safety and productivity, composite tube has 100% metallurgical bond assuring stable expansion, high heat exchange efficiency, better corrosion resistance and less rough surface finishing. It was highly suggested to many others mills due to similar and already existing reported cases.

Oct 1, 2019

By Jan Krull

A high productive coke making process in connection with stringent emission control has clearly become a demand of plant operators and stakeholders. Further to this, availability, quality and coal costs are key concerns for the iron and steel industry in its efforts to optimize raw material cost. Today, the optimization of raw material cost in integrated steel works has further gained priority. Coking coal reflects up to 20% of the cost of steel. In top charged batteries coal preparation and blending is one of the concerns to lower coal cost by maximizing the percentage of non-coking coals in the blend. Stamp charging technology is technologically and economically an effective solution in the process of pre-carbonisation. Paul Wurth’s jumbo top charged oven as well as proven stamp charging technology have recently set new benchmarks in Europe, India and Brazil in terms of productivity, stability and emission control.

Aug 1, 2018