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By Delio Amorim

Industry 4.0 concepts is the new biggest challenge on the industry nowadays and every company in every industry in every part of the globe is looking to implement this somehow on their factories and machines. To do that on the newest long rolling mills, that brings already onboard state-of-the-art technologies, is for sure a challenge of machinery builder industry, but how to become the long rolling mills built on 70’s, 80’s or 90’s part of this innovation process and connected to the new trends? This is the main mission here, to show some examples of applications that goes in this direction.

Oct 1, 2019

By Vinicius Cardoso Ottani

Os processos de estampagem de materiais de alta resistência requerem o uso de aços ferramenta de alto desempenho, uma vez que a aplicação de pressões elevadas produz o desgaste acelerado das ferramentas de conformação, e até mesmo a ocorrência de falhas catastróficas e prematuras. Frequentemente, o desgaste de ferramentas é superado pelo aumento da dureza dos punções e matrizes, o que implica na diminuição da tenacidade. Esta estratégia, entretanto, não pode ser aplicada em operações de conformação de alta solicitação em que os componentes devem ser tenazes o suficiente para suportar as cargas elevadas envolvidas. A maior dureza retarda o início das trincas, porém também diminui a tenacidade do material, facilitando sua propagação. Uma dureza mais baixa, por outro lado, propicia maior resistência do material à propagação de trincas pela maior tenacidade, porém facilita sua nucleação. Constata-se então, que a relação dureza e tenacidade em aços ferramenta deve ser aprimorada através de um design microestrutural preciso, no qual ambas as propriedades possam ser melhoradas. O presente estudo buscou avaliar a vida útil de punções e matrizes de aços ferramenta AISI D2 e VF800AT limitada por trincas e lascamentos em processos de estampagem. O VF800AT apresentou resultado satisfatório e contribuiu para um aumento de até cinco vezes da vida útil da ferramenta quando comparada com o aço AISI D2. Os ferramentais empregados nesse trabalho foram também caracterizados em laboratório por meio de microscopia óptica e eletrônica de varredura. O superior desempenho das ferramentas produzidas em aço VF800AT é justificado pela sua superior tenacidade em relação ao AISI D2, devido a uma microestrutura composta de uma matriz de martensita revenida e carbonetos primários em menor fração volumétrica.

Jul 30, 2018

By Piotr Kula

Vacuum carburising with pre-nitriding (PreNitLPC® technology) involves feeding ammonia during the charge heating stage before carburising. The purpose is to restrict the growth of grain in the surface layer of the carburised steel. The article presents the influence of nitrogen on restricting austenite grain growth during vacuum carburising and on mechanical properties (fatigue strength, impact resistance) of layers that underwent such treatment in comparison with traditional carburising methods.

Aug 16, 2017

By D. A. Aranda-Regino, C. Gómez-de-la-Garza, J. Ramírez-Cuellar, L. A. Leduc-Lezama

The Pickling Line Tandem Cold Mill (PLTCM) at Ternium’s Pesqueria plant with a 5 stands, 6 high configuration started in 2013. At the time of the start up the work roll specification and grinding practices were stablished following a low risk policy to be able to sustain any start-up associated accident. Once a stable operation has been achieved both these policies are being modified to improve productivity and reduce costs. The specified hardness of the rolls has been increased and efforts are being made to optimize the grinding according to the rolling campaign length and materials. The fatigue damage in work rolls, after rolling and its removal by grinding was followed by hardness measurements made at the end of the rolling campaign and after grinding. Softening of the rolls after rolling was found mainly in final stands to be related to the averaged stress experienced during the campaign, the original roll hardness was recovered after grinding. Hardness evolution was also followed after each grinding step finding that the total amount of grinding could be reduced. The grinding practice was modified accordingly for the first stands and the yield of work rolls in them has improved.

Oct 1, 2019

By Tiago Salzmann Vilela

No mercado de arames galvanizados destinados a indústria é exigida a uniformidade da camada de zinco sobre o arame. Neste trabalho, foram estudados os efeitos da velocidade de galvanização na uniformidade e espessura da camada de Zinco total, bem como a morfologia das fases de Zn e Ferro-Zinco sobre o substrato metálico. Verificou-se também o efeito do aquecimento após o processo de galvanização, observando o crescimento da camada intermetálica. Finalmente, serão mostradas as principais características de processo obtidas para garantir o atendimento aos ensaios de qualificação, em um estudo de caso de arames galvanizados produzidos em unidade industrial da Gerdau.

