SMS group

Five-Strand Billet Caster to Expand Steelmaker’s Capacity

/ AUTOMOTIVE HEAT TREAT, AUTOMOTIVE HEAT TREAT NEWS

A German steelmaker recently ordered a five-strand billet caster for their steelplant in Völklingen, designed for an annual capacity of 850,000 tons of billets.

The new casting machine to be installed by SMS Group for Saarstahl AG, a leading manufacturer of high-quality steel grades, will produce 7 x 7 foot (180 x 180 millimeter) square billets in a wide range of steel grades, including bearing steels, spring steels, cold heading wire rod and free-cutting steels. Products made of these steel grades are used in the automotive industry and in mechanical engineering applications.

 

Five-Strand Billet Caster to Expand Steelmaker’s Capacity Read More »

3D Printing Aligns with Metal Manufacturing for Serial Production

/ HEAT TREAT NEWS INDUSTRIES

Additive Industries and SMS group announced during the last quarter an agreement to develop and jointly market a production system for additive manufacturing on an industrial scale, aligning the manufacture of metal and 3D printing, encompassing design, development, and delivery of the finished component.

“The entire process is designed for maximum productivity, with the result that additive manufacturing can finally enjoy competitive success in serial production,” said Guido Kleinschmidt, member of the managing board of SMS group.

“Five years ago, we started with the development of the world’s first 3D metal printer for high-end production applications, ” said Daan A.J. Kersten, CEO of Additive Industries. “Today, with our MetalFAB1, we are accelerating industrial additive manufacturing as one of the industry’s leading technology suppliers. In SMS group we have found a partner who has experience in planning production complexes such as these and delivering them on a turnkey basis.”

The process starting point is the manufacture of powder. To ensure maximum purity, the alloys are induction-melted under vacuum in the crucible. The liquid metal is atomized using pure argon in an oxygen-free atmosphere. “The quality of the powder manufactured is crucial for the quality of the finished product. To enable us to make faster progress in powder production, we are building an industrial-scale pilot system, which is scheduled to go live at the end of the year,” said Markus Hüllen, vice president 3D Competence Center at SMS group.

The powder manufacturing process is followed directly by 3D printing. In the integrated MetalFAB1 system, the metal powder bed fusion process is applied to melt the powder in a reproducible and efficient way. After additively manufacturing the parts, the build plate with parts is automatically transported to the heat treatment furnace for a stress relief cycle before storage by a robot. The MetalFAB1 system is designed to run autonomously 24/7 without the need for multiple shifts, substantially reducing cost.

SMS group is also responsible for the heat treatment of the printed components for setting of improved material characteristics for product destined largely for the automotive industries.

 

3D Printing Aligns with Metal Manufacturing for Serial Production Read More »

Heat Treatment Line Commissioned for Oil & Gas Industry Supplier

/ ENERGY HEAT TREAT, FEATURED NEWS

Austrian steel pipe producer voestalpine Tubulars GmbH & Co KG recently commissioned a new heat treatment line and a hot tube straightening machine to meet the growing demand from the oil and gas sectors for seamless tubes that can process steel grades with alloying contents of up to approximately 20 percent.

SMS group will supply the line, designed for seamless tubes with outside diameters between 60.3 and 273.0 millimeters and with a capacity of 25 tons per hour. The heat treatment line consists of a walking beam type austenitizing furnace, a quenching head, a cooling table for normalizing, a tempering furnace, also of walking beam design, a cooling bed, and two sawing stations for sample cutting. This equipment allows voestalpine Tubulars to perform various different heat treatments such as quenching, tempering, and normalizing in one single line.

The heat treatment line currently can handle tubes with wall thicknesses of up to 25 millimeters. The fully automatic line is designed to be expanded by an additional quenching unit at a later stage in order to process tubes with wall thicknesses greater than 30 millimeters.

