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By José Fagundes Junior, Cleudson dos Santos Rego, Bruno Bastos da Silva Murad, Vitor Borlot Borba

Since the startup in 2002, the Hot Strip Mill at ArcelorMittal Tubarão has increased gradually the coil output as the customers demand new and more resistant dimensionally challenging (thinner and/or wider) steel grades. As a critical feature for customer applications, improvements have been carried out aiming a higher thickness performance and reduction of internal losses while still meeting the more restrict tolerances booked by the customers. This paper presents the recent thickness performance evolution since 2017 and the main actions deployed to improve it.

Oct 1, 2019

By Laurent Dorel, Sebastien Maillard, Afchine Nasserian, Jean-Paul Faure

Surface quality monitoring is primarily implemented in the last steps of steel manufacturing before shipment to the end user. However, an increasing trend for also addressing this topic in the upstream stages, such as hot rolling plant, is tackled by Primetals Technologies to give steel producers the key to a global optimized yield management, and efficient “lessons learned” processes. After the last developments of SIAS Next Gen platform, including High Resolution and Near Infra-Red, some site results will be exposed on the very specific high constraints lines such as ESP Endless Strip Production and Plate Mills, and highlights the related most interesting aspects for our customers.

Oct 1, 2019

By Marcus Weldon

We are at the beginning of an era of profound transformation and human progress — a new industrial revolution. This “Automation of Everything” era will be brought about by digital interfaces, data analysis and control of the physical world through networks employing the Nokia Bell Labs Future X1 architecture — networks to support the digitization and connection of everything and everyone with the goal of automating much of life. The interconnection of robots, machines, drones, sensors, processing platforms and people through Future X networks will provide transformative tools for the automation and optimization of factories and warehouses, ports, electric grids, transportation networks, food, healthcare, construction, logistics and supply chain, emergency response, mining, and other physical industries. To date, the level of automation has been modest at best. Automating these physical industries — industries that account for 70 percent of the US Gross Domestic Product, for example — has the potential to drive significant increases in the world’s economic productivity.2 Realizing the potential of this next industrial revolution will require billions of wirelessly connected endpoints for high fidelity physical-to-digital conversion, millisecond response times to tightly control and coordinate machines and robots, and intelligent analysis to optimize real-time decisions — tasks beyond the reach of current networks. Increased levels of automation are already being achieved through the use of 4G advanced wireless access technologies. The untethering of sensors and actuators in industrial environments through the low-latency, high-bandwidth, high-reliability, and massive scale provided by 5G wireless access will complete this evolution, providing an unprecedented ability to digitize, analyze, comprehend and manipulate the physical world at a scale never previously thought possible. These new capabilities will enable us to create digital models of the physical world with ever higher levels of fidelity, further enhancing our ability to improve operational efficiencies and increase productivity and worker safety. Doing this will require a dramatic evolution in network architecture toward massively distributed cloud control and baseband capacity to achieve the required ultra-low latency and ultra-high bandwidth for industrial and infrastructure automation services — the Future X architecture. In early 2019, Nokia Bell Labs will publish a sequel to “The Future X Network: A Bell Labs Perspective”. “Future X for Industries: A Nokia Bell Labs Perspective” will explore how the Future X architecture will automate many of the world’s physical industries, including chapters devoted to electric power, cities, rail, mining, public safety, manufacturing, ports, logistics and supply chain, and an overarching chapter devoted to securing this highly automated world. To give you a small taste of the feast that’s to come, we’re sharing with you an initial installment — “Future X for Industries: Mining” — the Nokia Bell Labs view of how mining will be transformed through a Future X architecture..

