Danieli Wean United

Danieli marked probably a new world record by successfully starting up three slab casters (totalling 5 strands) in one week only, and two of them the very same day.

·       Baosteel No. 4, P.R. of China (December 16).
·       Arcelor Mittal Dunkerque CC23, France (December 19).
·       Stomana, Bulgaria (December 22).

· Baosteel No. 4: It represents the most performing caster in whole Baosteel and will further enhance the leadership of the company not only within China, but also worldwide. Worth to mention that the successful startup of the slab caster comes with more than four months in ahead of schedule. Up to now, 60 heats have been cast totalling 18,000 tons.

· Dunkerque CC23: it is the first caster to be substantially renovated converting an existing curved slab caster into state of the art vertical curved design (total demolition of existing machine and replacement with new equipment from mould to cutting machine) in the frame of an ambitious project of renovation of all Dunkerque slab casters that will bring the site further competitiveness with substantial product quality improvements (mainly for automotive applications), maintenance-free solutions and production cost reduction. The complete project includes also already scheduled similar revamping of CC22 and CC21 casters, as well as other important intervention in the BF and meltshop areas.

The startup of the new caster has been practically flawless, already exceeding the contractual performances for production ramp-up (20 heats per day) on Dec 28, having cast 23 heats in 24 hours after 12 days only from first heat: half of the time contractually foreseen for this production milestone.

· Stomana: This revamp has been performed inside an old plant, with the usual normal difficulties caused by such an environment. Nonetheless, everything went smoothly for the said successful startup. On Dec 23 7 heats have been cast and further 8 heats on Dec 24.

Starting-up three casters almost at the same time in three different locations demonstrate the strength and capability of an organization that is in fact leader in this technology the worldwide.

Obviously, this success wouldn’t be possible without the continuous and precious cooperation with our customers, to whom all our grateful thanks must go.

Once again APM chooses Danieli Wean United!
IMSA – APM Division, Mexico, has awarded Danieli Wean United, with the Upgrading of its 4-Stand Tandem Mill for the works in Monterrey, N.L.

The revamped mill will be transformed from Coil-to-Coil mode of operation to Fully Continuous mode, increasing the production from 720,000 to 1,300,000 tpy.

A fully automated new entry section will be mounted upstream of the existing mill, while the exit mill section will be totally replaced by a high speed flying shear and N°2 tension reels.

An new inspection station will be designed for in-line strip inspection.
The revamped mill will already become operational in less than 20 months.

Major order for Danieli Davy Distington in China
On October 19, 2006, Shougang Jingtang Iron & Steel United Co. Ltd. ( P.R. of China) awarded Danieli Davy Distington, the Danieli Product Line in charge of design of slab casters, the order for the new slab production complex to be installed in Caofeidian area.

This order involves the installation of 2 new two-strand machines, designed for an overall production exceeding 7 Mtpy of qualified slabs.

The product mix covers slabs of 230 to 250 mm in thickness and ranging from 1,100 to 2,150 mm in width.
The grades to be produced include a wide mix for both HR and CR coil applications, ranging from IF grades for deep drawing applications, to carbon grades (from low to high C) Dual Phase, Trip Steels, pipe grades up to X100, and HSLA steels.

The state-of-the-art machines are vertical-curved casters with 9.5 main radius and continuous bending and unbending roll diagram.

Danieli qualifying technologies such as INMO mould, Dynamic Soft Reduction and OPTIMUM segments define these machines as among the most advanced casters in the world with outstanding quality and productivity performances, designed with a supported length of more than 43.5 m for a maximum casting speed exceeding 2.3 mpm in full quality.

This last order confirms the leading position of Danieli Davy Distington as slab caster supplier, as testified by the orders for 25 casting strands received in the last 22 months.

Among other qualifying orders in China, this is the second "jumbo" casting complex recently awarded to Danieli, after the Handan project designed for a total production exceeding 5 Mtpy of slabs, presently under engineering phase.

For further info please contact Mr C.P. Piemonte, Director, Sales - Tel +39 0432 597118 - e-mail c.piemonte@danieli.it

Hot Dip Galvanising Line Tianjin Tiantie Metallurgical Steel Plate, P.R. of China

On 24 June Danieli Wean United signed the contract for a new continuous hot dip galvanising line for the Tianjin Tiantie Metallurgical Steel Plate Co. Ltd.

