STEEL GRIPS online

Tata to promote Welsh locations

Thu, 10 May 2012 15:25:43 +0200

Indian steelmaker Tata decided to invest just under 1 billion Euro in the modernisation of their plants in Wales, Great Britain, over the coming 5 years.

ArcelorMittal Luxembourg enters into agreement to divest Enovos share

Thu, 10 May 2012 10:07:47 +0200

ArcelorMittal announces that it has entered into an agreement to divest its
23.48% interest in Enovos International SA to a fund managed by AXA Private Equity for a purchase price of 330 million Euro. This agreed transaction is in line with the declared group strategy of selective divestment of non-core assets.

Habas to enter into flats production

Tue, 08 May 2012 10:39:26 +0200

Turkish steelmaker Habas A.S. gave the starting shot to become a flat steel producer.

Acerinox to modernise stainless steel meltshop

Tue, 08 May 2012 10:19:38 +0200

At their Palmones works in Spain, stainless steel producer Acerinox decided to upgrade their stainless steel meltshop.

Mongstad faces opening of carbon capture plant

Tue, 08 May 2012 07:04:14 +0200

On May 7th, 2012, CO2 Technology Centre Mongstad sees the start-up of the carbon capture plant, which forms a basis for further development of the proprietary carbon capture technology. The amine plant is one of two plants at the centre.

BlueScope divested its Metl-Span Insulated Metal Panels Business

Thu, 03 May 2012 08:57:06 +0200

BlueScope announced the sale of Metl-Span, its North American steel insulated panels business, to NCI Group, Inc. (NCI).

100 years of stainless steel

Wed, 02 May 2012 11:44:27 +0200

Stainless steels are everywhere in our everyday lives – at work, at home or at leisure. Developed in Krupp’s research labs in Essen and first patented in 1912, they have been available since 100 years.

Outokumpu to modernise Tornio ferrochrome smelter

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 17:46:24 +0200

Outokumpu placed a contract for the manufacturing and installation of steel structures for the granulation basins at the ferrochrome smelter of their Tornio Ferrochrome Works in Finland. The contract is worth around EUR 4.5 million.

Ore for steel or steel for ore? Modern steel grades going for iron ore

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 10:36:51 +0200

Mining fever has swept a large part of Northern Sweden. Old mines are being re-opened apace and new ones are being planned. In Kiruna, the existing mine is being enlarged by building a new mine level at a depth of 1300 m. Northland Resources is making preparations to mine iron ore in Pajala, the first new mine for ages, located about 120 km East of Kiruna in Northern Sweden. The same company is also examining the possibility to open a mine in Hannukainen, in Kolari on the Finnish side of the border.

Andritz acquires Bricmont

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 10:41:53 +0200

Inductotherm group sells out their furnace business Bricmont Inc. to Andritz. Bricmont is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, and includes certain assets in China and India. The company has about 85 employees and generates sales of approximately 30 million Euro/a.

ThyssenKrupp Nirosta to extend production range

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 10:30:01 +0200

ThyssenKrupp Nirosta invests in an annealing and pickling line as well as a rolling mill for its Krefeld site. Thus, they aim at extending their production range to wide high-precision stainless steel strip.

Innoval now under Italian flag

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 10:06:55 +0200

Innoval Technology, provider of independent technical expertise to the global downstream aluminium industry, joins forces with Danieli Fröhling and Danieli Wean United to form Danieli Aluminium Strip Division.

JFE checks feasibility of steelworks in Vietnam

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 09:42:48 +0200

JFE Steel Corporation signed a memorandum of understanding with E United Group to study the feasibility of building and operating an integrated steelworks in Vietnam. The Taiwanese group, amongst others engaged in steel production and real estate, already has a construction site for a steelworks in the Dung Quat Economic Zone of Vietnam’s Quang Ngai Province. JFE Steel decided to study this option before considering opportunities in other countries.