Jul 30, 2018

By Jéssica Vicente Luiz, Rayander Martins Pimenta, Everton Pedroza dos Santos

The Hybrid Pelletized Sinter (HPS) is a agglomeration process that involves the combination of conventional sintering and pelletizing techniques and can be used with the purpose of obtaining improvements in the agglomeration stage of iron ore, and one of the great advantages of the process is the use of a wide particle size range of the ore. In this way, the superfines of low-cost ores, which are improper in sintering, can be used in the HPS process for the formation of the quasi-particle. The use of HPS with the sintering plants of the industries presented throughout the study, enabled an increase in productivity, decreased fuel utilization and reduced slag formation in blast furnaces. Thus, the present study aims to present a review of the literature on the Hybrid Pelletized Sinter (HPS) process and its main characteristics, as well as the results obtained by the companies that adopted the process.

Oct 1, 2019

By Eltton de Sousa Veras

Entendendo-se a complexidade e o impacto da etapa de Perfuração e Desmonte de Rochas nos processos unitários subsequentes, foi iniciado um projeto para otimização do planejamento e execução desse processo. Dessa forma, foi desenvolvido um projeto para auxiliar no planejamento e execução das malhas de perfuração utilizando o sistema High Precision Drill System (HP-DS). Foi realizado um levantamento em campo para comprovação dos ganhos potenciais de redução de custo e aumento de produtividade, sendo resultados expressivos do ponto de vista financeiro, operacional e de segurança, possibilitando uma redução potencial de 15,8% (percentual de metragem que não agrega valor) de metros perfurados sem comprometer o grau de fragmentação especificado para as operações unitárias de lavra. A eliminação dessas perdas representaria uma redução potencial de custos na ordem de 20 milhões de reais.

Oct 30, 2017

By Giuseppe Pintaude

This study aims to evaluate the effect of specimen preparation on the dry sliding wear behavior of CA-6 NM stainless steel. Two different surface finishing manufacturing processes were applied: lapping and metallographic polishing. The wear tests were conducted in reciprocating ball-on-flat system, performed for two loads: 5 or 8 N. For all test conditions, hardmetal ball was employed as counterbody. The surfaces were evaluated using 3D interferometry technique to determine their surface roughness, including texture analysis regarding isotropy. Surface characterization results indicated the presence of texturing and preferential orientation, since the parameter Str was smaller than 0.5 for samples of both the studied conditions. Two distinct levels of isotropy evaluated through Str parameter were achieved: 0.13 for lapping and 0.3 for metallographic polishing process. It is clear from wear tests that the variation of average surface roughness is the key point for tribological behavior of CA-6 NM stainless steel.

Jul 31, 2018

By Christoph Aichinger

A smart combination – Primetals Technologies developed the Circular Pelletizing Technology (CPT), which is a combination of the well-proven travelling-grate pelletizing technology with the design of a circular dip rail cooler of modern sinter plants. The overall space requirement and the installed weight for a CPT plant is significantly less compared to conventional technologies and by that CPT is a very attractive alternative for new projects.

Aug 16, 2017

By Edo Engel

Blast furnace No. 3 at Zaporizhstal in Zaporozhye is rebuilt in 2016-2017. The Ukrainian company is targeting increased production and availability, mainly through the use of new technology. Zaporizhstal awarded a contract for a new Top Charging Unit to Danieli Corus, after comparing all available technologies. Reliability of the chosen charging device is pivotal, since long outages may be required for maintenance/replacement jobs, which strongly affects the availability of the blast furnace. This article describes the Top Charging Unit including DANCU (Danieli Charging Unit) - a robust hydraulic system. The main focus employed by Danieli and Danieli Corus during the development of this system has been availability and maintainability of equipment. This chute type charging unit has only few major moving parts, none of which is complex or vulnerable. The article also describes the main challenges of the project at Zaporizhstal, such as the use of hot sinter.

Oct 30, 2017

By Jörg Busch

The essential pre-requisite for attaining the high quality of product required from high-speed continuous production processes is the use of new measurement and control technologies. High availability and reproducible measuring results ensure the high level of process stability necessary for full continuous operation. The requirements for the optimisation of quality across the complete production process and for quality analysis systems will be discussed. This report will present examples of basic and new measurement technologies in Cold Rolling Mills and Processing Lines. The following gauging systems will be discussed in detail: Strip tension meter, roll force measurements, weighing systems and shapemeter rolls. The measuring and control systems in this presentation must be seen as high-tech solutions in the field of processing technology. The measuring methods and technologies described are, together with optimised process models and precision control loops and actuators, the main pre-requisites for achieving the quality of product required from high-speed continuous production processes. Interconnected quality management systems enable optimisation across the complete production process.