The line will process 320,000 tpy of cold rolled material grades, CQ, DQ, DDQ, and HSS.
The line includes the facilities for coating the strip with either Zinc or 55% Aluminium 45% Zinc alloy and in order to facilitate this requirement there are 2 exchangeable coating pots and a further pre-melt pot for the Al / Zn alloy.

The product is from 0.25 to 1.6 mm gauge and 700 to 1250 mm wide. The line entry is designed to process coils over 30 t and the exit is configured to produce coils down to 3 t minimum size but with 5 t minimum continuous running.

Two Danieli Wean United galvanising lines for Changshu Everbright Material Technology, P.R. of China

On June 30, 200630 June Danieli Wean United signed the contract for two new continuous Hot Dip Galvanising Lines for the Changshu Everbright Material Technology Co., Ltd.

The HDGL No. 2 will process Galvanize (Gl), and Galvalume (GL), while HDGL No. 3 will process Galvanize (Gl), and Galfan (GF).

DME (Danieli Metallurgical Equipment Beijing Co.) was awarded the contract for the local supply of this project, confirming Danieli’s ability to supply complete packages.

For both HDGL No. 2 and HDGL No. 3 the 300,000 tpy production is from 0.2 to 2.3 mm gauge and up to 1550 mm wide of SQ, FH, CQ, DQ, DDQ, and EDDQ. The line entry is designed to process coils over 30 t and the exit is configured to produce coils down to 5 t minimum size.

Danieli Fröhling milling technology for Chinalco, China

In summer 2006, Chinalco Daye Copper Plate & Strip Co. Ltd. awarded the order for design, manufacturing, supply and commissioning of a continuous milling line as part of a completely new copper strip p rod uction complex to be installed in the Hubei province.

Danieli Fröhling’s milling lines are characterized by their high milling accuracy, as well as their solid design that prevents any kind of vibrations that might influence the product tolerances.

For an optimized milling result, the strip coming from the decoiler is straightened in a nine-roll-leveler. Strip width and thickness are controlled by means of different gauges along the line, enabling two different milling modes to be applied: milling at constant depth, or milling at constant final width.

This allows the operators to adjust the milling results according to their special applications and requirements.
Top and bottom surface milling machines feature HSS tools, while the edge milling machine features tungsten carbide milling tools.

Top and bottom milling units are divided into two machine bodies to improve the vibration behaviour and to optimally guide the strip during machining.

All three milling units are located in a noise-protected cabin
and the chips resulting from the milling process will be sucked and transported to a separator cyclone via a piping system.

A complete electrical and automation equipment up to Level 2 will also be part of the supply.
A challenging delivery schedule calls for the supply of the line within 11 months.
Thickness accuracy of less than ±0.1 mm and width accuracy of closer than ±0.5 mm at best achievable surface roughness will be the basis for optimum marketing of finished material.

Second slab caster revamping at Arcelor Dunkerque, France

Arcelor gave Danieli the green light to execute phase 2 of the project for the complete modernization of its existing slab casters at Sollac Atlantique Dunkerque.

In March 2004, Arcelor awarded Danieli the order for the complete modernization of all slab caster in operation at Dunkerque (Northern France), one of the largest European steel producing sites and the leading European producer of steel for automotive applications.

The overall project, called “the meltshop of the Future”, will be implemented in three phases, one per year and each involving the complete rebuilt of a two-strand slab caster. (For details, refer to DaNews No.142).

Phase 1 of the project, presently in advanced phase of equipment manufacturing, involved the complete rebuild of slab caster CC23 in order to convert the original curved design to a state-of-the-art, vertical curved design.

Phase 3, to be implemented during 2007, will involve the same modification on caster CC21.
Phase 2, which received the green light from Arcelor in May 2006, involves a complete rebuild of the two-strand slab caster CC22.

All of the machine's main technological equipment will be completely rebuilt from segment 0 to the last segment, keeping the existing curved geometry with main radius of 10.5 m.

This machine will be mainly dedicated to the production of high-carbon and high-alloy grades, typically for plate applications: for this reason a curved design has been selected in order to reduce the mechanical stresses on the slabs during solidification.