Oct 1, 2019

By Karl Berger, Michael Steinkogler

The evolution in Metal Cutting: Inventors around the world have been successfully developing innovations for decades, but only some of these developments have had „GAME CHANGING“ potential. One of these innovations is the new developed saw blade LINCUT®, a patented changing system that paves the way for a fundamental reorientation of the entire saw blade industry worldwide through a simple and economical concept for rolling mills or heavy forging lines. Cost efficiency starts with the raw material: Circular saws equipped with a standard saw blade are expected to have a necessary 2 percent standstill per year due to required tool changing. The applied technology reduces this unnecessary loss of production by more than 50%. The ROI can therefore be reached faster which immediately lowers your production costs. No matter what material, conventional carbon steel or highly alloyed stainless steel, the coating and shape of carbide plates is perfected for extended tool life up to 25% with increased performance. Due to LINSINGERs own tool-technology-centre in Austria specialized in research and development of tools, constantly expanding R&D activities, best results are achieved in quality and cost efficiency: a (r)evolution in metal cutting.

Oct 1, 2019

By François DUMORTIER

Due to the increasingly stringent requirements and the needs of the automotive industry, galvanizing lines for automotive products have to be modernized and improved. Beginning of 2017, SEGAL, a Tata Steel CGL located in BELGIUM and fully dedicated to automotive market, placed an order to increase the line capacity from 550kt/year to 600kt/year to process a wider range of steel grades and improve the product quality according to automotive requirements. To improve quality, a major revamping of the skin pass was necessary. The objectives were first to increase the work roll diameter from Φ560mm to Φ650mm to be able to transfer the required roughness with low elongation on soft material and second to increase the rolling force and tension to reach higher elongation on high strength steels. The result was the adaptation of the whole skin pass mechanics. Old mechanical elongation system has been replaced by a completely new single AC motor with helical gearbox at each bridle roll. John Cockerill achieved such complicated revamping in a very short time since the shutdown started only 6 month after the contract signature. The shutdown down schedule has been optimized with pre-erection works and the teams working 24/7 to implement all the changes. The complete project (skin pass, furnace, loopers) have been adapted during the three weeks shutdown. Today the customer can use both 560mm and 650mm work roll diameters. Thanks to the use of the new 650mm work roll diameter, the customer is able to make the same elongation using a bigger roll force (average 20% more), which has strongly improved the roughness transfer to the strip and the removal of the defects. SEGAL is really satisfied able to produce and supply higher quality automotive products to his customers.

Oct 1, 2019

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

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

Oct 1, 2019

By Gerhard Richter, Norbert Asamer, Gerwald Decker

At various stages during their manufacturing processes - from casting to finishing before delivery - semi-finished steel and special alloy products must be cut and surface-treated as well. The requirements for the individual conditioning steps, however, can be quite different. For example, the work piece can be hot, warm or cold. At any rate, the product must always be perfectly prepared for the next manufacturing step - reliably, in the shortest-possible time and at the lowest-possible cost. For cutting and grinding, BRAUN has developed innovative technologies and highly flexible, tailor-made solutions which meet these requirements in the most optimal way. In particular, BRAUN’s cutting and grinding technologies can also be used for large-scale products.

Oct 1, 2019

By Anand Kumar Agrawal, Kinzel Klaus Peter, Lorenzo Micheletti, Cristiano Castagnola, Horst Kappes, Andre Oliveira, Björn Rösner, Philippe Bermes

Blast furnaces are widely employed today for iron production all around the world, with a total production of around 1.2 billion tons per year. Its operating principle, which relies on usage of coke to reduce the ore, to ensure the permeability in the reaction vessel, to maintain its flexibility of operation and acceptability for varying qualities of iron ores. The blast furnace route is widely considered as the most economic and efficient route of iron production, however it is based on fossil energy carriers. The blast furnace route has undergone significant developments in terms of energy efficiency in the last decades, which led to a substantial reduction in the use of fossil reduction materials. Being an energy intensive process, competitiveness and cost saving in the blast furnace plant was always strongly related to the saving of energy and hence reduction of CO2 emissions. In addition to this, EU emissions trading system (EU ETS) as a cornerstone of the EU's policy in response to climate change has set new “challenges” for iron production in Europe. Paul Wurth has always been deeply involved in the development of energy saving technologies for blast furnaces. In the following a review of energy saving achievements developed in the last decades will be presented and the potential of available CO2 saving technologies will be summarized. Additionally, an outlook about the potential of future technologies, concepts and their impact on the blast furnace and the steel plant’s energy balance will be discussed. Finally, the replacement of carbon by hydrogen as reduction agent in the steel plant will be reviewed, with special focus on a comparison of costs and incentives.

