Rolling Yesterday, Today and

the Challenge for Tomorrow

Speaker:

Franz Holy (Austrian)

CTO of Evraz International Business Division

YESTERDAY,
TODAY,
THE CHALLENGE FOR TOMORROW

From todays vantage point, we know how the Wide Strip mills
(WSM) has revolutionized not just the steel industry, but the entire
industrial landscape. It was undoubtedly a major turning point for
the growth of modern industrial society. Like railways in the 19th c.
and the Internet in the 21st c. mass steel coil production was a
technology that unlocked growth in a range of consumer industries.

it was the automobile that led the way into the new America,
which came into being in the present century. The motor vehicle
evoked one of the steel industrys most important technological
changes. Because of the universality of sheet steel, it has more to
do than any other steel product than any other manufacturing
material in creating the new America. Sheet steel was the
magic carpet on which America rode to new adventures in living.

Source: Eppelsheimer, 1920

There is a Ribbon of Fire running around the World

It runs Day and Night
It runs out of the Past and into the Future
And it feeds the World
Few among millions know this
We are the Few who tend the Ribbon of Fire
Long may it serve us All
(Notice seen on an office wall at Inland Steels Indiana Harbor 80 HSM
in 1987. Author unknown)

The continuous WSM was a shift from simple to complex technology

It was not anymore possible for a single person to undestand all the
features of the complete rolling system. The major technologies which
allowed the change were
- 4-high mill stands allowing high roll forces
- Ward-Leonard controls to synchronize the mill stands
- Roller bearings to solve the friction problem at high roll forces
The WSM converged 2 developments:

- Sheet Mills (wide and short), rolled often in packs

- Strip Mills (narrow and long), rolled from billets/blooms

Along with the success of WSM also

- Cold Reduction and Cold Strip Mills developed, creating a new

quality of product which could withstand the stress of forming and
drawing
- The key element of the cold rolling process was that the reduction
was carried out under tension, a fact that contributed to the
geometrical and metallurgical properties of the cold strip
- Further many innovations took place in the continuous coating of the
new product, such as
- Electrolytic tinplating
- Galvanizing (Sendzimir/Bostroem process)
Due to complexity of strip processing the following concentrates only
on Wide Hot Strip Mills

YESTERDAY,
TODAY,
THE CHALLENGE FOR TOMORROW

Today,.Steel is modern, the development of grades has by far not

reached its end
Huge new capacities for Wide Strip have been installed all over the
world
While the principle of Wide Strip Rolling is unchanged, various
technologies have been developed to improve the product, the
requirements and the competitivness with other materials like
Aluminum

The most recent HSM (2050mm) on this planet (Usiminas Cubatao)

The most recent HSM (2050mm) on this planet (Usiminas Cubatao)

The most recent CPSM (2100/3800mm) on this planet (Gerdau Aominas)

The most versatile Mill on Planet: Gerdau CPSM

Steel Grades

Coils
Thickness
Width

2 20 mm
900 2100 mm

Steel Grades

Plates
Thickness
Width
Length

Pipeline (API)
Shipbuilding
Structural
HSLA
Pressure Vessel
Drawing

4.5 150 mm
900 3800 mm
3 18 m

Pipeline (API)
Shipbuilding
Structural
HSLA
Low Carbon
Pressure Vessel

TRENDS IN HOT ROLLING - NEW STEEL GRADES

MOTORS AND DRIVES

Non salient type rotor synchronous motors

Non-salient type rotor for

the main drive motors in
hot strip mills for
reducing the moment of inertia and torque
ripples
providing a very robust motor
right drive train solution for any
requirement

Sinamics SM 150 cabinets

simple and cost effective drive solutions

using Cyclo Converters
the newest Voltage Source Converters
for superior requirements
(high power scalability)

ADVANCED COOLING SYSTEMS

Strip cooling package are developed
for the production of advanced steel grades such as
HSLA, IF, DP, TRIP-steels or pipe-grades on hot strip mills

Quick switch
header

Intensive cooling
Cooling control: Keeping
the specific cooling curve of
materials

Laminar cooling /
Turbo laminar
cooling

ADVANCED COOLING SYSTEMS:

CONTROL YOUR PROPERTIES NOT JUST TEMPERATURES

Flexible cooling strategies enable you to adjust your cooling target

easily, whether it is a cooling temperature target, a cooling curve or
Microstructure control
material properties
temperature

ferrite fraction, pearlite fraction

900

0.5
0.4

800

0.3
0.2

700

0.1
600
274

Since year 2000

276

278

280

282

284

286

288

290

292

0.0
294

time [s]

surface temperature [C]

ferrite fraction

core temperature [C]

pearlite fraction

Strip
temperature

Since Year 2006

Before year 2000
cooling zone 1
(main cooling)

900

cooling zone 2
(main cooling)

cooling zone 3
(fine tuning)