The main goals of the project of the rebuilt of caster CC22 are:
- Increased casting speed, thanks to an increased containment length up to 30.8 m.
- Reduced caster production downtimes, to be achieved through a fully segmented design; the application of top-feeding dummy bar practice instead of the current bottom-feeding approach; and the installation of a robot-type segment manipulator for automatic segment replacement.

Danieli's scope of work mainly includes:
- All new OPTIMUM-type segments, specifically designed for the application of Dynamic Soft Reduction process. Optimized strand support will be guaranteed by proper small roll diameter and pitch, allowed by periferically driven rolls (PDR type) with multiple span.

- New “bananas” and segment supporting structures.
- Top-feeding dummy bar system.
- Segment manipulator.
- Relevant maintenance stands.

CC22 Caster main data after revamping:

Machine type    two-strand curved machine; 10.5 m main radius
Heat size       270 t
Dummy bar handling      Top feeding
Segment extraction      by robotized segment manipulator
Roll diagram    with split rolls and multi-point unbending design
Metallurgical length    30.810 mm
Slab thickness 247 mm (cold)
Slab width      890 to 1890 mm
Secondary cooling       air-mist type and width adjustment, controlled by dynamic mathematical model.
Casting process Provision for Dynamic Soft Reduction based on Liquid Pool Prediction mathematical model.

2nd fTSC caster at Tonghua, P.R. of China

It is the sixth Danieli fTSC thin slab casting strand supplied in P.R. China.
Tonghua Iron and Steel Group Co Ltd. placed a contract with Danieli for the second casting strand for its Ultra Thin Strip Production line, to be installed in Tonghua City plant (Jilin Province).

The order refers to the supply of the second thin slab casting facility to be installed beside the first casting line awarded to Danieli in December 2004, and presently in the advanced commissioning stage.

The startup of the second caster is scheduled within 16 months from the contract placement.
After the successful and flawless startup of the first strand, the customer decided to proceed with “phase 2” of the project, involving the second line in order to reach as soon as possible the target production of 2.5 Mtpy of high-quality coils and, consequently, take maximum advantage of the booming flat products market in China.

As part of the contract for the second casting line, the customer also ordered from Danieli the modifications to increase the metallurgical length and slab thickness of No. 1 line. Both lines will in fact produce slabs of a variable thickness up to 85 mm.

Caster No. 1 was originally conceived to produce slabs up to 70 mm in thickness, but already designed to allow such increase in product size.

The specific vertical curved design of the Danieli caster is already designed to allow expansion of metallurgical length and increase of slab thickness just by modifying the narrow-side plates in the mould and adding a supplementary horizontal segment.

This feature, common to all casters Danieli supplied recently to the Chinese market, allows multiple advantages related both to higher flexibility in product mix and to improved coil quality.

Namely, it ensures both very high outputs (exceeding 3 Mtpy, according product mix), hence a globally faster return on investment, and superior strip quality given by rolling thicker slabs.

This is particularly beneficial for the production of high-quality steels, such as Si-steels, specifically included in this second phase of Tonghua product mix.

Caster main data:
Slab thickness at the mould exit:       85-105 mm
Slab thickness after soft reduction:    65 to 85 mm
Slab width:     from 900 to 1560 mm
Steel grades:   Low, medium, high-C, Peritectic, Low alloy, Low, medium and high-Si
Caster productivity (line1&2)   2,500,000 tpy

Final Acceptance Certificate at Benxi, P.R. of China
The FAC for both Thin Slab Casting strands was successfully achieved on May 9, 2006, with the full customer satisfaction.

At Benxi (Liaoning Province) the Danieli Thin Slab Caster proved again its capability to cast at high speeds as well as an excellent flexibility and easy maintenance.

The overall success was obtained by the outstanding teamwork of both Danieli and Benxi Project Teams.
The plant is designed for a maximum yearly output of 2.8 Mt, producing a wide range of carbon steels (ultra-low, extra-low, low, medium and high), peritectic steel, HSLA, and Si-steel grades.

The plant already reached a remarkable monthly production trend. In March 2006, 204,938 t of slabs were produced, as compared with a programmed target of 200,000 t.