Jul 30, 2018

By Martim Hideki Nakayama Kurauchi

One of the main issues regarding the use of charcoal in metallurgical processes is its mechanical strength, which is much lower than coke. There is no defined standard to determine charcoal compression strength, and the methods described in the literature consist in using a prepared specimen and applying compressing load in the same direction of the charcoal fibres. As charcoal is highly anisotropic, it is proposed a procedure that does not use a specimen and with load applied on a specific direction. Instead, it intends to simulate industrial conditions by randomly dumping charcoal inside a tube, without preferential directional arrangement. This is an attempt to determine charcoal mechanical strength and predict the behaviour of bulk charcoal under a static load, as in a blast furnace. Experiments with controlled loads have been carried out on randomly distributed bulk charcoal with controlled initial size and their effect on the size distribution has been analysed. After compression, charcoal is screened and each size is weighed, determining the particle size distribution of the experiment. This method can therefore be used to evaluate charcoal mechanical strength.

Aug 1, 2018

By Bernardo Martins Braga

O curto-circuito é um dos componentes dos modelos de compartimentos utilizados na análise das curvas de Distribuição de Tempos de Residência (DTR) de distribuidores para lingotamento contínuo. Foram identificados na literatura, no entanto, diversos exemplos de seu emprego incorreto. O presente trabalho discute a interpretação física do curto-circuito, as formas de sua quantificação e as consequências nocivas de sua presença sobre a limpidez do aço e o controle da temperatura do aço no molde. Mostra-se que o método de cálculo dos parâmetros dos modelos de compartimentos deve ser alterado caso haja curto-circuito no distribuidor. É constatado que o curto-circuito deve ser evitado durante o projeto de distribuidores destinados à fabricação de aços limpos devido ao risco de perdas metálicas por macroinclusões.

Aug 16, 2017

By Henrique Lacerda Eleutério, Aldo Henrique de Almeida Barbosa, Vicente Tadeu Lopes Buono

The automotive industry’s interest in galvannealed (GA) boron steel for hot forming processes application has been steadily increasing due to its excellent surface quality, galvanic protection provided to the parts, good paint adhesion and better weldability in relation to other coatings for this application. In this study, samples of 22MnB5 galvannealed steel were heat treated and hot stamped on a water cooled die in laboratory scale. The influence of heat treatment on stability of coating and steel was assessed by using initial heating rates 11.0ºC/s and 15.0ºC/s. Microstructural evolution of galvannealed coating and structural integrity of steel during hot forming were investigated by scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy analysis (SEM/EDS/Line scan), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and optical microscopy (OM). It was possible to quantify the Fe-Zn phase evolution during hot forming, to understand the effect of these heating rates on the product properties and to establish an optimized heat treatment for hot forming of these steel. The heat treatment with the heating rate of 15.0ºC/s presented greater operational flexibility and final products free from surface defects or cracks in the substrate.

Oct 1, 2019

By Ivan César Lopes Diniz

Stretcher Reducing Mill (SRM) is a mill used in production of tubes. It is composed with a set 24 of stands responsible to define the final outside diameter (OD) of tubes. External appearance is critical in this process even though this requirement has no effect on mechanical properties. For this reason, an investigation of external longitudinal marks mechanism is in progress using 6 Sigma methodology. This paper is a part of the investigation with focus on the rolls and its mechanical properties. Destructive tests were performed in the rolls and compared with the project. After a detailed investigation, it was concluded that rolls were out of hardness specification and the project was poor of information. A new supplier was developed (internal market) based on the new project and all requirements were achieved as demonstrated in this paper. A monopolistic market for this product in VSB (Vallourec Soluções Tubulares do Brasil) was eliminated. Concerning the effect on the external longitudinal marks, the new rolls developed within hardness range minimized the mechanism of wear on rolls surface and consequently on tubes surface. A collateral effect has been faced, but still better than external longitudinal marks on tubes surface. The quenched and tempered rolls are more sensitive for process variation, mainly linked with cooling system and temperature of tubes (mechanical resistance for deformation). Nevertheless, a new material has been aimed focusing on reduction of rolls breakage with good tenacity and affordable cost.