 

 

 

Heat Treatment Line Commissioned for Oil & Gas Industry Supplier Read More »

Heat Treat Equipment Purchases — Recent Activity

/ FEATURED NEWS, HEAT TREAT NEWS INDUSTRIES

Multiple transactions involving the contracting, purchasing, selling, shipment and delivery of heat treat systems, equipment, or services have taken place over the past several weeks; here are some we hope will be of interest to Heat Treat Today readers.

  1. (Automotive Heat Treat News) A Chinese steel manufacturer of parts for the automotive industry, Baosteel's Zhanjiang integrated steel production complex, opened with Fives' Stein Digiflex furnaces for a 700kt/yr continuous annealing line and a 270kt/yr galvanizing line for a 1,550mm wide cold rolling mill.
  2. (Manufacturing Heat Treat News) Spanish heavy industry manufacturer Forjas Iraeta Heavy Industry, S.L. (GRI Group), contracted a 30 ton/hour walking beam furnace to add to an existing flange production mill. German metals SMS Group launched the project, which is to install furnace technology for proper and optimal reheating of a wide range of products: the charge will include blooms from 200 to 500 millimeters square and round blooms from 300 to 700 millimeters in diameter, in lengths between three and five meters.

    The SMS-Shougang Jingtang United Iron & Steel Co Ltd project team at the contract signing ceremony for the new galvanizing line.
  3. (Manufacturing Heat Treat News) In addition, SMS Group recently received a contract for a continuous hot-dip galvanizing line for high-strength steel grades to be supplied to Shougang Jingtang United Iron & Steel Co., Ltd., China. This is the sixth strip processing line to be installed in this works on Caofeidian Island, a man-made island offshore the Chinese province of Hebei. The line will produce 360,000 tons of hot-dip galvanized steel strip, including high-strength grades with tensile strengths of up to 1,350 MPa.
  4. (Manufacturing Heat Treat News) Two electrically heated Pacemaker integral quench furnaces have been shipped by Lindberg/MPH, based in Riverside, Michigan, to be used for carburizing and hardening applications.
  5. (Manufacturing Heat Treat News) Lindberg/MPH has also shipped to an electronic components manufacturer a 1200°F single-zone tube furnace to be used for annealing, ashing, carbon firing, ceramic firing, hardening, sintering, solution treating, stress relieving, and other heat treating applications.
  6. (Aerospace Heat Treat News) Lindberg/MPH announced the shipment of an electrically heated gas nitriding pit furnace for a leading aerospace supplier. The pit furnace system performs a two-stage nitriding process to achieve high surface hardness on A11 and H13 steel parts.
  7. (Manufacturing Heat Treat News) An electrically heated, steam atmosphere, pit furnace has been shipped by Lindberg/MPH to an engineered components manufacturer. The equipment will be used with a steam generator for steam treating tools steels.
  8. (Automotive Heat Treat News) An automotive supplier is the recipient of a fourth Lindberg/MPH transaction, a multi-chamber, electrically heated hot stamping furnace to be used to preheat steel blanks for hot stamping structural automotive components. 
  9. (Automotive Heat Treat News) Can-Eng Furnaces recently completed commissioning an electrically heated furnace line addition to a leading bearing manufacturer’s existing production line. Responsible for producing planet shafts and pump vane products, the line now features a compact 1,000 lb/hr atmosphere temper and soluble oil system for rust prevention.
  10. (Automotive Heat Treat News) A Montreal-based manufacturer of advanced plasma processes received an order for the sale of a second DROSRITE™ Furnace System to a North American automobile parts manufacturer. PyroGenesis Canada Inc. developed the patented salt-free, cost-effective, sustainable process for maximizing metal recovery from dross, a waste generated in the metallurgical industry.

Heat Treat Today finds the robust activity of heat treatment equipment sales and acquisitions an exciting topic to report on and would be interested in your supplier news tips. Please send any information you feel may be of interest to readers of Heat Treat Today to the editor at editor@heattreattoday.com.

 

Heat Treat Equipment Purchases — Recent Activity Read More »

Kazakhstan Steel Producer Orders 290-Ton Ladle Furnace

/ FEATURED NEWS, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT NEWS

Steelmaker ArcelorMittal recently ordered a 290-ton ladle furnace to control chemical composition and temperature of liquid steel and slag for its integrated steel plant in Temirtau, Kazakhstan.

