Search Documents

By Patrick Edward Connell

The next generation of the well-established 3-roll Reducing & Sizing Block (RSB), the RSB SCS® is the latest milestone in reducing and sizing technology for SBQ products. It offers enhanced bar quality, improved productivity, mill availability and economy as well as a simplified, safe and environmentally friendly operation. A newly developed modular drive concept of the RSB SCS® grants a smaller footprint in the layout, a reduced oil-lubrication volume and a simplified maintenance schedule. Intelligent engineering leads furthermore to reduced hydraulic functions of the RSB SCS®, which ensures a safe and environmentally friendly rolling. Another integral part of the RSB SCS® is an innovative stand changing concept, which allows automatic stand changing within three minutes. The new RSB SCS® also includes a Fast Remote Control (FRC) which enables the immediate adjustment of the roll gap against the rolling force (under load) within milliseconds. Size changes along the free-size range can also be made within the traditional billet gaps in less than five seconds. At the core of the future-oriented RSB SCS® is a real-time closed-loop control system called Size Control System (SCS®) acting with 3-roll stands adjustable under load (AUL) and / or the heavy duty stands. These features remarkably further improve the rolled tolerances and their reproducibility, and at the same time simplify the operation by means of an automated optimization of the process parameters for the rolled bars.

Aug 16, 2017

By Samuel F. Rodrigues, Clodualdo Aranas Jr., Fulvio Siciliano

The application of thermo-mechanical control processing (TMCP) in hot rolling of steels has become a common routine since the last 60 years. The understanding of the physical metallurgy behind TMCP played a major role in the early developments. Physical and numerical simulation works are performed firstly to derive the fundamental metallurgical knowledge and secondly to conceive existing TMCP practices. In this paper, a summary TMCP techniques is presented. The occurrence of dynamic transformation of ferrite in the austenite region is shown by means of synchrotron light diffraction methods. This phase transformation mechanism is taken into consideration and its effects on TMCP are proposed in an exploratory way.

Oct 1, 2019

By Gabriel Oliveira Glória

In the context of changing culture, the society is increasingly looking for environmentally friendly materials, the natural fibers appear as an option to substitute the synthetic. Among these natural fibers, the PALF fiber may be considered an option, but there is limited information about the flexural strength of epoxy composites incorporated with PALF fibers. Therefore, the objective of this work was to investigate the mechanical properties in bending tests of epoxy composites incorporated with up to 30% in volume of PALF fibers. The results showed that the PALF fiber increase the flexural strength of polymer composites.

Aug 16, 2017

By Tiago Seixas Bittencourt

Technological developments, associated with the constant worry about the environmental impacts arising from industrial activity, it has driven the development of technologies and practices for efficient fumes and particulates capture arising from the manufacturing processes of steel in steel plants in general. Currently, the electric steelshops in operation with Electric Arc Furnaces (EAF), seek parameterize/design dedusting systems able to retain most of the particulates generated during melting and refining of steel in FEA through configurations of equipment, technologies and parameters operation in order to equalize the antagonistic relationship between effective fumes capture and energy balance of the EAF. The present work gets as a fundamental premise to evaluate critically the possible different settings of the usual dust removal systems, as well as their respective classical parameterizations. The work main purpose is to establish a general rule evaluation technique for dedusting system considering the different modes of operation of an Electric Arc Furnace.

Jul 30, 2018

By Thomas Germershausen

Worldwide BOF-based steel plants are faced with demanding environmental requests and rising energy costs. For cleaning of primary gases from the BOF the scrubbing technology is worldwide adapted. For wet-scrubbers there is a direct relation between pressure loss and achievable clean gas dust content. Subsequently main energy consumers within Gas Cleaning Plants are the driving fans. To evaluate actual performance and to identify optimization measures extensive field measurements at existing Gas Cleaning Plants were performed. The operational results from various BOF plants worldwide will be presented and benchmarked. As a conclusion, advanced control strategies for reduced energy consumption and lower environmental impact were developed and implemented.