Isothermal reoxidation of sponge iron

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 17:20:13 +0200

The isothermal reoxidation characteristics of four sponge iron samples of varying contents of free, metallic and total iron, as well as the degree of metallization were investigated over the temperature regime 500 – 800 °C.
Read, what measurements of the percentage weight gain as a function of time disclosed about isothermal reoxidation. Learn about the relationship between sponge iron grade and reoxidation. How is activation energy for reoxidation effected by Fe metallic in free state and degree of metallization?

Steel - where´s your future and when?

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 20:43:46 +0200

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Many data exist and many statistics are available on steel production and demand for this metal, anyway, each of them focusing a special field, may it be economics, economy, technology, steel production figures or steel consumption, may it be restricted to national or may it be extended to international regions ... ...
To be able to track down how to cope with this challenge, I tried to pull together several studies and forecasts by management consultants, bankers, steel associations, and personal communications and an included face-to-face interview. The result may provide us with a better basis to decide about where and when future will happen.
Whatever you will conclude from this report, one thing is for sure: You can´t adjust the wind, however, you can adjust the sails!

Greenfield project: ADA ordered rebar mill

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 18:45:37 +0200

Private owned ADA - Aceria de Angola, SA decided to build a complete mill for the production of 500000 t/a steel rebars on the Luanda sea side.

ThyssenKrupp modernises converter cooling system

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 11:44:50 +0200

ThyssenKrupp started to get the cooling system modernised at one of the two converters of their Bruckhausen site.

Aluminium silicon matrix composite materials reinforced by a preceramic polymer

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 18:50:00 +0200

This investigation focuses composite materials of SiCN-type in a base AlSi metal matrix obtained from the pyrolsis of an organometallic compound.
The possibility of taking advantage of outstanding properties of the constituent materials to meet specific requirements is the most important motivation for the development of such AlSi/SiCN composites.
How will the phases transform between the AlSi matrix and the polyureasilazane and which chemical reactions will take place? Is it possible for AlN particles to be formed by the in-situ reaction of a mixture of polyureasilazane and AlSi melts? Which phases will be given evidence by X-ray diffraction patterns?

Chemcoater entered into operation on coil-coating line 3 Siegerland

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:12:00 +0200

The new chemcoater is operating on coil-coating line 3 at ThyssenKrupp´s Siegerland location at Kreuztal-Eichen. Workflow is improved thanks to the reduction of waste water and chemicals consumption.

Investment into CC6 to benefit from synergy effects with CC5

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:14:36 +0200

Germany-based AG der Dillinger Hüttenwerke invests around 300 million Euro in CC6 for the manufacturing of slabs with improved homogeneity for heavy plates. The design of this two-strand vertical thick-slab caster corresponds to that of the existing CC5 line, so as to achieve synergy effects in the fields of operation, servicing and maintenance.

Jubilee weekend for Europe's biggest blast furnace

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:33:03 +0200

This February´s first weekend, Schwelgern blast furnace No. 2 in Duisburg/Germany is
going to produce its 70 millionth t of hot metal. This record will be obtained within the first furnace campaign which started in autumn 1993.

Decarburization and clogging behaviour of yttria stabilized zirconia coatings applied to SEN´s Al2O3-C refractories by plasma PVD

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:33:11 +0200

Carbon oxidation is a main industrial problem for alumina-graphite refractory base materials used in commercial submerged entry nozzles (SEN) during preheating. Thus, the effects of plasma spray-PVD coating of yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) powders on carbon oxidation were investigated.
Laboratory preheating trials were performed under non-isothermal heating conditions in controlled atmosphere, applying temperature profiles based on industrial preheating trials.
Read, whether YSZ plasma-PVD coated alumina-graphite refractory base materials show better effective resistance to carbon oxidation. Which thickness must an effective coating layer have?
Will it also resist high temperatures and different atmospheres?
What will happen if a highly Ce-alloyed heat is melted instead of conventional steel grades? Will Ce reduce alumina, and what about clogging?