Oct 1, 2019

By Thomas Höfler, Michael Auinger, Bernhard Linder

Gas-fired pusher furnaces are commonly used to heat steel slabs before hot rolling. Temperatures well above 1000 °C combined with an oxidizing atmosphere containing H2O, CO2 and O2 result in rapid oxidation of most steel grades. The resulting oxide scale and the chemistry of the metal-scale-interface are major determining factors for the occurrence of hot rolling defects. To better understand these phenomena, lab-scale trials were performed with two different steel grades in an electric tube furnace in the temperature range 1000-1250 °C, using an atmosphere of about 20 % H2O, 7 % CO2 and 3 % O2. Humidification of the gas was achieved by evaporation, using a custom thermostat with standard laboratory glassware. The resulting samples were prepared metallographically, using cold mounting under vacuum with taper section angles, and analyzed using light microscopy and SEM/EDS. The scale structure of the Si alloyed steel was highly dependent on the oxidation temperature due to the formation of eutectic liquid phases of FeO, Fe2SiO4 and FeAl2O4. Below the eutectic temperature, the scale of the Si steel appeared to be made up of three distinct areas: The external scale consisting solely of Fe oxides, the internal scale containing Fe2SiO4 and FeAl2O4, and an internal oxidation zone with SiO2 and Al2O3 in a mostly plain Fe matrix. Comparisons of the experimental results with simulations of the internal oxidation showed good qualitative agreement.

Oct 1, 2019

By Nelson SOUTO, Nicolas LEGRAND, Christian COUNHAYE, Don EARLEY

The work is motivated by the automotive customer requirements for a roughness with high peak density (RPc > 75 peaks/cm) on steel sheet surfaces to maintain a good strip surface finish after painting. For that purpose, a new approach is utilized to compute roughness transfer and predict final roughness on uncoated steel sheets (average roughness, skewness, peak density) as a function of temper rolling conditions. The approach is based on the Monte Carlo method combined with the Abott curves and an auto-correlation function to numerically generate roughness profiles for roll and strip respectively. To compute the roughness transfer due to the interaction between roll and strip surfaces during rolling, a composite Abott curve that combines roll and strip Abott curves is used with an asperity crushing model integrated with a rolling model. This enables simulating two roughness transfer mechanisms in the roll bite: the strip asperity crushing mechanism by roll roughness and the strip asperity ploughing mechanism due to roll-strip interfacial sliding speed. The model shows the importance of considering the two mechanisms to predict roughness transfer correctly when strip elongation is high, typically a few percent, and roll bite friction is low. In these conditions, the forward slip at the exit of the roll bite tends to erode strip roughness significantly and decrease considerably the peak density on the strip. For lower elongation levels (~1%) and high roll bite friction, the ploughing mechanism becomes negligible and roughness transfer is controlled by the crushing mechanism only. With these two mechanisms, the model reasonably predicts the evolution of average roughness and peak density over a wide range of temper rolling conditions (new/worn work rolls, hard/soft grades, various elongations), but skewness is more difficult to predict for some trials.

Oct 1, 2019

By Alexandre Medeiros, Bruno Aquino Rocha, Evaldo Nogueira, Marcus Valério Magnago

Este artigo tem como finalidade demonstrar o cenário evolutivo da expedição ferroviária de produtos siderúrgicos da ArcelorMittal Tubarão, focado na eficiência operacional e no atendimento à Clientes. Neste documento, apresentaremos a estrutura de pátios e equipamentos, o status anterior do “share” de expedição nos modais terrestres e os motivadores do processo de mudança. Em seguida, iremos apresentar as melhorias e inovações implantadas em nossos processos internos e externos, da cadeia logística de atendimento à Clientes. Ao final, demonstraremos a evolução da participação do modal ferroviário no “share” de expedição, bem como os ganhos capturados através da elevação dessa participação.