Jul 30, 2018

By Chad Byron Donovan

There is a strong need in North America and other major steel producing markets where major capital investment in new equipment has been minimal over the past several years to make improvements to existing casting machines. In many cases, very cost effective improvements can be made to existing equipment in order to maximize the efficiency and production of an older designed continuous caster, a classic caster. SMS Group and its predecessor companies have been maintaining continuous casting molds for over forty years. This experience has allowed SMS Group to intimately understand the advantages and disadvantages of each design. The most vital component of the continuous caster is the mold copper design, as it has the most influence over the ability to cast a quality product. Updating to a modern copper design is less complicated than most steel producers think and the benefits are significant. Premium mold coatings such as UniGuard® and NanoGuard® allow casters to guard against exposed copper and wear while producing quality products for record campaign lengths.

Aug 16, 2017

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 Leonardo Araújo Peruch, José Fagundes, Henrique Carneiro Pinto, Marco Túlio Costa, Nayara Coutinho, José Fabiano Martins Assunção

The objective of this project was to increase the hot charge by reducing reheating energy consumption and raising the productivity of ArceloMittal Tubarão's hot strip mill by changing the HSM’s schedule process with optimization of the relocation process of slabs after HSM’s chance with focus on slab temperature in reheating time. The project began with the revision of metallurgical rules for the relocation of materials, definition of criteria temperature setting (hot / cold), definition of restrictions of the process and review of modus operandi scheduling process. With the implementation of the process / system it is expected to achieve a 10% increase in the hot charge index in slabs reheating furnaces and increase productivity of the ArcelorMittal Tubarão hot strip mill

Oct 3, 2019

By Wenting Zhu, Liqing Chen, Junjun Cui, Zhenye Chen

In this presentation, a low carbon high strength steel microalloyed with Nb and Ti was processed by thermo-mechanical controlled process (TMCP) containing two stages of controlled rolling. The austenite with various grain sizes was obtained by austenitizing this hot-rolled steel at different temperatures. And the effect of austenite grain size on bainitic transformation was investigated in a dilatometer to reveal microstructural change. The results showed that the microstructure of the hot-rolled steel was mainly composed of granular bainite, lath-like bainite, and martenite/austenite constituents (M-A constituents). With increasing the austenitizing temperature, or increasing the austenite grain size, the microstructure was changed from granular bainite to lath bainite. When the steel was reheated to a lower temperature of 860 ºC, a relatively higher start temperature (Bs) was measured for bainitic transformation. This was mainly caused by the formation of solute-depleted region in the austenite and the promotion of the granular bainitic nucleation. The highest reaction rate occurred at austenitizing temperature of 1000 ºC with fine grain size, while the coarse austenite grain can lead to a sharp increase in the amount of bainite. An analysis was made on the kinetics of bainite transformation which was controlled by the volume diffusion of C atom.

Oct 1, 2019

By Armando Vazquez Arredondo

Tenova Goodfellow Inc. has successfully installed the proprietary EFSOP® (Expert Furnace System Optimization Process) system in over 80 installations worldwide. For over 15 years, the EFSOP® System has successfully achieved its main objective of improving performance and operating costs through the reduction of electricity, oxygen, methane, injected and charge carbon use. Using the off-gas information provided by the EFSOP® System, Tenova Goodfellow Inc. has now developed a solution for detecting abnormal water events within the EAF steelmaking process. When water form enters the EAF, it immediately forms into water vapor (H2Ogas) and a proportion of the resulting water vapour will further react and dissociate to H2. Effective water detection technology must be capable of detecting BOTH forms of water; H2Ogas & H2. Tenova Goodfellow has the technology to measure in real time and simultaneously H2Ogas & H2. This paper will provide a summary on how the EFSOP Water Detection Technology® is used during the EAF operation. Details regarding the technology, software, alarm rate and information on sensibility water trial tests will be provided within this paper.