Slab width and thickness will range from 850 to 1750 mm, and 90 to 85 (70) mm, respectively.
The caster design, thanks to the Dynamic Soft Reduction -a cornerstone of the Danieli TSC technology- allows for a higher reduction rate in the rolling mill, and therefore is the ideal approach for producing high-quality coils for automotive applications through the thin slab process route.

This caster configuration, coupled with a two-stand rougher and a five-stand finishing mill, like the plants Danieli supplied to Benxi, Tangshan and Tonghua, allows Customers to target additional and more profitable markets for their HRC (ultra-thin strips markets and automotive applications -which require high reduction rates) compared to grades and gauges commonly produced through the traditional thin slab process.

HSM in full production at Tangshan Guofeng. P.R. of China
Full plant productivity was reached just two months after startup

March production output was in excess of 60,000 t, including thin coil production down to 2.0 mm.
Expected production for April is 80,000 t, representing the full plant capacity with only one slab reheating furnace in operation. The full plant is designed for a capacity of 2 Mtpy with two furnaces.

During April the plant performed its first production record with 167 coils of low-carbon grades rolled in a single day for a total of 3180 t, with a minimum strip thickness of 1.6 mm by 1010 mm wide.

Plant production started on January 24, 2006, when the first slab was processed and successfully coiled. The first HRC of carbon steel (Q215 grade) was coiled with a final thickness of 8 mm starting from a slab of 135 mm x 1000 mm x 8 m.

Smooth plate mill production ramp-up at Anyang, P.R. of China

Since October 2005 the combination wide plate/Steckel facility of Anyang, has been processing slabs through the reversing Steckel-type rolling stand and the finishing plate area, equipped with hot leveller, disk-type double-side trimming shear and dividing shear.

In April, the mill rolled over 87,000 t, close to the nominal plant throughput capacity, with plate thickness ranging from 50 to 10 mm.

The minimum thickness achieved with Steckel furnaces operation is 8 mm, in the forthcoming weeks production scheduled plan aims to reduce final thickness down to the target value of 4.5 mm.

In the first three weeks of May, the mill has constantly produced well over 3000 t per day, totalling more than 66,200 tons in 21 days.

New cold rolling mill at JSC Kirov, Russia

In March 2006, JSC Kirov Non-ferrous Metal Processing Plant awarded to Danieli Fröhling the order for the supply of a new cold rolling mill for copper and copper alloys.

This order further confirms the leadership of Danieli Fröhling in non-ferrous metal technology, which counts more than 280 rolling mills designed and installed worldwide.

Main mill characteristics:
Mill dimension ø 650/160 x 710 mm
Strip width     300 - 650 mm
Thickness       3.0 - 0.025 mm
Maximum rolling speed   800 m/min
Roll separating force   5,000 kN

By further development with the know how of Danieli Fröhling, the proven quarto rolling mill technology now will reach a final thickness of 25 µm. The delivery consists of downcoiler, strip-guiding systems, flatness and thickness measurement systems, recoiler, paper coiler, belt wrapper, all associated media systems, and the automation system, supplied by Danieli Automation.

For a further enhancement of product quality, additional actuators for the flatness control will be implemented. These concern the positive and negative bending of work rolls combined with a sophisticated selective cooling system.

The new diagonal arrangement of bending blocks will allow an exact and symmetric distribution of bending torque toward the work rolls and bearing arrangements.

Danieli Automation will develop and supply the complete electric and automation systems. The line will be equipped with DC drives of a total installed power of 1400 kW. The Level 1 system provides mill sequences and basic functions, drives and motor control. HMI operator workstations are running under Windows technology with a market SCADA package.

Danieli’s HiPAC® integrated high-speed real-time control system comprises a set of controls and compensation functions for strip thickness control to ensure the highest quality product targets, with position and force control loops for the hydraulic gap positioning; state-of-the-art mass flow control; speed tension control for light gauge applications; roll friction compensation; and bending force compensation.

An Automatic Flatness Control (AFC) package will be supplied, actuating on work roll bending, tilting, and selective cooling. The control system is based on an extended Least Mean Square algorithm for a perfect assignment of shape errors to the mechanical actuators of the rolling mill. In addition, the HiPAC flatness control concept comprises several features like advanced force feed-forward, coolant recovery, and coolant support.