Oct 1, 2019

By Uazir Bezerra de Oliveira, Günther Staudinger, Michael Skorianz, Edo Engel

Oct 1, 2019

By Márcia M. S. M. Pereira, Hervé Tavernier, Gérson T. Ferreira, Caio Nogueira Araujo Diniz, Fabio Luiz Lourenço, Wagner C. Moreira, Vinicius Cunha Aranda

Pós fluxantes desempenham um papel significativo na qualidade do aço durante o processo de lingotamento contínuo. Os pós fluxantes são escórias sintéticas usadas para lubrificar o molde durante o lingotamento contínuo do aço. Para que isso ocorra, o fluxante deve apresentar as seguintes funções: isolamento químico e térmico do aço, absorção de inclusões não metálicas do aço, lubrificação do molde e controle da transferência de calor entre o aço e o molde. O desempenho de cada função está relacionado às propriedades químicas e físicas do pó fluxante, que são dependentes de sua composição química e sua composição mineral, devido a sua relação com a taxa de fusão do material. A fim de garantir uma produção eficiente e de alta qualidade durante o lingotamento de um aço ultra baixo carbono, os pós fluxantes A e B foram investigados de acordo com diferentes propriedades físico-químicas. Diversos experimentos laboratoriais foram realizados para comparar o desempenho dos materiais A e B, visando à diminuição de captura da escória pelo aço no molde: avaliação do comportamento de fusão e fluidez, composição química e viscosidade. As temperaturas de processo foram avaliadas através de testes estatísticos, visando caracterizar o fluxo de calor e o trabalho de fricção durante lingotamento. Os testes industriais preliminares, realizados na Ternium Brasil, foram conduzidos com o objetivo de analisar o comportamento do pó fluxante durante a operação de lingotamento contínuo em relação a alguns aspectos operacionais e fornecer informações sobre sua influência na qualidade superficial do aço. Os resultados mostraram que, aumentando a viscosidade do fluxante, o consumo de pó tornou-se menor, levando a um maior trabalho de fricção e menor fluxo de calor no molde. No entanto, o comportamento da camada de escória mostrou que, apesar do aumento da força de atrito no molde, a espessura da escória foi adequada e não houve relatos de defeitos superficiais durante o uso do material fluxante de maior viscosidade.

Oct 1, 2019

By Sander Mul, Michael Brandner, Armin Paar

Graphitic HSS roll grades such as ESW’s brand VANIMO can be considered as the latest developments for the last finishing stands in hot strip mills. These roll grades are developed on the basis of the alloying concept of (Carbide Enhanced) Indefinite Chill work roll materials. During the development of VANIMO, the amounts and types of carbide forming elements were increased and adjusted into the direction of cast HSS roll grades. The microstructure of graphitic HSS roll grades therefore consists of tempered martensite, cementite and several different carbide types as well as a well-defined amount of free graphite. The main purpose of graphitic HSS roll grades is to combine the high surface quality of Indefinite Chill alloys as well as the high wear resistance of HSS roll grades. Several systematic steps were taken to increase the wear performance from Carbide-Enhanced Indefinite Chill grades to the more advanced VANIC grade and further on to the highest alloyed roll grade VANIMO. In every development step, the surface quality of the roll grades was carefully monitored. The decision to invest in new testing equipment at ESW’s plant was driven by the wish to see microstructural effects of different alloys in a macroscopic dimension. Usually samples are taken from cast rolls and investigation is done in comparably small areas compared to the total surface of a roll. Rolling of strip is done with the entire barrel, so effects of alloy and microstructure can appear anywhere on the barrel surface. To ensure better understanding and deeper knowledge about influences of alloying trials we decided to install the last version of LRI (Lismar Roll Inspection). LRI includes the latest technology of Eddy Current with an enormous resolution. Depending on the formation of carbide precipitations, carbide network as well as matrix and free graphite, the EC test can detect smallest differences. The possibility to analyze the different results of EC and UT surface wave inspection will be discussed. A few examples of surface effects in the mill application will be discussed and improvement strategies explained.