Aug 16, 2017

By Chad B. Donovan

There is a strong need in North America and other major steel producing markets where major capital investment in new equipment has been minimal over the past several years to make improvements to existing casting machines. In many cases, very cost effective improvements can be made to existing equipment in order to maximize the efficiency and production of an older designed continuous caster, a classic caster. SMS Group and its predecessor companies have been maintaining continuous casting molds for over forty years. This experience has allowed SMS Group to intimately understand the advantages and disadvantages of each design. The most vital component of the continuous caster is the mold copper design, as it has the most influence over the ability to cast a quality product. Updating to a modern copper design is less complicated than most steel producers think and the benefits are significant. Premium mold coatings such as UniGuard® and NanoGuard® allow casters to guard against exposed copper and wear while producing quality products for record campaign lengths.

Oct 30, 2017

By Maycon de Almeida Gomes

Fiber reinforced polymeric composites have received widespread attention in the past four decades because of their high specific strength and modulus. In particular, research works have disclosed the potential advantages associated with the use of lignocellulosic fibers as the reinforcing phase in polymer composites (2-3). Among various natural fibers, pineapple leaf fibers exhibit excellent mechanical properties. The main chemical constituents of pineapple fibers are cellulose (70–82%), lignin (5- 12%) and ash (1.1%). The superior mechanical properties of pineapple leaf fibers are associated with their high cellulose content (6). This work aims to make the analysis of the Izod impact energy against volume fraction of palf fibers of epoxy composites reinforced with PALF. The fibers were incorporated into the epoxy matrix with volume fraction from 0 to 30%. After fracture the specimens were macro photograph analyzed.

Aug 16, 2017

By Peter Grawenhof

In steel mills universal joint shafts, slipper spindles and gear spindles are used to overcome the design- and process- related offset between the axis of the motors and the work rolls. At the roll side the available space for the couplings is limited by the minimum work roll diameter. This leads to extremely high loaded components of the universal couplings especially at the roll side joints. Furthermore modern steel mills continuously strive to roll larger plates and materials with increased strength. This requires drive solutions with even higher torque capacity. For these applications conventional design joints are not sufficient anymore. Even alternative solutions such as hybrid- or offset- designs fall short. Therefore the companies Voith and BUMA Engineering developed together the new GearLink drive concept in close cooperation with the Voestalpine Grobblech GmbH. A completely new combination of universal joints and gear couplings offers an up to now unique solution enabling the use of 1,35- times bigger joint with a 2,5- times higher torque capacity and a 20- times longer lifetime. The GearLink system was first time successfully taken into operation at Voestalpine Grobblech in December 2013 and is up to now working without issue.

Aug 16, 2017

By Leszek Maldzinski

The present concept assumes carrying out the process of controlled nitriding with NH3 alone. This is a simpler process than that using two-component mixes of ammonia diluted with N2 or NH3diss. The regulation of the chemical composition of the atmosphere in the retort, and therefore the regulation of the nitriding potential KN, is obtained through the variation of the inflow rate of NH3 into the retort. What is a completely new things in a relevant process, the inflow of NH3 into the furnace is at times reduced to zero, which widens the range of the gas composition in the retort (and by the same token, of KN). The amount of NH3 introduced into the furnace is regulated (controlled) with the aid of a gas analyzer (for example an infrared analyzer). The gas analyzer opens and closes periodically the NH3 inlet valve with a frequency maintaining a desired gas composition (a desired KN) in the retort. The concept was based on experimental and theoretical investigations in term of thermodynamic and kinetic of gas nitriding. Investigations were carried out in a laboratory furnace with a quartz tube and also in an industrial furnace with a steel retort and a circulating fan. Nitriding was performed using NH3, NH3+H2, NH3+NH3diss. mixtures. In an industrial furnace the supply of NH3 into the retort was periodically closed, though with an operating circulation fan. The studies demonstrated that the growth rate of nitrided layer depends only on the composition of the atmosphere, (or KN), in the retort. It depends neither on a type of atmosphere introduced into furnace (NH3, NH3+NH3diss. or NH3+H2) nor a type of furnace (laboratory with a quartz tube or industrial with steel retort and fan). The results proved also that entirely closing of NH3 supply to the retort does not affect the growth rate of nitrided layer. A detailed analyses of the results was performed in a paper.