New strip galvanizing line to E-United Group, P.R. China

Following the success of the hot skin-pass mill already supplied to E-United Group for their subsidiary LISCO in China, on February 16, 2006, Danieli was awarded the order from the same organization for a new hot dip galvanizing line to be installed at Sino Leading Co. Ltd., Jiangsu province.

The new line will incorporate a complete Danieli package: Danieli Wean United terminals, Danieli Centro Combustion furnace, and Danieli Automation electrical, automation, and process control system.

The continuous galvanizing line is designed for a throughput of 300,000 tpy. The new line will process low-carbon steel (as cold rolled) and HSLA steel strip. The final products will be galvanized and Galvalume.

The line will process 0.2 to 1.6 mm thick, 762 to 1,550 mm wide strips at maximum process and entry/exit speeds of 200 and 275 mpm, respectively. Maximum coil weight processed will be 25 t.

The line includes an entry and exit section with vertical accumulators. The exit section incorporates a Danieli Wean United 4-high skin-passmill coupled with a Danieli Wean United tension leveler.

A provision has been made for a vertical cleaning section to be installed after the entry looper.
The process area includes a vertical annealing furnace with recuperative, direct-fired, and radiant-tube sections, and a pot area with Danieli Kohler air-knife modifications for both galvanized and Galvalume products.

A chemical coating section is included in the exit section in order to apply the requested surface coatings, with provision for further expansion for multiple coaters.

Danieli Automation will develop and supply electrical, automation and process control systems in order to allow the commissioning of the line in the final quarter of 2007.

Arcelor chooses Danieli again: the 4^th slab caster in France awarded to Danieli in 10 months

At the beginning of 2006, Arcelor Group awarded Danieli Davy Distington the order for the complete modernization of the slab caster No. 1 at Sollac Méditerranée, at Fos-sur-Mer.

This major order follows the one Arcelor awarded to Danieli in April 2005 for the conversion of the three two-strand slab casters in Dunkerque, presently under advanced execution stage, and confirms the successful relationship established between Arcelor Group and Danieli.

The Fos-sur-Mer contract foresees the transformation of the existing two-strand, curved slab caster into a state-of-the-art vertical curved machine, with the application of all Danieli Davy Distington cutting edge casting technologies.

Practically, only ladle turret, tundish car equipment and casting floor structures will be re-used unchanged.

the complete dismantling of the existing caster,

the modification to civil works and to auxiliary systems based on the needs of the new machine,

the installation of the new two-strand vertical curved machine,

the modification of the slab discharge areas and maintenance areas,

the installation of completely new electric and automation systems.

Based on the previous experience of the revamping of slab caster No. 2 in the same plant, the Customer specifically selected the complete revamping of the machine, not a “top-end revamping only”.

The existing machine is a curved design caster with 12.2-m radius and 33.4-m metallurgical length.

It adopts a bottom-feeding dummy bar system, mechanical oscillator, and extraction of segments by crane for maintenance purposes.

The new caster will be a vertical curved machine, with a vertical length exceeding 2.6 meters, main radius of 9.3 meters and a metallurgical length of about 36.2 meters.

Top-feeding dummy bar system, hydraulic oscillator and robot-type segment manipulator will be adopted.

Main project targets are the increase of plant availability and the reduction of non-productive time, as well as a substantial improvement of slab internal and external quality.

The top-feeding system, segment manipulator, high-performance equipment and maintenance free-oriented design, together with increased supported length designed for casting speeds up to 2 mpm, will enable an increase of plant productivity of about 10%, up to 2.7 Mtpy of qualified slabs.

The product mix includes an extremely wide range of steels, from IF grades for automotive applications to micro-alloyed steel (including X70 for pipe applications), medium C, high-C and high-Si grades.

For this reason, the new roll diagram has been specifically designed to guarantee both the advantages of the vertical design for internal quality (of paramount importance for IF grades) and superior slab surface quality, namely for crack sensitive, microalloyed, high-C and high-Si grades.

Danieli Automation will develop and supply the complete electric and automation systems, including level 1 and level 2 control architecture.

