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By Michaela Böberl

State of the art sinter coolers are working based on the cross flow cooling principle. Thus, only a part of the thermal energy can be used for heat recovery application. The other part of the cooling air is brought unused to the environment. Furthermore, environmental regulation regarding dust emission and intelligent usage of exergy are getting stronger. Therefore, Primetals Technologies developed sinter coolers based on the counter flow principle. The cooling air passes the sinter bed in counter-flow direction enabling a direct heat transfer from the hot sinter to the air. The exhaust gas temperature can be maximized by using the total heat of the hot sinter. Due to the possible usage of the total exhaust gas amount, diffusive dust emission is reduced to zero. Two types of counter flow coolers are in the portfolio of Primetals Technologies. One type is based on a stationary shaft, in which the hot sinter is charged. The flow of the hot sinter is in vertical direction from top to bottom, in counter direction than the cooling air. The second type is a circular hopper cooler. The hot sinter is charged on top of a moving bed. At the bottom of the bed the sinter is discharged. The cooling air flows also from the bottom to the top, following the counter flow principle. Depending on the requirements, one of the two counter flow cooler types can be chosen for optimized and efficient cooling of hot sinter..

Oct 30, 2017

By Antônio Augusto Gorni, Fabio Adriano da Silva, Emanuelle Garcia Reis, Afrânio Márcio Costa

Gerdau Ouro Branco´s plate mill started the operation in 2016 with high level technology. Stands out the capacity to produce different thicknesses in a same plate, therefore allowing special service for sectors such as building structures, bridges, shipbuilding and mechanical applications. The purpose of this study is to present the first results obtained in this innovative product in Brazil. Some slabs of EN10025-2 S355JR+AR steel were rolled and were evaluated the dimensional tolerances, mechanical properties uniformity, grain size, surface and internal qualities. In addition, a correlation was observed between slab and plate thickness reduction and internal plate quality. The results show that this technology can be used with adequate performance for these steel grades in the current market.

Oct 1, 2019

By Eduardo Vitral

The present study focuses in the simulation of pattern formation by ion beam sputtering on a material surface. This process is responsible for the appearance of unexpectedly organized patterns, such as ripples, nanodots and hexagonal arrays of nanoholes. A numerical analysis of preexisting patterns is proposed to investigate surface dynamics, based on a model derived from a Kuramoto-Sivashinsky anisotropic equation, in a two dimensional surface with periodic boundary conditions. While deterministic, its highly nonlinear character gives a rich range of results, making it possible to describe accurately different patterns. A finite-difference semi-implicit splitting scheme is employed on the discretization of the governing equation. Simulations were conducted with realistic coefficients related to physical parameters (anisotropies, beam orientation, diffusion). The study dealt with a random and a monomode 1D structure initial condition in order to understand how the shape and wavelength of the initial pattern evolve with time. Ripples and hexagonal patterns were observed in the results, being physically consistent with the phenomenon. Moreover, the Method of Manufactured Solution has been used as verification of the developed numerical scheme.

Aug 16, 2017

By Adriano Gonçalves dos Reis

In the development of the structural materials for the advanced applications, as in the aerospace industry, there is a constant strive to increase both strength and toughness. Maraging steels are iron-nickel alloys designed to combine both properties that are achieved through the age-hardening of low carbon martensite. This alloy have a metastable martensitic structure that can revert to austenite when heated in temperatures close to the aging temperature, and this effect can be enhanced with the temperature increasing and time of treatment. Therefore, the study of creep behavior in elevated temperatures has technological importance to the development of this material. In this work the creep behavior of a maraging 300 steel solution annealed is evaluated by carrying out creep tests at 650ºC and in a stress of 200, 300 and 500 MPa. Creep parameters, such as steady state creep rate (?????), final creep time (tf), and stress exponent from secondary creep (n) are determined, considering that they are important to evaluate the creep resistance of the material.

