United States, Osceola, Arkansas01. Jan 2017

A new standard in sustainable cold strip production

The all-rounder pickling line tandem cold mill (PL/TCM) has an annual capacity of one million tons and sets new standards in green technology. The plant technology meets the extremely high quality requirements of the automotive industry while operating at low cost.

The pickling line/tandem cold mill is designed to process up to 900,000 tons of steel strip per year with strip widths ranging from 914 to 1,880 millimeters. It is equipped with an X-Pro® laser welder, a scale breaker, a turbulence pickling section and tandem cold mill. A large portion of the production volume, cold strip being 0.27 to 1.4 millimeters thick, is processed within the plant. Another component is the DUMA-BANDZINK oiling machine installed in the mill to produce pickled- andoiled material. Strip thicknesses here are between 1.4 and 5.0 millimeters. First strips were processed on the line in the summer of 2017. Thanks to the X-Pro® laser welder it is possible to precisely and quickly join difficult-to-weld, high-alloy strips, to lead them through the process reliably and roll them without any problems.

This ensures the line can handle even high-carbon or high-silicon grades. The turbulence pickling section comprises three plastic tanks of 27 meters length, each provided with its own cycle. The system is characterized by high pickling performance, low energy and acid consumption as well as low maintenance and operating costs paired with a long service life. To achieve optimum pickling results at minimum energy input, operators can actively influence and perfectly adjust all essential parameters.

We challenged SMS, we gave them a greater supply package than maybe they even realized we wanted to give them at first, but they rose to the challenge and were able to deliver the equipment on time, when we needed it, in the order that we needed it and I think our start-up results have proven that we made the right decision.

Impressions

X-Pro laser welder
Horizontal strip accumulator
Turbulence pickling section
Exit section of pickling line
Side trimming shear
TCM entry section with bridle rolls
Tandem cold mill with view on the exit section
Main control pulpit
Mill stand in CVC® plus 4-high design with advanced actuators
Finished coil
Fast and safe strip inspection enabled by Rotary inspect
Our latest generation fume exhaust system sets a world record in exhaust air purity.

Main data

Capacity 900,000 t/year
Pickled and oiled hot strip thickness 1.4 - 5.0 mm
Cold rolled strip thickness

0.27 - 1.4 mm

Coil weight max. 40 t
Strip width 914 - 1,880 mm
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