The conversion of the machine will be executed during the main plant shutdown scheduled in the second half of 2007, timed to coincide with a blast furnace modernization: just 78 days are foreseen between the last cast of the old machine and the first cast of the new one.

This challenging time schedule has been developed in co-operation with the Arcelor team, as well as on Danieli's successful experiences with similar large-scale caster conversion projects already accomplished in Posco, Korea, and ThyssenKruppStahl, Germany.

The project includes two new two-strand casters to be installed in Hangang’s new facility in Hebei Province, and represents the largest Chinese contract for slab casters awarded to date to Danieli.

The contract awarded in January 2006 refers to the supply of two new casters (four strands in total) designed for a production of 5.2 Mtpy of qualified slabs in ULC, LC, MC, peritectic and HC steels, micro-alloy grades (also for pipe applications), steels for automotive applications, dual-phase, and trip steels.

The two machines are of the state-of-the-art vertical curved type, with over 2.6-m vertical length, 9.5-m main radius, and roll diagram with continuous bending/undending design.

The containment length of about 40 m will enable a maximum casting speed exceeding 2 mpm.

The machines, fed by 270 to 300-t heat size ladles, will produce slabs up to 47 t in weight, 230 and 250 mm in thickness, 900 to 2150 mm in width.

Danieli Davy Distington has been selected for this major contract thanks to the advanced technological solutions proposed and adopted in the plant, such as:

- INMO mould and integrated hydraulic oscillator, designed to incorporate electromagnetic flow control equipment;

- Advanced breakout and sticking prevention system, with full thermal mapping of the mould;

- Air-mist secondary cooling, dynamically controlled by a mathematical model of the solidification process;

-Continuous bending and unbending roll diagram, designed to minimize the stress on the slab during the solidification process.

Danieli is in charge of the design of the whole casting plant, including maintenance facilities, discharging and slab handling areas, the latter conceived to handle the slabs coming from the four casting strands and to allow hot charging to the downstream hot strip mill.

Danieli Automation will development and supply the automation and process control systems, up to level 2, including the application of mathematical models for the control of the process.

Plant design will be carried out in co-operation with CERI, the local design institute, with the target of casting the first slabs within 20 months of the contract initiation date.

The order marks the continuation of the excellent relationship established with Baotou Group since October 2003, with the signing of the order for a temper mill that was then started up only 20 months later.

On January 20, 2006, Danieli was awarded by Baotou Iron & Steel Co Ltd (P.R.China) the order for the new conventional slab caster for its new plate mill facility in Baotou City (Inner Mongolia).

The caster is designed to produce over 1.5 Mtpy of qualified slabs ranging from 200, 250 and 300 mm in thickness, 1200 to 2300 mm in width, 2400 to 7400 mm in length.

The product mix includes plate grades ranging from carbon steels to HSLA, pipeline (up to X80) grades, as well as steels for shipbuilding, boiler, pressure container, automotive beam, bridge, and weather-resistant applications.

The startup of the caster is scheduled within 17.5 months from contract signing.

Danieli INMO mould technology, with cassette design, allows to dramatically reduce the number of exchange parts typically associated with casting different slab thicknesses, enabling a significant reduction in capital investment and associated running costs.

In combination with the patented Danieli “rolling element” mould guidance system, it allows high flexibility in product mix and superior slab quality.

As for the roll geometry, the strict quality restrictions given by plate grades to be cast led to the adoption of reduced roll diameter -and smaller roll pitches- thanks to multiple split rollers designed to ensure segments rigidity.

This solution will limit slab bulging and optimize center-line quality while reducing the bulging strains and giving a more stable mould level.

The single-strand caster is a vertical curved machine, with a vertical length of 2.6 m, 9.5-m main radius and about 40 m of containment length.

Main process features include hydraulic oscillation, dynamic soft reduction, continuous bending/unbending roll diagram, adaptive air-mist secondary cooling, and top-feeding dummy bar system.

The caster is fully equipped with Danieli technological packages that ensure top quality, such as:

INMO mould, integrated with hydraulic oscillator.

Latest generation of "OPTIMUM" segments for soft reduction practice.

Advanced breakout and sticking prevention system.

In-line dynamic control of slab width and oscillating parameters.