On the bursting of an HSLA steel rocket motor case during proof pressure testing

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:15:44 +0200

One of the high strength low alloy (HSLA) steel rocket motor cases bursted during proof pressure testing. Various empirical relations for the burst pressure are examined to identify a simple reliable design formula. An inverse Romberg-Osgood relation is used to represent the stress-strain curve of the material.
Read how the strain hardening exponent required in the empirical relations for the burst pressure is evaluated from Young's modulus, yield strength and ultimate tensile strength of the material. Elasto-plastic finite element analysis has been carried out to examine the adequacy of the design. Experimental stress analysis has been carried out from the measured strains.
How close are FEM results to those of the proof pressure test? Which accurateness is obtained for faikure pressure estimation when utilizing the achieved strength properties?

Studies on aspects of mechanical property relations in QST rounds

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:51:32 +0200

What do laboratory tests reveal about tensile properties, chemical composition, microstructure and hardness, performed with as-rolled samples ofQST bars and rods? Will correlations of yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, and percentage elongation with the percentage of the cross-sectional area establish any trend? What does the hardness profile disclose?

Influence of calcium treatment on non-metallic inclusion morphology and mechanical properties of Pb-free resulphurized machinable steel

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:50:06 +0200

Resulphurized machinable steel is widely used as material for industrial machinery parts due to its better machinability compared to other categories of steels. The conventional resulphurized machinable steel contains lead to improve its machinability. However, with the growing consciousness of environmental issues in the recent years, there is a tendency towards eliminating lead because it seems to be one of the pollutants of our environment.
Read how this dilemma can be overcome in developing resulphurized machinable steel free of lead without deterioration of machinability.
Which results are obtained from experiments as far as the mechanical properties and machinability of Al-contained Ca-treated resulphurized machinable steels are concerned, in comparison to lead-free machining steel?

Modelling the thermal conditions in the continuous-casting secondary cooling zone by computer algebra

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:26:07 +0200

This investigation gives more insight into the fundamentals of slab and thin slab casters. How can slab surface temperature and the position of the liquid crater tip be approximated by computer-algebraic algorithms? Will the knowledge of the thermal conditions in continuous casting moulds and secondary cooling zone help to achieve this aim?

Read about case studies on the influence of various cooling strategies on the position of the liquid crater tip and on slab surface temperature, and about very promising first applications to practical operation.

A study on the electro-synthesis of zinc oxide films

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 22:16:32 +0200

Thin films of zinc oxide (ZnO) were grown by potentiostatic and galvanostatic cathodic deposition onto Cu, stainless steel, Ag and glassy carbon electrode (GCE) substrates from a simple aqueous zinc nitrate electrolyte. The electrode position process has been studied by linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and chronoamperometry techniques. A parametric study was carried out by varying the deposition temperature and the substrate.
Read, how the nature of the substrates (Cu, Ag, stainless steel, GCE) influence the electrochemical behaviour of the system. See the effect of various operating conditions, e.g., the applied voltage, deposition time, bath temperature and bath stirring.
Which are the optimum deposition parameters? Does surface morphology of ZnO films vary if deposited under different conditions? What will SEM and XRD pattern disclose?

Assessing the failure of cylindrical pressure vessels due to longitudinal weld misalignment

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 07:26:03 +0200

Failure assessment was made on cylindrical pressure vessels containing longitudinal weld misalignment performing finite element analysis (FEA).
A 20° section of the cylindrical shell wall was modelled utilizing the plane strain element (plane 182) with the longitudinal weld in the centre of section. The weld misalignment was introduced by shifting the position of the cylindrical section on one side of the weld relative to the other section.
Read which agreement was obtained between failure pressure estimates from FEA based on the global plastic deformation and existing test results on vessels made of Afnor 15CDV6 steel and maraging steels.

voestalpine reorganising

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 17:34:56 +0200

In their latest meeting, the voestalpine AG Supervisory Board decided to change the group structure and, accordingly, the Management Board.

Study of slag droplet formation in a gas-stirred ladle using cold models

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 18:31:44 +0200

Two cold models were employed to simulate the formation of slag droplets in a gas-stirred ladle. How do gas flow rate and interfacial tension between bath liquid and top liquid effect droplet size?
Further, a semi-empirical model was developed to describe the size of the droplets of the water model. What else can it be used for with reasonably good agreement?