Oct 1, 2019

By Dr. Steven G. Jansto

The market demand for reduced fuel consumption and CO2 emissions in the automotive, energy and construction sectors have further increased the demand for new and advanced higher quality microalloyed grades produced via TMCP. The technological integration of the process and physical metallurgical advancements of value-added niobium (Nb) microalloyed thermo-mechanical controlled process (TMCP) steels continue to be developed and is an important element for these more demanding end user requirements and cost-effective steel production. The reheat furnace process step has a profound effect on the TMCP performance, final hot rolled steel quality and mechanical property consistency during the production of hot rolled steels. The uniformity of heating applied across the entire width, thickness and length of the slab or billet is essential in the successful achievement of consistent customer properties regardless of the chemistry. The resultant ferrite grain size in the final hot rolled product is significantly governed by the initial prior austenite grain size. However, the transition from laboratory melted and TMCP hot rolled heats to the production scale is often quite challenging. Aberrations in the reheating process step at the industrial furnace are often the root cause of mechanical property quality issues. These combustion process metallurgy parameters connect directly to the resultant TMCP product quality and is defined as Combustion Metallurgy

Oct 1, 2019

By Luigi Giacomini, Bruce Kiefer

A new plant for special steel long products was commissioned in recent years at Dangjin, South Korea, for Hyundai Steel. Two multi-line rolling mills can produce yearly 1 million tons of billets, straight and coiled bars, with dimensions from 5.5 to 350 millimeters. The products are used for manufacturing engine and transmission components used by Hyundai Kia Automotive Group. The processed grades include carbon, special alloy, spring, bearing and free-cutting steel. The first mill rolls blooms into finished large round and square products, as well as into intermediate billets. A 2-high reversing breakdown stand is followed by a finishing and sizing train with CGA stands equipped with an under-load roll parting system for automatic gap control. The second mill combines lines of small bars, rods and bars-in-coil. Billets are rolled in a continuous rolling mill with original RedRing Series 5 stands. The rod outlet features Morgan No-Twist and Rod Reducing/Sizing mills, Morgan High-Speed Laying Head and Stelmor conveyor. Advanced sensors and electronics integrate with mechatronic packages, thus equipping the mill for Industry 4.0 applications. Hyundai can meet the demanding requirements posed by the automotive industry and benefit from optimized conversion costs, the flexibility to meet market changes, achieve high product quality, and reduce floor personnel.

Oct 1, 2019

By Daniel Abbott Albertacci, Celso Luiz Moraes Alves, Fernando Paulucio Quinelato

No cenário econômico atual do mercado siderúrgico, otimizações de processo que aumentem o rendimento metálico estão no alvo das empresas competitivas. Além disso, cada vez mais os clientes exigem níveis mais elevados de qualidade e menor índice de recusa. Neste contexto, desenvolver trabalhos que conciliem otimização e garantia de qualidade são prioritários para o negócio. O objetivo deste trabalho é definir o menor descarte de início de lingotamento para aços com aplicações severas com total garantia de qualidade. Foi elaborada uma metodologia específica para avaliação da qualidade dos produtos: placa e bobina laminada a quente. Primeiramente, avaliou-se a quantidade de inclusões não metálicas em placas, o que permitiu determinar o comprimento de descarte mínimo necessário para garantia de qualidade das placas. Posteriormente, análises de inclusões também foram realizadas em bobinas para confirmar os resultados da ação de alteração de tonelagem de descarte. Os resultados mostraram que as placas produzidas após o descarte determinado pelo estudo resultaram em bobinas aptas para atendimento das aplicações, sem nenhuma perda de qualidade.