Aug 7, 2018

By Robert Horwood, Richard Harvey

The copper stave was a development of the Blast Furnace cooling system intended to utilise the high heat transfer properties of copper within a fully covered shell cooling solution. They were originally conceived as being able to provide a permanent cooling lining for use primarily in the higher heat zones of the Blast Furnace. Despite a large number of campaign successes around the world the everlasting concept has not proven universal, with some plants having suffered issues in two particular areas: stave bending (leading to water leaks at back of the stave) and stave wear (erosion on the hot face). Primetals Technologies have in the past been approached to provide assistance to a number of Blast Furnace operators who were experiencing operational issues with the copper stave furnace cooling systems of others. Through knowledge gained resolving these issues, and with the positive experiences of their own copper stave designs, Primetals Technologies have worked towards developing a new concept in copper stave design capable of providing a more robust solution to cope with the greater productivities of modern ironmaking. This paper will provide an outline to the concepts that have driven the design of this new technology.

Oct 1, 2019

By Ivan César Lopes Diniz, César Romero Afonso Goulart Júnior

Mandrels are tools applied to manufacturing seamless tubes. In VSB plants (Vallourec Soluções Tubulares do Brasil), it is used in two mills. Mandrel and PQF Mills. This is an expensive tool due its alloy (hot work tool steel – AISI H13) and lengh (between 12 meters and 22,5 meters). An opportunity to apply mandrels from PQF in Mandrel Mill has been identified. However, mechanical properties of PQF mandrels must be improved. This work presents the heat treatment process of Quenching and Tempering developed internally at VSB to improve PQF mandrel properties aiming to achieve Mandrel Mill requirements. Hardness and metallography tests were performed before and after some steps of the heat treatment to characterize and validate the process.

Oct 5, 2019

By Xihuai Gong, Hongshuang Di, Jianping Li, Ning Yan

In this work, we investigated the effect of the rolling process (warm-rolled or cold-rolled) on microstructure evolution and mechanical properties of 9Mn steel. After intercritical annealing at 670°C for 10min, both cold-rolled and warm-rolled microstructures are composed of ultra-fined austenite and intercritical ferrite. The austenite in warm-rolled sample includes two types of morphology, namely equiaxed and lamellar, which exhibits a wide distribution of grain-size. The incomplete recrystallization or recovery behavior of ferrite in warm-rolled and annealed sample results in higher yield strength and shorter yield point elongation. Moreover, the warm-rolled and annealed sample extends the TRIP-related work hardening over a broad strain range, resulting in a better combination of ultimate tensile strength and total elongation.

Oct 1, 2019

By Tobias Krull

The characterisation of iron ore from a materials handling point of view is paramount in order to provide the best possible design for the desired application and maximise equipment uptime at the lowest possible capital and operational expenditure. Problematic issues in materials handling applications often arise in the iron ore industry due to the high density of the ore as well as the abrasive nature of the product. One of the key issues encountered during the handling of iron ore is excessive wear due to either impact or sliding abrasion. The applications and equipment typically affected by accelerated wear issues are mass flow hoppers, transfer chutes and conveyor belts. These wear issues often result in unplanned down times and loss in production which can lead to a considerable loss in revenue. This paper provides an overview of the best practises in the materials handling characterisation of iron ore and discusses available techniques for the modelling of iron ore in applications where accelerated wear is experienced. The application is illustrated through a number of industry relevant case studies for which engineering design work was undertaken to successfully reduce the wear rates of different materials handling equipment.