The furnace will be supplied by SMS Group, and commissioning will include the engineering, mechanical and electrical equipment, and supervision of erection, and commissioning of the new ladle furnace, gas cleaning plant, additives handling system and water treatment plant. ArcelorMittal’s Kazakhstan facility has an annual capacity of 4 million tons of crude steel and produces hot and cold rolled steel, tin plates, galvanized steel and polymer-coated coils, welded pipes, coke, and chemical by-products. plant

Commissioning is scheduled for the second quarter of 2018.

Kazakhstan Steel Producer Orders 290-Ton Ladle Furnace Read More »

APT Hiller Orders New Billet Heating Furnace

/ FEATURED NEWS, HEAT TREAT NEWS INDUSTRIES

SMS Group and Apt Hiller GmbH
From left to right: Thomas Brockmann (Head of Technology apt Hiller GmbH), Hans-Uwe Rode (SMS group), Thomas Boddenberg (Managing Director apt Hiller GmbH), Frans Kurvers (Managing Partner apt Group), Toni Herrmann (SMS group).

apt Hiller GmbH headquartered in Monheim, Germany, has meanwhile ordered already the fourth frontloading extrusion press from SMS group. The new extrusion press operates with an extrusion force of 27 MN (2,700 tons) in front-loading design, thus enabling high productivity and product quality. At the Monheim location, it replaces an older 20/22-MN extrusion press of apt Hiller GmbH. At the same time, a new highly effective billet heating furnace will be installed and part of the runout equipment will be newly built. Moreover, the new press is equipped with an “ecoDraulic“ system, an intelligent automatic start-stop system which is able to deactivate unused pumps. By installing a particularly fast hydraulic system shortest idle times can be achieved. Compared to conventional presses, the employment of these energy-efficient components and systems enables energy savings of 25 percent. Hence, the new press at apt Hiller meets the criteria of the distinctive ecoplants mark for especially energy efficient machines of SMS group. “apt Group stands for reliable top quality. In accordance with our slogan “Essential Parts. Essential Partners“, we are pleased to have SMS group as such a reliable partner at our side and we are sure that the forth front-loading press will also satisfy our expectations as regards quality and reliability,“ said Thomas Boddenberg, Managing Director apt Hiller GmbH. On the 27-MN extrusion press line, apt will be producing high-end aluminum profiles primarily applied in the construction and construction product sectors.
The new line will go into operation in the first quarter of 2018.

APT Hiller Orders New Billet Heating Furnace Read More »

SMS Group Commissions New Compact Steel Plant of El Marakby Steel

/ FEATURED NEWS, HEAT TREAT NEWS INDUSTRIES

On August 2, 2016, the new compact steel plant of El Marakby Steel in Giza, Egypt, was officially opened with an inaugural ceremony. The electric steelworks supplied by SMS group has an annual capacity of 350,000 tons. It comprises a raw materials handling system, a 45-ton electric arc furnace, a ladle furnace with a transformer rating of 8 MVA + 20 percent and a three-strand billet caster supplied by SMS Concast.

“By producing billets in-house, we create value locally and strengthen our competitiveness by reducing our dependence on hard currencies. Additionally, the new plant allows us to expand our range of steel grades and produce rebars extremely flexibly,” said CEO Hassan El Marakby.

The ceremony was opened by a spokesperson of El Marakby who outlined the beginnings and the history of the factory. Subsequently, in a highly notable speech, CEO Hassan El Marakby explained the reasons for building the new plant and for choosing SMS as supplier. Next, Marcel Fasswald, Member of the Managing Board of SMS group, presented SMS group and its worldwide business activities, and emphasized the good cooperation with El Marakby. The ceremony was also attended by the Egyptian Minister of Industry and several representatives of local authorities. Also delegates of the German and Swiss embassies in Egypt were present during the event.