Dynamic modelling of steel, slag and gas reactions during initial blowing in a top-blown converter

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 06:46:00 +0200

A coupling between computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and thermodynamics has recently been done. In the current model improvement, a more realistic model was developed, where the numbers of gas species and slag phases were increased. For each simulation the transport of momentum, energy and mass of species as well as the thermodynamic equilibrium in each cell containing at least two phases was treated.
Read how this calculation procedure can handle dynamic simulations of interaction between an oxygen gas jet, a melt and a slag. How is the agreement between the predicted rate of decarburization and experimental data?
Which findings were achieved from the simulation of four cases varying the temperature, the dissolved carbon content and the dissolved oxygen content?

Novelis to extend aluminum production in Korea

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 07:58:55 +0200

Novelis Korea Ltd. invests in their aluminum rolling mill in Ulsan/Korea to increase production capacity and to allow rolling of high-grade strip.

ASAS Aluminium investing in homogenization

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 10:42:27 +0200

Turkish manufacturer Asas Aluminyum Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S. (ASAS) has ordered a continuous homogenizing plant.

A simulation strategy to compute long-term die heating during radial forging

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 13:20:32 +0200

Incremental forging processes like radial forging become more and more crucial in industry due to their outstanding economic performance, their high flexibility and their advantageous compressive stress states. However, nowadays a basic method to analyze forging processes, FEM simulation is still a very time consuming procedure and needs complex models to implement incremental processes. Especially long term studies with focus on tool temperature development during several hours of production cannot be performed with classical FEM models for radial forging. The main problem in modelling is the high operating frequency of the forging devices, which leads to small necessary time steps and, therefore, to inacceptable calculation time due to numerous simulations that have to be run to complete a cogging process sequence. Steady state in die temperature is often only reached after processing several workpieces. Hence, it is necessary to use a simplified FE-model of the forging process to predict the steady state temperature of the forging dies. In the present work a simplified FE-model is established to investigate the steady state temperature of the dies. This approach is verified by metallographic studies proving its accuracy.

voestalpine Stahl hit another goal in their modernisation efforts

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 14:59:15 +0200

voestalpine Stahl GmbH in Linz is continually modernizing and increasing production capacities. The target is to increase steel production to approximately 6 million t/a. Recently, the new continuous casting line for ultra-thick slabs, CC7, went life.

Meet STEEL GRIPS in Düsseldorf on November 10th, 2011

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 10:23:23 +0200

Influence of slag properties on the amount of solid precipitates in high-chromium EAF steelmaking

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 12:45:46 +0200

The total amount of solid particles as a parameter influencing the viscosity and the foaming properties of the slag was investi-gated. In this context, the amount of these particles for different process conditions was quantified. In addition, the effect of the process conditions on the total amount of the particles was studied. More specifically, some parameter studies were carried out in order to determine the influence of chromium oxide (Cr2O3) content, calcium oxide (CaO) content, basicity and temperature on the total amount of solid particles. The interactions between the process conditions were also taken into account.
The results were visualized in diagrams and thereafter discussed in detail.

Application of computer algebraic investigations of the thermally interconnected systems ladle, tundish, mould

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 23:24:56 +0200

This investigation focuses practical application of the computer algebraic model controlling superheat in continuous casting. One application is the long-term prediction and online control of the mean tundish temperature in casting sequences. It can be shown that calculation and measurement never differed from each other more than the inexactness of temperature dip-measurement. The mathematical relation between the mean superheat in the tundish and the optimum casting rate is also given. Some calculations simulating the steel temperature in the ladle and the tundish as functions of time are discussed. It is possible to predict the order temperature for the next ladle in the sequence, considering the actual casting situation.

Basics of computer algebraic investigations of the thermally interconnected systems ladle, tundish, mould

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 12:44:09 +0200

Computer algebraic methods represent a suitable tool for the calculation of the steel temperature in the ladle during ladle transport and teeming as well as the mean steel temperature in the tundish. The mean steel temperature in the tundish is defined by the mean value theorem of the integral calculus. The mass and energy balances of the tundish provide a time dependent differential equation which can be solved analytically for steady-state casting conditions. It is possible to predict the optimum order temperature for the next ladle in a sequence for constant ladle teeming rate, constant casting speed and constant tundish weight. This allows an improvement in order to keep the superheat during the sequence.

