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Yichang Three Gorges Orders Continuous Annealing Lines from SMS Siemag
Jan. 20, 2010 Yichang Three Gorges Quantong Colored and Galvanized Plate Co., Ltd. has placed an order with SMS Siemag for the supply of two continuous annealing lines. Both lines will process ultra-thin sheet, which will then be electroplated and used as packaging material.
The commissioning of the first line is scheduled for May 2011. The second line will follow a month later.
The SMS Siemag supply scope includes the design and manufacturing of the mechanical equipment as well as erection and commissioning. The two annealing furnaces supplied by Drever International will be powered with electricity. SMS Siemag notes that a newly developed technological highlight is the pre-heating zones, which will be operated by heat recovered from the gas-cooling zones.
The lines are designed for strips with a gauge of 0.14 to 0.4 mm and widths ranging from 1000 to 1250 mm. The process speed in each furnace is 600 m/min, though 720 m/min can be reached in the entry section and 750 m/min in the exit section, according to SMS Siemag. The lines each have a capacity of 350,000 tonnes per annum. The ultra-thin sheet processed is in grades CQ, T3, T4, and T5.
Both lines contain two uncoilers, laser-welding machine, cleaning section, entry accumulator, Drever furnace, intermediate loop tower, two skin-pass mill stands (for dry or wet operating mode), exit strip accumulator, inspection stand, flying shear, and two recoilers. A tension leveler is also situated in one of the lines, downstream of the skin-pass mill stands.
Yichang Three Gorges is erecting a complete steel plant in the vicinity of the Three Gorges Dam in Hubei province in the central part of south China. The works will process hot strip into coated ultra-thin sheet for the packaging industry.
SMS Siemag AG is a company of the SMS group, which is, under the roof of 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 two business areas: SMS Siemag and SMS Meer. In 2008, some 8900 employees worldwide generated a turnover of more than EUR 3.6 billion.