By producing reinforcing steel in the new compact steel plant, El Marakby is supporting the road network expansion in Egypt. The further development of the Egyptian road infrastructure is closely connected with the expansion of the Suez Canal by a second navigable channel. 3,000 kilometers of newly built roads will facilitate the exchange between the cities and ports in Egypt.

SMSgroup Image
Marcel Fasswald, Member of the Managing Board of SMS group (left) and Hassan El Marakby, CEO, MKS).

SMS Group Commissions New Compact Steel Plant of El Marakby Steel Read More »

PT Krakatau Steel Orders Hot Strip Mill

/ FEATURED NEWS, HEAT TREAT NEWS INDUSTRIES
PT Krakatau Steel, Indonesia, has placed a turnkey order with SMS group for the supply of a high-performance hot strip mill. The order comprises the entire process equipment, ranging from the slab yard to the coil yard, the electrical and automation systems, the auxiliary facilities such as water management, roll shop and crane systems, and the construction of the pertaining infrastructure and bays. Planning and execution of building construction and civil engineering is carried out by the Indonesian consortium member, PT Krakatau Engineering.
The hot strip mill is scheduled for commissioning in early 2019 in Cilegon on the Indonesian island of Java. This is where PT Krakatau Steel (PTKS) operates an integrated steel plant for which SMS group had supplied a hot strip mill, among other equipment, in the 1980s.The new hot strip mill for strips with a maximum width of 1,650 mm will have a capacity of 1.5 million t/a in its first expansion stage. Key components are a reheating furnace, a four-high reversing roughing stand with edger, the six-stand finishing mill, a laminar strip cooling section, a universal coiler and the coil transfer system. At a later stage, the annual production can be increased to up to 4 million t/a.

The hot strip mill is equipped with numerous technology packages and Ecoplants components required for the economic manufacture of high-quality hot strip. Thanks to the utilization of low-emission burners, the walking beam furnace achieves low pollutant values, which are monitored constantly via an online system. The four-high reversing roughing stand operates with the technology for camber-free rolling, which enables the avoidance of strip camber due to temperature or thickness rundowns. The temperature losses in the transfer bar are reduced by newly developed and highly efficient heat retention hoods between the roughing stand and the crop shear.

The finishing stands are equipped with the CVC plus system (Continuously Variable Crown) with integrated work roll bending and hydraulic roll-gap adjustment systems, enabling strips to be produced with very close thickness, profile, contour and flatness tolerances. The Ecoplants components in the finishing mill include the Sieflex HT high-performance spindles, the design of which allows the trans­mission of higher rolling torques with smaller work roll diameters. A further innovation is a highly efficient two-stage work-roll cooling system, operating with various pressure stages.

SMS supplies the entire plant automation, the drive technology and the electrical power distribution. On Level 0, this equipment comprises the sensor technology, the technological measuring devices, the main and auxiliary drives, as well as switchgear units and compensation equipment. The Level 1 automation systems are designed completely on the basis of the most up-to-date embedded technology, involving an efficient and, at the same time, lean hardware design.

The innovative operating concept X-Pact vision is designed according to state-of-the-art ergonomic knowledge and enables the operator to act intuitively to achieve optimum process control. The Level 2 process automation contains the technological process models, ranging from the pass schedule calculation PSC (Pass Schedule Calculation) via the profile, contour and flatness model PCFC (Profile Contour Flatness Control) up to the cooling section model CSC (Cooling Section Control) and temperature control. Likewise, SMS supplies a microstructure model MPM (Material Property Model), which determines the mechanical properties of the products and supports and simplifies the introduction of new materials.

Within the framework of Industry 4.0, a powerful PQA (Product Quality Analyzer) system will continuously monitor all process and product quality parameters. The new hot rolling mill will be one of the most modern facilities of this type worldwide, enabling PTKS to fulfill highest demands regarding quality, productivity, and production cost.