Slab caster for PT Gunung

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 11:04:38 +0200

At its Bekasi works in the Indonesian province of West Java, PT. Gunung operates a long-product line for the production of sections and wire rods, as well as a flat-product line for the production of heavy plates and pipes. Slabs were

Calvert plant sees ramp-up of another mill section

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 10:31:02 +0200

A hot strip annealing and pickling line and a second 20-roll cold rolling mill are ramped up in the Calvert plant of ThyssenKrupp, Alabama to manufacture coils of special widhts. This additional line expands annual capacity to over 200000 t of cold-rolled strip.

Çolakoğlu increases EAF productivity

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:05:08 +0200

Turkish steel producer Çolakoğlu Metalurji A.S. finished modernisation of their No. 1 EAF in their Gebze Plant. The upgrade involved renewing a large part of the mechanical equipment, e.g., the lower and upper shells, gantry, lifting columns and furnace cover. New current conducting electrode arms for electrodes of up to 800 mm in diameter were also installed.
Shell volume was increased by around 20%, keeping tap weight constant. The furnace can now produce over 2.5 million t of steel per year.

Shanxi Zhongyang to boost production with three mini finishing mills

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 13:08:53 +0200

Shanxi Zhongyang Iron and Steel Company Ltd. (Zisco) decided to extend each of its three rod mills by a high-speed mini finishing mill.

Mozambique going for coal gasification

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 10:45:22 +0200

One specific CTL (coal-to-liquid) project in Mozambique is currently in the design phase. Upon movement into the implementation phase, the technology will be utilized to process the domestic coal from a coal mine in Moatize, Mozambique.
Clean fuels will be produced for dometic utilisation as well as for export to neighbouring countries.

Localized corrosion behaviour of nickel-free high-nitrogen 19Cr-18Mn-0.69N austenitic stainless steel in 3.5-% NaCl

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 12:05:40 +0200

Corrosion behaviour of 19Cr-18Mn-0.69N austenitic stainless steel was studied by cyclic polarization technique in 3.5 % NaCl solution and was compared with that of other austenitic stainless steels having different compositions namely, AISI 316L and one with 14% Cr and 8% Mn, denoted 14Cr-8Mn in the following. The results showed that

Optimising steel production in electric arc furnaces

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 12:13:24 +0200

Over the past few decades the steel industry’s commitment to sustainable production has resulted in significant progress in reducing the consumption of natural resources and energy as well as in reducing production residues, by-products and air emissions. Substantial improvements were obtained, not only in integrated steelmaking but also in electric steelmaking.
In order to illustrate the steel industry´s efforts in achieving sustainability, the present paper deals with the recent achievements from the use of an expert system, which was installed on the two electric arc furnaces (EAF) at Riva Verona Works

Stemcor acquires majority stake in Spanish steel service centre

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 14:34:51 +0200

Steel trader Stemcor acquired two thirds of the share capital of Spanish steel service centre Servi-chap 99 SL (Servichap) via a capital increase. The remaining share capital is to be retained by the existing shareholders, Managing Director Jose Maria Alonso Gutierrez and minority investor Quipplan Technos SL.

ThyssenKrupp Elevator acquired United Elevator

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 14:23:43 +0200

ThyssenKrupp Elevator has acquired all assets in the United Elevator Company, Inc., located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA). The company, which has been in operation for over 50 years focuses on maintenance, repair and modernization of elevators. In addition to its corporate offices in Philadelphia, they have branches in Atlantic City (New Jersey) and Wilmington (Delaware).

Tata completed upgrade of rail manufacturing plant

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 08:59:41 +0200

Tata Steel Europe opened its upgraded rail production facility in North-East France.

Updated Guide for authors

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 19:06:37 +0200

An actual version of author´s guidelines is available.