Oct 4, 2019

By Patrick E. Connell

During the ABM Conference of 2015 the latest design and process features of the new 3-roll RSB® generation were presented together with a unique Size Control System SCS® for a real time closed loop control to produce an extraordinary quality SBQ – day in, day out. In the past two years, Kocks has focused on improving the repeatability of the rolling process and developed technology to enhance the performance of its equipment. These developments include Fast Remote Control (FRC), Stands Adjustable Under Load (AUL) implementation of closed loop Size Control System (SCS), and finally a state of the art laser Gauge (4D Eagle) that pulls all of these developments into a complete package of quality. Gauges used in the past generally operated with the “shadow” measuring system. The latest gauge developments are based on the “light section” method. This method is more suitable to provide real time measurement parameters of the rolled bar. Placed close to the last rolling stand, the “light section” gauge is capable of measuring around the complete diameter with a clear definition of the bar stage in relation to the axes of the rolls. It is also capable of making these measurements using a very high measurement frequency. Following requirements of the market, requiring the highest gauge measuring frequencies which display the bar in the most accurate way even at the highest rolling speeds, the “4D Eagle” gauge was developed. This paper describes all the process features and parameters of this impressive and unique newly developed gauge as well as the other described technical improvements.

Oct 30, 2017

By Johne Jesus Mol Peixoto, Itavahn Alves da Silva, Marina Braga Campos, Carlos Antônio da Silva

A composição, morfologia e distribuição de tamanho das inclusões presentes nos aços têm forte influência sobre propriedades químicas e físicas como fadiga, usinabilidade e resistência à corrosão. Desta forma, melhorar a qualidade do aço implica em aumentar a limpidez do aço líquido [1]. Para tanto são utilizados processos (que apresentam diferentes custos operacionais) como o burbulhamento de gás inerte na panela e o tratamento no desgaseificador a vácuo RH. O presente trabalho apresenta resultados de simulações matemáticas bem como operacionais dos processos de remoção de inclusões através do borbulhamento de gás inerte e do tratamento a vácuo. É feita uma comparação entre as capacidades de remoção de inclusões destes processos, confirmando a maior efetividade do reator RH.

Oct 1, 2019

By André Alexandrino Lotto

A demanda global por energia renovável vem aumentando ao longo dos últimos anos. A energia solar é uma energia limpa e abundante, mas seu uso ainda é limitado por causa dos preços altos e baixa eficiência das células fotovoltaicas. O silício bruto, também chamado de silício de grau metalúrgico, tem sido alvo de muitos estudos visando sua purificação a um nível suficiente para aplicações de energia solar por processos mais baratos do que o processo convencional, chamado Processo Siemens. Neste trabalho, 3 kg de silício de grau metalúrgico foram fundidos por plasma térmico numa atmosfera de vapor de água, hidrogênio e argônio. O teor de boro foi reduzido de 10 ppm para 0,09 ppm em 18.000s (5 horas), mostrando que o processo poderia ser uma alternativa viável ao processo tradicional por via química

Aug 8, 2018

By John Ross Middleton

Based upon 30 years+ experience in the Development, Implementation and Ongoing Support of Computer based Melt Shop Management Systems in about 40 plants in the UK, Europe and the USA, consideration of the overall facilities of a state of the art, comprehensive, Integrated Melt Shop System covering Melting and Secondary processes for all grades of steels and superalloys; the scope of functionality of these systems, covering Raw Materials and Consumables Procurement and Inventory Management, Laboratory Management, Melt Shop Scheduling, Furnace Charge and Additions Optimisation, Level 1.5 to Level 2.5 Materials Optimisation and Process Control Calculations, Process Data Recording, Management of Ladles, Furnace Bodies, Vessels and Moulds, Comprehensive Management Reporting and Integration with Corporate ERP Systems. The second section of the paper reviews the key ‘Success Factors’ to achieve rapid, successful implementation, comprehensive, fast response user support, continuing system improvement and maintaining ‘perfect fit’ of system to operations in an ever changing future technical, operations and business environment.

Jul 29, 2018

By Ulrich Sommers

The Intelligent Furnace (I-Furnace) by SMS group is a smart furnace process and production optimization model. The combination of various tools leads to an optimized heat treatment and production process. It combines a mathematical/physical model to control the furnace with EMG’s IMPOC system for online strength measurement and a newly developed annealing microstructure model to predict material properties. This paper reports about the revamping of an existing galvanizing line, where a mathematical/physical control model has been implemented in combination with an online quality measurement system. This way, the process improvement of continuous galvanizing lines and the quality management of a range of steels including AHSS will be demonstrated. Furthermore, it gives information about the development of the annealing microstructure model to predict material characteristics. Eventually, the I-Furnace will be presented according to the current development and reference status.

Oct 30, 2017