Everything you need for hot rolling of long products

All over the world, our experts are working on innovative solutions and reliable technologies for the production of beams, sections, rails, and semifinished products. Already today, we are the technological leader in this field and offer a vast product range covering all aspects of rail mills, medium and heavy section mills, as well as mills to produce large bars and billets – from single machines to complete rolling lines with ready-integrated heat-treatment and finishing equipment through to expert know-how.

Thanks to our fully modularized equipment portfolio, we are in a position to offer standard solutions as well as fully customized projects for modernizations or special applications.

Africa’s first production plant for rail and section

SMS group about to supply ultramodern mill for exceptionally wide range of product dimensions

Plant types

  • Heavy section mill

    More flexibility for your product portfolio

    For the production of beams as well as other larger sections, such as channels, angles, sheet piles, shipbuilding, and special sections, heavy section mills are essential. Being designed for any given size range of finished products, they allow a wide variation in the portfolio. This is of a flexibility that makes it possible to react quickly to market and customer requirements.

    Heavy section mills are engineered to produce web heights measuring up to 1,200 mm.

    Heavy section mill by SMS group at SULB in Bahrain

  • Medium section mill

    A wide range of products - Smaller products and yet diverse

    Medium section mills are used for the production of smaller beams, channels, angles, flats, as well as special sections. They offer a wide range of products and can be designed as a reversing mill, a semi-continuous, or a fully continuous mill.

    Medium section mills cover web heights of up to 600 mm.

    Medium section mill by SMS group at Hyundai Steel’s site in South Korea

  • Rail mill

    Single purpose or combined for more cost efficiency

    Rail mills designed as single-purpose plants can produce all kinds of rails for railways such as Vignoles, tram, crane, and special rails. As combined mills, rail mills are equipped with a section finishing end and can produce medium and large sections in line with market demands. This is where our universal rolling method comes into play. Using a tandem-reversing group it makes an important contribution to the cost-effectiveness in the production of rails as well as beams and other sections on the same compact mill.

    Rails on the cooling bed at Mibao’s rail mill

  • Large bar and billet mill

    Increased efficiency in the production of semi-finished products

    Semifinished products like blooms, billets, or large round, square, and hexagonal dimensions are produced on large bar and billet mills. As blooming mills, they are designed for the processing of billets from ingots or large continuous-cast input feedstock, whereas billet mills manufacture high-quality and stainless steel products – for example for applications in the automotive and aerospace industries. For maximum flexibility in production, semifinished products and blooms can also be produced on a single blooming mill.

    Large bar and billet mills produce a size range from 40 mm up to 350 mm diameter or edge length.

    Large bar mill by SMS group at Xining Special Steel Co. in China

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Technology

  • Compact breakdown mill

    CBD mill

    Compact breakdown mills form an important component when it comes to effective production in semi-continuous and reversing mills, as they create the leader passes before rolling in the finishing mill. Thanks to their compact design, engineered for maximum rigidity, CBD mill stands operate at the highest potential rolling loads. Their hydraulic cylinders and pressure transducers ensure a constant roll force measurement. To prevent breaks or damage to the adjusting system, the automatic overload protection comes with a quick roll gap opening.

    Compact breakdown mill in 3-roll Precision Sizing Mill at SDI in USA

    Benefits

    • Constant roll force measurement via hydraulic cylinders and pressure transducers
    • Automatic overload protection with quick roll gap opening to avoid roll breaks or damage to the adjusting system
    • High mill stand stiffness for better dimensional accuracy
    • Quick roll changing

  • Compact cartridge stand

    CCS® Mill Stand

    The Compact Cartridge Stand CCS® can be used in heavy section, reversing medium section, and rail mills – configured as universal or convertible universal/two-high mill stands. Features like its fast roll and mill guide change pay into cost-effective production requirements. Simultaneously the CCS® is characterized by its high stand rigidity, which contributes to an increase in product quality. Its compact design makes the CCS® equally suited to revamps and new plants.