Oct 1, 2019

By Edney da Silva Dias, Leticia Fuchs, Walter Coan, Rodrigo Deperon, Eduardo Kuhl, Fernanda Jansen, Micael Leandro

O objetivo deste trabalho é apresentar um projeto desenvolvido para maximizar a taxa de ocupação dos veículos que carregam na ArcelorMittal Vega, por meio da utilização de programação linear combinada com métodos de automação de processos robóticos (RPA - Robotic Process Automation), de modo a atender todas as premissas do modelo de expedição de cargas, tais como: restrições de clientes, capacidade máxima por tipo de veículo e distribuição de volumes para as transportadoras de acordo com as metas acordadas. O uso de ferramentas de otimização e automação, integradas ao ERP (Sistema Integrado de Gestão Empresarial), utilizado pela empresa, permite realizar o processo de programação de transportes em massa, obedecendo multicritérios. A ausência de ferramentas que auxiliem neste processo, impacta diretamente na produtividade, na capacidade intelectual dos recursos alocados, na taxa de ocupação dos veículos, na capacidade de expedição da fábrica e no nível de serviço ao cliente. Visando aumentar a eficiência nos processos, melhorar a taxa de ocupação da capacidade dos veículos e consequentemente a capacidade de expedição, foi implementada a solução para aperfeiçoar o processo de programação de cargas e agregar valor ao negócio quanto a entrega ao cliente final.

Oct 1, 2019

By Mario SINNAEVE, Olivier LEMAIRE, Gisèle WALMAG, Sébastien FLAMENT

Many hot rolling mills worldwide face nowadays bonding zone fatigue problems before reaching scrap diameter of the work rolls. This phenomenon is nowadays known to occur in reversing roughing mills both in stainless steel and in carbon steel rolling. The phenomenon can be explained through longer rolling campaigns, inadequate backup or work roll maintenance, harder steel grades or increased throughput by reduced amount of passes to achieve the same thickness. In order to help users in optimizing the roll use, we developed a numerical tool to evaluate and optimize roll maintenance. This paper will review the influence of roll geometries on stresses generated at the roll surface but also at the bonding zone. We will also show how roll geometries can decrease contact fatigue damages by modifying crowning and chamfering procedures, shell thickness, material design or campaign length

Oct 1, 2019

By John Marsden, Mike Botz

A variety of modeling techniques can be utilized to forecast metal production at heap leaching operations. These approaches reflect a wide range of complexity, flexibility, time to implement, cost, and accuracy. For many operators, a spreadsheet-based modeling technique is attractive since the calculations are directly accessible, models can often be developed by site staff, and the results are generally easy to extract and interpret. The authors have developed a spreadsheet-based modeling technique that provides a high degree of flexibility, while still considering detailed operating information for ore properties, leach kinetics, scaleup factors, lift height, and in-heap metal inventories. The technique involves establishing kinetic leach curves for each ore type to characterize metal extractions, followed by application of separate metal recovery curves to define the rate at which leached metals exit the heap in pregnant solution, taking into account delays due to the in-heap solution inventory. At any point in time, the difference between total metal extracted and total metal recovered is equal to the in-heap inventory of the leached metal. This modeling technique is particularly useful for larger multi-lift heaps where delays in metal recovery are appreciable due to in-heap solution holdup. The technique is also applicable to sites with multiple heaps, leach cycles, and/or metal recovery plants (e.g., carbon columns for gold; solvent extraction for copper). This paper describes the modeling technique, including input data required and methods for defining kinetic leach curves and metal recovery curves. The technique is compared against an alternative spreadsheet technique using a simplified in-heap solution inventory calculation to forecast metal production, which has proven to be effective at a number of sites.

Sep 3, 2019