Aug 1, 2018

By Christoph Sedivy

Industrie 4.0 is slowly but surely arriving in the melt shops. Furnaces are being equipped with more and more sensors, digital models are increasing the degree of automation, and information is being shared between different aggregates within the plant. Because the electrode control system plays a key role in electric steelmaking, it naturally assumes an important position in the melt shop’s Industrie 4.0 strategy. In addition to reliable, state-of-the-art core regulation functionality, monitoring and reporting tools and the ability to communicate with other equipment are also required. Therefore, the latest generation of our electrode control system, the Melt Expert, was developed based on Industrie 4.0 design principles. Intelligent plant condition diagnostics, performance monitoring, and user-defined reporting are essential modules in this new system. With these functionalities, electrode control systems are developing into the information and control center of the furnace. A newly developed software app brings most relevant process information to mobile devices. This feature allows steelmakers to keep an eye on the performance of their equipment anytime and anywhere. This paper describes the new features of the electrode control system and shares our customers’ operational experience. Our focus is on the practical aspects of plant status monitoring, KPI reporting, and diagnostic functionality as well as the improvements achieved.

Oct 30, 2017

By William Sergio Flores Roman

Los aceros para armaduras de hormigón tienen que exhibir una buena relación entre resistencia y tenacidad que se ve reflejado en la performance del producto en servicio al ser aplicado a esfuerzos exigidos. Acerbrag es una empresa que produce aceros para la industria de la construcción teniendo en su gama los aceros de medio carbono para la fabricación de barras conformadas de dureza natural para armaduras en estructuras de hormigón. El objetivo de este trabajo es encontrar criterios de ventanas de trabajos operacionales y de control para la manufactura de aceros con buenas propiedades mecánicas en términos de resistencia y tenacidad. Este paper muestra los resultados de los trabajos realizados en las diferentes áreas productivas para conseguir un producto final con mayor resistencia a altas exigencias en servicio, además, reporta diferentes aspectos del proceso de manufactura del producto que van desde el ajuste de la composición química del acero, incluyendo criterios de propiedades mecánicas objetivos, criterios de calidad interna mostrando la microestructura de la barra antes y después de los cambios y finalmente la calidad dimensional y superficial de la barra nervurada, este último potenciando la falla prematura del material. Todos estos cambios, se ven reflejados finalmente en la performance de la barra, sometida a los nuevos criterios de exigencia en los ensayos mecánicos.

Oct 30, 2017

By Antonio Esposito

Saving energy and reducing resource’s consumption by minimizing emissions are today great challenges in the coking industry worldwide. In order to achieve satisfying results, equipment as well as technology should be continuously improved and designed to minimize the energy requirements and to maximize the recovery of materials and energy. The sensible heat in coke pushed out of oven chamber takes up 35 ÷ 40 % of energy consumption of coke oven. Usually the coke thermal energy is lost during traditional coke wet quenching, necessary to reduce the coke temperature for the storage and the following use in steelmaking processes. BPSL CDQ project is a sample how Paul Wurth’s technology allows to reach the energy saving goal and offers an alternative to traditional quenching. With the adoption of Coke Dry Quenching process, a considerable amount of this sensible heat in the coke can be recovered by producing steam; its production depends on various parameters, some of them battery related (Volatile Matters in red hot coke) and others CDQ system related (coke burning losses, superheated steam characteristics (i.e. P,T)), greatly depending also on boiler efficiency (heat exchange efficiency, insulation of the boiler itself, air leakage, etc.). The adoption of CDQ process reduces also the water consumptions in comparison with traditional quenching.

Aug 16, 2017

By Filippo Verlezza

Conventional wire rod blocks have some limitations. They can only roll with fixed reduction ratios which always require the same rolling diameters within the block. With MEERdrive® SMS, as a pioneer, has introduced an innovative drive concept for wire rod blocks that can overcome the limitations of conventional solutions. The clue: the concept is based on individual drives for each stand position. The exigent wire rod market demand and the available technology melt in a new variant of MEERdrive®, the MEERdrive®PLUS, which represents a sizing block solution for finished size rolling and allows conventional as well as thermomechanical rolling. Further “one family rolling” is also possible, since all roll / size changes will occur in this block.

