core sector communique

SMS SIEMAG

Hyundai Steel orders 4.3-m heavy-plate mill

Hyundai Steel, Republic of Korea, has placed an order with SMS Siemag, Germany, for the construction of a new 4.3-m heavy plate mill in Dangjin, Republic of Korea. The order comprises the supply of the mechanical equipment and the x-pact automation system. After the 5.0-m mill, which went on stream at the end of 2009, this is the second heavy-plate mill which SMS Siemag will be supplying to Hyundai Steel.

The 4-3-m mill is designed for an annual production of 1.5 million t of heavy-plate in thicknesses of 6 to 200 mm and widths of up to 4,100 mm. The product range covers mainly plates for ship-building and the construction industry. Commissioning of the plant is envisaged for the middle of 2013.

The min facilities of the heavy-plate mill are the descaler, the finishing stand with edger, the plate cooling system with pre-leveler, the hot-plate leveler, two cooling beds, the shearing line and the cold plate leveler. The mill will be operating with SMS Siemag’s X-Pact Level 1 and Level 2 automation system.

The 4.3-m mill stand has a roll foprce of 90 MN and is equipped with hydraulic adjustment system, the work-roll bending system and the CVC plus system (Continuously Variable Crown).

The plate cooling system is designed purely as a spray cooling system. Thanks to this innovative cooling system with high-pressure cooling  at the rear end of the facility, Hyundai Steel is able to attain very high cooling rates and varied cooling patterns. By installing pinch rolls, good plate uniformity is achieved also at high cooling rates.

The shearing line consists of a crop shear, a double-side trimming shear and two dividing shears. The four shears operate according to the rolling-cut principle and are designed for cutting high-strength plates up to a thickness of 50 mm.

The cold-plate leveler is designed for the leveling of plates with a thickness of 6to 50 mm. It is in 9/5 design and can thus level thinner, high-strength plates in the nine-roll mode and thicker plates in the five-roll mode.

At the same time, Hyundai Steel has also awarded SMS Siemag a contract for the expansion of the expansion of the 5.0-m heavy-plate mill supplied in 2009. With these investments, Hyundai Steel will be increasing the heavy-plate capacity in Dangjin to a total of 3.5 million tpy.