    Compact cartridge stand CCS of SULB’s heavy section mill in Bahrain

    Benefits

    • Possibility to install rolls with different barrel lengths
    • Fully hydraulic adjustment systems for underload roll gap adjustment, such as automatic roll gap control (AGC) over the entire section length
    • Top mill stand stiffness
    • Quick and automated roll and mill guides changing with automatic roll gap zeroing and adjustment

  • Straightening machine

    CRS® straightener

    For use in medium and heavy section mills we recommend the Compact Roller Straightener CRS®. It comes in a sandwich design with the straightening shafts supported with bearings on both sides. This supports the symmetrical application of the straightening force and ensures high product quality and top residual stress behavior. All nine straightening shafts are driven individually, and hydraulic cylinders adjust the shafts under load. When it comes to roll change, CRS® brings in a double economic factor: It is accomplished in a short time and with the minimum of personnel.

    Compact roller straightener CRS at SULB’s heavy section mill in Bahrain

    Benefits

    • Fixed straightening roller pitch for a large product range
    • Quick automated roller changing of all straightening rollers at once with less personnel
    • Automated setting of all elements according to the straightening data

  • Process control

    X-Pact® Technological Control System (TCS)

    As part of the X-Pact® product family this new generation Technological Control System enables process control in real time and entails optimization of product dimensions. Beside of the well-known and long-proven functions such as HGC (Hydraulic Gap Control) and AGC (Automatic Gauge Control), the following new sub-functions have been developed and are already verified in a large number of production lines:

    • X-Pact® Minimum Tension Control (MTC) provides the condition of minimal tension on the material between the stands
    • X-Pact® Screw Down Optimizer shortens the adjusting time of the AGC cylinders between the runs
    X-Pact Technological Control System (TCS) – Example of the webHMI

  • Measuring solutions

    Contactless precision measurement for beams, sections, rails, and special profiles

    The flexible measuring system PROgauge® uses contactless measurement of cross-sections by two-dimensional triangulation to measure a wide range of beams, sections, rails, and special profiles. While the core technology is the same for every application, the measuring system adapts specifically to your product portfolio and infrastructure, for example to the layout of your rolling mill.

    The provision of online product parameters enables monitoring and controlling of the rolling or production process.

    Measuring system PROgauge® at SMS group large bar mill

    Benefits

    • Contact-free measuring system
    • Information on complex key performance values enables faster process-related decisions
    • Profiles can be changed without intervention in the measuring unit – the software is switched over automatically.
    • High scanning rate (images per second)

  • (Hydraulic) Compact stand

    HCS® and CS stand

    Both the hydraulic compact stand HCS® and the compact stand CS are used in light and medium, large bar or billet mills for continuous or semi-continuous rolling. The mill stands are characterized by their compact closed housing design, and therefore extreme rigidity, and are perfectly suitable for rolling products within the tightest tolerances. The hydraulic adjustment of the HCS® allows the roll gap to be adjusted during rolling. Program changes can be performed quickly thanks to the automated and simultaneous stand and mill guide change sequences, with no need for inline adjustments.

    What HCS® offers in addition:

    • Hydraulic screw-down system for underload roll gap adjustment and overload protection
    • Hydraulic axial adjustment to compensate for axial failures in the rolling line
    • Capable of controlled rolling monitoring with integrated measuring gage
    Hydraulic compact stand at SMS group large bar mill at Xining Special Steel Co. in China

    Benefits

    • Roll and mill guide preparation is completed offline
    • Possibility to simultaneously change the mill stands
    • Long roller bearing lifetime thanks to use of oil-air lubrication

  • Cooling technology

    RailCool® and BeamCool®

    Whether it’s beams (BeamCool®) or rails (RailCool®), we offer special solutions for selective cooling. BeamCool® allows selective cooling of the web and flange to obtain residual stress straps and additionally increase strength to save alloying elements. RailCool® enables selective cooling for rail heads – rail head hardening – which drastically reduces wear. This cooling section also enables an inline quenching and tempering process (QST). 

    Rail at SMS group rail mill

  • X-Pact® Size control

    Hydraulic size control (HSC)

    The X-Pact® Hydraulic Size Control enables rolling the products as close as possible to their target dimensions along the entire product length. For this purpose, a constant roll position correction is set, which takes into account, for example, the influence of the temperature wedge.

    Further dimensional corrections to achieve the best product target dimensions are possible by a feedback from the PROgauge® measuring system.  

    SMS group Large Bar Mill at Sidenor Basauri in Spain

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