Oct 30, 2017

By Jean François Stumper

This paper presents the TMT “3D TopScan” profilemeter, which is a Radar-based profilemeter that measures the total burden surface within a few seconds and on a continuous basis. This equipment is based on an electronically steered solid-state radar scanner, such that a very large amount of surface data is collected within short time intervals. These new electronically steered antenna systems are the key to meet the demands for both accuracy and speed. The TMT probe is installed at a fixed location at the top cone, such that it does not interfere with the charging, enabling a continuous measurement and a compact design.Blast furnace charging optimization can be achieved based on its measurement data. The burden surface is continuously measured every few seconds, enabling the blast furnace operator to detect any details including asymmetries or irregularities in the surface pattern. A variety of process analysis tools are available. Due to the continuous and fast measurement, the burden descent speed can be supervised without process interruption on an ongoing basis. More accurate process models (layer models) than ever are obtained which fully consider the unsymmetries.This technology, developed by TMT Tapping Measuring Technology, is successfully in operation at Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH at their blast furnace B. The probe and the data evaluation tools combine today’s technological capabilities in measurement technology with the practical requirements of blast furnace operation.

Aug 16, 2017

By Oliver Schulz

This paper presents the latest references of the Siemens VAI slab casting technology. Following the connect & cast philosophy Siemens VAI has developed technological packages suitable for installation in existing casters of any original supplier, as well as for complete new machines. A major demand on new machines is to adapt quickly to different market demands. This requirement for flexibility can be divided into two actual trends. Firstly into casting a broad range of steel grades, thicknesses and width on the same machine and secondly having installed slab, bloom and billet caster in one steel plant to deliver all different types of needs on the market. Depending on the condition of the existing machine the focus of modernization ranges from the substitution of single components featuring state-ofthe-art technology to complete caster revamping projects. In this paper concepts and references for short machine outages and fast caster ramp-ups at moderate investment costs are presented.

Jul 30, 2018

By Rafael Abreu Fraga, Carlos Noberto Paula da Silva, Emanuelle Garcia Reis, Daniel Bojikian Matsubara

Since 2016 Gerdau Ouro Branco has been producing steel plates of various qualities and grades. However, it was not until 2018 that the first plates produced by accelerated cooling process were made available for external testing, in this case for large diameter UOE pipes manufacturing. Recent line pipe and OCTG specifications are showing that the oil and gas market still consumes regular API grades, such as X60, X65 and X70, however with increasing wall thicknesses, reaching values up to 1.5 inches. These specifications also demand longitudinal and transverse tensile guarantees and drop weight tear tests in temperatures as low as -40°C. Projects with these types of mechanical properties present process requirements as challenging as those necessary for higher API grades in lower thicknesses. This paper shows the steel design concepts and rolling routes for achieving the necessary properties for X70 steel plates in 28.15 mm. The microstructural features were also investigated and associated with the production process and the tensile and toughness results. Finally, challenges such as tensile anisotropy and DWTT abnormal fracture are presented.

Oct 1, 2019

By Michael Windhager, Karl H. Ziehenberger

ULTIMA® are high performance, centrifugal cast, double poured (CC duplex) work rolls. This paper describes the principle of the ULTIMA® roll concept and its wide range of usability. The ULTIMA® concept provides a solution for rod and bar mills to increase performance and output, even under harsh rolling conditions. The main focus is on highly loaded mill stands that require both high wear resistance and resistance against thermal fatigue, like pre-dog bone, dog bone, slitter. Specific case studies of quite different mill configurations and rolled product mix prove the positive impact on production yield, mill and roll shop operations, and profitability in terms of TCO (total cost of ownership).