Level 1 and level 2 Danieli Automation control architecture with mathematical models of steel solidification, and liquid pool position calculation in order to optimize dynamic soft reduction and slab cooling operations.

The plant includes complete downstream equipment, such as a double cutting station, deburring, marking, and slab handling facilities to allow hot charging to the plate mill.

The project was completed within the contract schedule thanks to the joint and full commitment among the Tangshan Goufeng and Danieli teams.

On January 24^th 2006, the first Hot Rolled Coil was processed and successfully coiled through the new Danieli Wean United conventional hot strip mill located in Tangshan City.

The first HRC of carbon steel (Q215 grade) was coiled with a final thickness of 8 mm, starting from a slab of 135 x 1000 mm x 8000 mm.

The 2-Mtpy state-of-the-art facility will produce mainly carbon steel (35%), high-quality carbon steel (55%), and low-alloy steel (10%), and is basically made up of slab descaler; four-high reversing roughing stand with attached vertical edger; hot coil box; rotary drum shear; water descaler; six four-high finishing stands; cooling section (U-tube type); two downcoilers; and a coil conveyor line.

The mill features the most modern Danieli technological packages (edger with HWAC; HAGC; positive bending; WR shifting; RTC-Roll Thermal Crown control system; Shaped Roll technology -to improve the flatness control capability- and further testifies to the formidability of Danieli Wean United in the Chinese market and worldwide.

Incoming slab
Thickness (mm) 135     mm
Width (mm)      600 - 1300      mm
Length (mm)     15,600 mm
Max weight (t) 21      ton

Finished product
Thickness (mm) 1.2 - 12.7      mm
Coil OD (mm)    762     mm
Coil ID (max) (mm)      1850    mm
Specific coil weight    16      kg/mm

With monthly production exceeding 272,300 t of slabs in December 2005, Tangshan Iron and Steel Group Co. Ltd. established an historic new milestone in steelmaking production using a Thin Slab Casting and rolling plant.

During 2005, overall plant production was 3,011,230 t of coils, passing the threshold of the 3 Mtpy for the first time.

Two Danieli fTSC (flexible Thin Slab Casters) have been in operation at TISCO UTSP (Ultra Thin Strip Production) since 2003 and, since the beginning, have set new world standards in terms of plant productivity, product quality, and equipment reliability.

This revamping will be a strategic project for Beta Steel Corporation to increase the quality and the weight of coils produced, l to make it one of the first-class strip producers in USA.

According to the contract signed on November 17, 2005, Danieli Wean United will carry out the complete revamp of the Hot Strip Mill in Portage, Indiana, USA.

The revamping follows the coil box installation already supplied by Danieli in 2000.

Danieli will supply the new mechanical and hydraulic equipment, as well as the related electricals and the L1/L2 automation and process control system.

A new slab discharging machine will be installed at exit side of the existing reheating furnace, while the descaling system will be completely upgraded to ensure a superior strip surface quality (new descaler boxes will installed at furnace exit, on board the rougher and at finishing mill entry).

A new crop shear before the finishing mill will replace the existing one, to increase the cutting capability for API grade production.

A quick automatic WR change system on the finishing mill will allow a remarkable increase in production operating time.

The existing water wall strip-cooling section will be replaced by a new system, able to control the sophisticated cooling pattern required by API grades.

The existing second downcoiler will be replaced by a new unit, able to coil higher-strength and thicker material with a significant increasing in coil weight.

New, horizontal-axes coil handling (including coil inspection, strapping, weighing and marking facilities) also will be installed to avoid coil tilting and edge damage, and to facilitate the final processing of coils before shipping.

The revamping will be done during two mill shutdowns, and will be completed by the end of 2006.

The first pickled and rolled coils were produced at the Unicoil cold mill complex in December 2005.

Throughout January and February 2006, hot commissioning activities were targeted at producing at least 5000 tons of pickled and subsequently rolled coils to be able to start hot commissioning on the continuous galvanizing line in a continuous way during the second half of February 2006.

Hot commissioning activities are expected to be completed by April 2006, and production shall proceed on a regular basis thence forth.