Aug 16, 2017

By Luiz Bruno de Oliveira Araujo, Luciano Morais Teixeira, Luiz Gustavo Pedrosa de Melo, Altair Lúcio de Souza

The off-line simulation of the metallurgical process in an industrial line brings several benefits such as: evaluation of the influence of the main parameters that affect the results of the process, comparison between different set ups, greater assertiveness in operational adjustments, process optimization and reduction tests for development of new products. With this objective, a software for offline simulation of the hot strip mill process of Gerdau Ouro Branco was developed based on the logic of calculations implemented in the online model. The software results in important process variables such as mill pass scale, load, torque, and power at each pass, temperature and the hot mean flow stress of the simulated material. During rolling mill process the strip presents different temperatures and time between passes for different points along the length, which directly influences the hot strength of the product and consequently in the calculated variables, thus the calculations executed by the software were divided to three points of the strip, head, body and tail bringing the individual results to each of these positions.

Oct 1, 2019

By Aperam South America

Balanço Energético Global e Utilidades - 2013

Jul 31, 2018

By Paulo Masiero

Sintered titanium carbide has been extensively used since the early 1980s for demanding wear-resistant applications and, in particular, in environments characterized by high temperature and oxidation. Thanks to its physical characteristics, especially its low density, titanium carbide (TiC) has been successfully applied in the manufacture of cassette guide rollers for hot steel rolling. However, the peculiar characteristics of the sintered Ti carbides make it difficult their redressing and hence this has always represented the limit for a more extensive application. Very often iron based alloys are preferred even if, in general, they are less cost effective just because they are easier to be redressed by turning. The availability of a simple, compact, fully automatic and reasonably priced CNC machine; specialized in the grinding of guide rollers and able to operate accurately and efficiently -both in contour and in plunge- can definitively solve TiC’s redressing problems and render its use even more widespread and attractive.

Oct 30, 2017

By Bart de Graaff, Victor van Straaten, Edo Engel

The hot blast system is key ancillary plant equipment with respect to safe and stable operations during a long blast furnace campaign. Hot blast stove designs have been optimized to such an extent that in some cases, their lifetimes have surpassed the campaign lengths of the associated blast furnaces by a substantial margin, with the exception of the burner and a few critical areas. This article presents recent developments with respect to designing, building new and operating existing hot blast systems for a long lifetime and at optimized performance. These developments include fundamental improvements such as dome combustion designs as well as increasingly comprehensive packages for inspection, assessment and maintenance techniques. Examples of such techniques are burner replacement with the hot blast system at operating temperature, improved double shell approaches and TOFD measurement applications.

Oct 1, 2019

By Peter Grawenhof

Universal joint shafts and slipper spindles are commonly used in rolling mills to compensate the design- and process-related offset between the motors and work rolls. Although both types of shafts exhibit on the same kinematic principle, there are basic differences regarding the design concepts. These differences become noticeable on many levels and may become very distinct in terms of Life-Cycle-Costs (LCC). In this respect, a critical comparison between universal joint shafts and slipper spindles can be made.

Aug 16, 2017

By Yuechang Wang

A new method of manufacturing the wavy-tilt-dam(WTD) mechanical seal has been mentioned. In this method, the special equipment is designed to provide a predetermined force to external and inner circular surface of the ring. After milling the end face of the seal by grinding miller and releasing the preload, the wavy-tilt-dam can be done on the seal surface. In this paper, a prediction model is built up to investigate the relationship between the predetermined force and the deformation on the surface of the ring by using ANSYS software. A WTD ring is manufactured by this method which approves that the prediction model is in accord with the real process and this manufacturing method of the WTD mechanical seal is a proper choice.

Jul 31, 2018