PT Krakatau Steel Orders Hot Strip Mill Read More »

SMS Supplies Heat Treatment Line to Axis Pipe and Tube

/ FEATURED NEWS, HARDENING, HEAT TREAT NEWS INDUSTRIES, QUENCHING NEWS, TEMPERING NEWS

SMS group has supplied and successfully commissioned a heat treatment facility and pipe threading line, which includes two 4-axis CNC threading machines, at Axis Pipe and Tube, based in Houston, Texas, U.S.A.

The two new plants for the Bryan, TX, works enable the company to produce OCTG tubes (Oil Country Tubular Goods) used in natural gas and crude oil production. With the new state-of-the-art equipment, Axis Pipe and Tube will extend its product range opening up new customer segments.

SMS group supplied a heat treatment line, including a natural gas-fired walking-beam hardening and tempering furnace, a water quenching unit and a 10-roll hot straightener, to produce tube grades of up to HCP110. The supplied pipe threading line features two 4-axis CNC threading machines, which operate on the principle of stationary tool and rotating tube. A hydrostatic pipe tester with a maximum test pressure of 15,000 psi, a finishing section and all pipe handling equipment for the threading line were also part of SMS group’s scope of supply. The pipe handling equipment is designed to prevent pipe-to-pipe contact after threading. The tubes and pipes processed on the threading machines will conform to manufacturing standards as per API 5CT.

Thanks to this project, Axis Pipe and Tube is now even better prepared to fulfill the ever more exacting quality and productivity demands of the market at present and in the future.

SMS Supplies Heat Treatment Line to Axis Pipe and Tube Read More »

AMAG Orders Plants for Production of Aluminum Strip and Sheet

/ FEATURED NEWS, HEAT TREAT NEWS INDUSTRIES
BOTW  Source: Heat Processing
AMAG rolling GmbH, Austria, has placed an order with SMS group for the supply of a cold rolling mill, a heat treatment line with a connected passivation section, a high-bay warehouse and a packaging line. Thus, numerous key assets of the AMAG 2020 investment project, dedicated to the set-up of production facilities for cold rolled premium aluminum strips and sheets, will all be supplied by SMS group. Commissioning of the new facilities is scheduled for 2017.

The six-high cold rolling mill with CVC plus technology (Continuously Variable Crown) supplied by SMS group will provide the high degree of flexibility required to handle the extensive range of products, including strip in widths of more than two meters. The rolling mill will come with actuators that ensure production to the required, extremely tight product tolerances, and it will be equipped with X-Pact control systems. An Airwash system will provide most efficient purification of the exhaust air from the rolling process. In a highly eco-friendly process, the recovered rolling oil will be fed back to the process cycle. The technological highlights of the heat treatment line and the connected passivation section are the water-cooled floater furnace, the resource-saving process technology and the compact layout. During the heat treatment in the puller furnace, the strip receives the mechanical properties specified by the customer. The final chemical coating process (passivation) gives the strip the perfect condition for the downstream processing steps. Passivated strips are requested primarily by customers from the automotive industry.

An integral element of the new rolling complex will be the central coil handling system which consists of a fully automatic high-bay warehouse with links to the rolling and processing lines. All material flows will be controlled by a warehouse management system which will be connected to the higher-level production control system. The warehouse technology will include an innovative cooling system which will be able to flexibly switch between air circulation and forced cooling in the various warehouse areas depending on the material grades of the coils and the type of downstream processing.SMS group’s scope of supply also includes a semi-automatic packaging line, which will weigh the finished coils and securely tie, pack and label them for their transport to customers all over the world. The warehouse and the packaging line will be provided by SMS Logistiksysteme.With this investment project, AMAG will increase its production capacity as a supplier of special sheet for automotive body applications (exposed and structural parts) and for use in modern passenger aircrafts. The newly added production capacity will also be used to make the other strip products of AMAG’s portfolio, e.g. packaging material. The new facilities will make the works in Ranshofen, Austria, a top location of the aluminum industry and one of the most efficient and modern production plants for lightweight engineering sheets in the world.

 

AMAG Orders Plants for Production of Aluminum Strip and Sheet Read More »

Skip to content