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SMS Meer to Provide High-Capacity Wire Rod Mill for ArcelorMittal Hochfeld
Sep. 4, 2008 ArcelorMittal Hochfeld GmbH, Germany, has placed an order with SMS Meer for the supply of a complete high-capacity wire rod mill with FRS® technique for high-grade steels.
The new wire rod mill will have an annual capacity of 690,000 tonnes, with the major portion of production in cold-heading steel grades. It will be designed for the production of wire rod in high-grade steels, and will be characterized by its compactness and efficiency.
SMS Meer’s scope comprises a walking-beam furnace, the mechanical and electrical equipment for the mill train, all supply systems, finishing facilities for the wire-rod coils, and the entire rolling and cooling equipment. SMS Meer will also provide erection/installation.
The walking-beam furnace will process 155-mm square billets at an output of up to 120 tonnes/hour. It is followed by a four-stand roughing train comprising housingless stands with downstream free runout and an intermediate train consisting of 14 cantilever stands, each in horizontal and vertical arrangement. The wire rod outlet comprises a cooling and equalizing section in loop arrangement, a six-stand wire rod block, and a four-stand FRS® (Flexible Reduction and Sizing) block, both in ultra-heavy duty arrangement. The wire-rod and FRS blocks are each followed by a water cooling line.
The core component of the mill is the FRS block together with the proven cooling and equalizing section. The supply scope thus also includes the 104-m-long LCC® (loop cooling conveyor) for forced and retarded cooling, a total of three water cooling lines and the CCT® (controlled cooling technology) system developed by SMS Meer.
These facilities provide temperature-controlled rolling, which enables the production of wire rod over the entire dimensional range of 5.5 to 25.0 mm. Combined with thermomechanical rolling, the new mill will ensure the production of ultra-fine microstructures that are especially important for cold-heading grades. The maximum rolling speed for 5.5 mm wire rod is 120 meters/second.
The new wire rod mill is to go into production in August 2010.
SMS group is, under the holding SMS GmbH, a group of companies internationally active in plant construction and mechanical engineering for the steel and nonferrous metals industry. It consists of the two Business Areas SMS Demag and SMS Meer, which jointly form SMS metallurgy. In 2007, some 8000 employees worldwide
generated a turnover of about EUR 3.0 billion.