The mill is a Single-Stand reversing mill using Danieli Wean United well-proven four-high mill technology. The mill stand is rated for 2,000-t roll separating force and is equipped with top-mounted HAGC cylinders; bottom-mounted wedges for automatic pass line adjustment; movable E-type bending blocks to accommodate WR bending and balancing cylinders, and to allow the shifting of the WR cylinders; and an automatic quick change system for WR.

Shapemeter rolls are mounted on both sides of the mill. The shapemeter rolls are connected to a closed-loop flatness control that actuates WR bending, tilting and selective cooling headers. The selective cooling headers will be mainly used to correct localized shape errors.

These characteristic features of a cold reversing mill, together with a surface conditiong mill and tension leveling on the galvanizing line, will enable Unicoil to produce galvanized coils suitable for the painting line presently in use at the same site. Part of the production also will be sold directly to the market.

For further information please contact Mr Giorgio Ximeris at Danieli Wean United Tel +39 0432 598018 E-mail g.ximeris@danieli.it

Danieli Fröhling will supply Aluminium Norf, the world's largest aluminium rolling and remelt plant, with a trimming shear and an associated scrap cutter to be installed in a hot rolling mill. These shears will replace existing equipment and ensure reliable trimming of high-quality Al-alloy strips. The design is based on a similar shear supplied to the same customer some years ago, but with different technical data and tailor-made for the actual difficult space requirements. Al-alloys of different grades will be cut at speeds of up to 720 mpm in thicknesses ranging between 1.0 and 8.0 mm.

The shear will be assembled and no-load tested alongside the existing line still in operation. During a subsequent short mill shutdown, part of the existing equipment will be removed and partially adapted, and the new shear shall be installed and put in operation. Close cooperation between the customer’s specialists and Danieli Fröhling’s design department and project team will be the pre-condition for a timely and successful order execution.

The high-precision line has successfully passed no-load tests and first strips slitting

Currently, the first coils have been tested and the load-test phase is in full swing. The close cooperation established between Danieli Fröhling, Yuncheng, and the local manufacturer ensured the timely startup of the new line. Electrical equipment, which had been supplied by Danieli Automation, is being fine-tuned now and the first slitting operations have been executed, already with good results.

The line will process 1400-mm-wide aluminium and aluminium alloy strips (mainly heat exchanger material) with thicknesses ranging from 0.05 to 0.4 mm at a speed from 0 to 800 mpm. It is one of the core elements of Yuncheng’s brand new production facilities in Shanghai. The high-tech solutions adopted (e.g the high-precision CNC slitter head) will ensure compliance with the strict tolerances required on the slit product as regards burr height and cutting width.

A similar line was delivered by Danieli Fröhling in Sweden some years ago, and since then has been working successfully for the customer’s full satisfaction.

The best references and the sound technical solutions enabled Danieli Fröhling to bid successfully

A technologically-ambitious, modern slitting line will be installed in a European facility of Alcoa, the world’s largest aluminium producer.

The line will mainly include a coil storage area with spool handling; a payoff reel; entry guides allowing nearly tension-free cuts by the slitter, to ensure both increased lifetime of shear knives and highest cutting quality; Danieli Fröhling’s CNC slitting shears and automatic loop control, and correction functions; and a double loop builder to increase the looping pit capacity.

Braking before recoiling is made possible by an advanced vacuum roll technology that ensures the smoothest possible strip handling to avoid scratches on sensitive surfaces. Recoiling and slit strip coil handling and storage will complete the line.

Alcoa gave great importance to the reduction of stoppage times and to the reliability of operation for maximizing production output. Short coil handling and threading times are essential, and the automation system shall ensure adjustment procedures according to certain stored recipes for different products to be processed.

Moreover, the line will be designed and constructed according to TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) regulations, which results in major advantages, such as:

· Line operators solve the majority of maintenance works by themselves, leading to fewer delays and stoppages, and to an increased operators’ know-how;

· Reduction of time needed for cleaning, checking and lubricating the equipment;

· Better identification of operators with “their” machine, and improved understanding of operational behaviour.

Further to the supply of mechanical, electrical and automation equipment, Danieli Fröhling also will carry out the complete erection and commissioning works.

For further info please contact Mr Detlef Neumann, Director, Sales Tel. +49-2761-894 222