Oct 1, 2019

By Darina Manova

Plasma assisted surface modification methods have been used to nitride stainless steels in order to enhance hardness and therefore the lifetime of industrial components. Nevertheless, the corrosion resistance is not always preserved since it is very sensitive to the process parameters, either in implantation or in thermochemical diffusion techniques. AISI 316L stainless steel was plasma nitrided using three different techniques: Low Energy Ion Implantation (LEII), Plasma Immersion Implantation (PI3) and conventional DC pulsed plasma nitriding (DCPN). For each method several parameters were tested and some of them were selected to achieve the so called S phase of about 3 µm thickness and no nitrides precipitation. The nitrided layer was characterized with OM and SEM. Hardness was assessed on the surface with Vickers indenter and 25 g load. XRD was performed to characterize the S phase and to detect other phases if present and electrochemical corrosion tests were carried out in 3.5% NaCl solution. Although the S phase thickness in the three groups of samples was comparable, hardness was not and neither was the corrosion resistance. The PI3 samples were the hardest with the best performance in corrosion experiments, resulting in a higher breakdown potential and lower currents.

Aug 8, 2018

By Evan Thomas

It has been shown before that liquids can slip at a solid boundary, which prompted the idea that parallel-surface bearings can be obtained by the use of alternating slip and non-slip regions in the direction of fluid flow. The amount of slip at the wall depends upon the surface tension at the liquid - solid interface, which in turn depends on the chemical composition of the surface and its roughness. In the present study a heterogeneous surface was created by coating half of a circular glass disc with a coating repellent to glycerol. A rotating glass disc was placed at a known distance above the coated stationary surface and the gap was filled with glycerol. With the top surface moving in the direction of slip to non-slip region, a pressure build up can be theoretically predicted. The pressure gradient in the two regions is constant, similar to that in a Rayleigh step bearing, with the maximum pressure at the boundary. In order to accurately measure the force generated by the pressure increase, a load cell was attached to the heterogeneous disc. Experiments were conducted by varying both sliding speed and distance, and the resultant load carrying capacity was measured and compared with theoretical calculations. This allowed the slip coefficient of the coated surface to be evaluated.

Jul 31, 2018

By Antonio Esposito

Saving energy and reducing pollution by minimizing emissions are today great challenges in the coking industry worldwide. In order to achieve satisfying results, equipment as well as technology should be continuously improved and updated. The most modern design tools should be adopted to maximize the coke production rate also ensuring the best coke quality. In this scenario, Paul Wurth is realizing the new coke making plant of CSPecem, Ceara - Brazil. These batteries are based on Paul Wurth “jumbo oven concept”. This solution incorporates all most modern features and design upgrading, in the aim of an easy and long-lasting operation putting a particular attention to environmental performances: the reduced number of ovens and the low number of pushing per day have the main effect of reducing pollution sources. Finally the paper will highlight Paul Wurth SOPRECO® System, which is foreseen to be installed in CSPecem batteries. SOPRECO®, which is capable of controlling the pressure for each individual oven in a coke oven battery, is thus able to reduce volatile emissions through doors, roofs and stand pipes up to 90%. The coke oven gas (COG) produced during the carbonization process is cleaned in a coke oven gas treatment plant to the level stipulated by applying the Best Available Technology (BAT).

Aug 1, 2018

By Richard Harvey, Robert Paul Mawer

In recent times there has been an increase in the demand from Steel plants for a technology that offers the most economical environmentally sustainable solution. In terms of blast furnace off gas cleaning this has seen a drive towards Cyclone technology replacing the older Dustcatchers. Cyclone technology can achieve dust removal efficiencies as high as 95% increasing the dust yield at the primary stage of gas cleaning. The dry dust (rich in Fe and C) can then be recycled to the Sinter Plant or Blast Furnace. Capture of dust at this stage also has the benefit that sludge generation from the secondary stage is also reduced meaning less waste to landfill and / or recovery of some of the by-products for further use. Primetals Technologies already offer a state of the art Tri-Axial Cyclone installed on many sites world-wide, however, this paper focuses on a hybrid of this technology, the DustClone. The DustClone is a low CAPEX unit that is essentially a Cyclone housed inside the Dustcatcher. This unit is aimed at operators who may be carrying out smaller scaled shutdowns / repairs that normally have a reduced CAPEX. This paper describes the technology that Primetals Technologies have developed.

Oct 1, 2019