850

Cooling curve control

800
750
700
650
600
550
500
450

20

40

60

80

100
TIME

120

140

160

180

Coiling temperature control

POWER COILER
Special features

First wrapper roll

as a twin-type
unit

RAPID steering unit with pre-bending roll

Design of 1st wrapper roll as a twin-type
unit (patent pending)
Application of precise force control on
first wrapper-roll unit
Installation of a 4th wrapper roll and
correspondingly shorter apron lengths for
reduced friction
Use of automatic step control

Main benefits

Proper and efficient pre-bending of

thicker strip gauges by the pinch-roll
Thus, a lower required power
consumption for coiling
Reliable and improved strip threading
and more compact coiling, especially for
thick-gauge,
high-strength steels

Wrapper rolls

Aprons

Mandrel

YESTERDAY,
TODAY,
THE CHALLENGE FOR TOMORROW

TRENDS IN HOT ROLLING - HIGH PRODUCT

QUALITY

Increasing demand for high quality products

Geometric properties
(uniformity, replicability of width, thickness, profile and flatness)

Surface properties
(prevention from damages to the hot rolled strip)

Suitability of strip for automobile skin production

Examples for future oriented technologies:

Level 2 Automation

Crown and flatness control technologies

Microstructure monitoring (MSM)

LEVEL 2 AUTOMATION

Levels 2 Automation systems provide

precise mathematical-physical setup
and control calculations

Models for all aspects of the rolling

process

Setup calculation models for

tight material property control
solutions

Adaption of physical parameters

Precise mill setup calculations

for speed and gap

Temperature controll in the finishing mill

MICROSTRUCTURE MONITORING (MSM)

Schematic view of data supply to the Microstructure monitor
and optimizer
Slab

T(t)
C, Mn, Si, Nb,

T, vi,i
T(t)

Steel properties
Microstructure Monitor
Microstructure Optimizer

Set point
steel properties

TRENDS IN PROCESS TECHNOLOGIES

Overview of "5 generations" of hot strip mills

Generation I

Time Period

Operating Mode

Raw Material

1926 - 1960

semi continuous

ingots slabs

Capacity Thickness
Mio t/a
mm

1.5 - 2.5

> 2.5

Number of
Finishing
Stands

Automation

hand / manual
Youngstown USA

Generation II

1960 - 1970

semi continuous

ingots slabs

3-4

> 1.5

semi automatic
Krupp Dortmund, GER

ingot slabs
Generation III

1970 - 1980

fully continuous

continuous
casting

5-6

> 0.8

7-9

semi automatic
HSM Chiba No. 3, JP

semi continuous
Generation IV

Generation V

1980 -

1990 -

"three-quarter"
continuous
CSP
ISP
Conroll DSC

continuous
casting

5-6

> 1.2

fully automatic
Shagang HSM, China

thin slabs

1.5 - 2.5

> 0.8

5-7

fully automatic
AK Mansfield, USA

SIXTH GENERATION - ENDLESS STRIP PRODUCTION (ESP)

Thin-Slab Caster (TSC)
Straight
Mould,
Ladle Turret
Hydraulic
Oscillator
Tundish
Car

High-Reduction Mill (HRM)

Dynamic
strand guide
(LCR)

Pendulum
Shear

Rotary Crop
Shear
Plate Pusher
Induction Heating (IH)
and Piler
DB-Insert
Finishing Mill
Thermotunnel

Cooling Line

High-Speed
Flying Shear

Downcoilers

High-Pressure
Descaler

Level
Casting
Platform

191 m

Thin slab caster with integrated slab

thickness reduction followed by
rolling in a high-reduction mill

Layout of Arvedi ESP line

Induction heating, shears and descaler

Finish rolling and strip cooling

High speed flying shear and downcoilers

ENDLESS STRIP PRODUCTION (ESP) PLANT FOR ULTRA-THIN HRC

Production of ultra-thin high-quality steel
grades

Challenge

Reduction of power requirements and

emissions
Satisfy current and future market
demands

Fully continuous strip production

Solution

Outstanding production capacity

Most compact line layout

Environmental
benefit

45% energy
50% CO2
50% length (190 m)

Typical
customer
benefit

High volume production of ultra thin strip

High quality strip
Lowest conversion costs from liquid
steel to Hot rolled coil

Source: Siemens VAI / ARVEDI ESP Plant in Cremona / Italy

Page 26

The ISP process has evolved and improved and after 20 years

of development has realized the original idea of a completely

endless process - ESP once a dream, now a reality.
(Giovanni Arvedi / Bessemer Gold Medal Award)

Arvedi ESP Performance data

Actual Production

340 t/h
161.000 t/m in July 11

Sequence length
10 Heats (2500t)
Max. production/day 27 Heats (6750t)/day
Yield
Casting speed
Breakout rate
Cobble rate
Steel grades

>98%
6.0 m/min
at thickness 80mm
0,07 %
No breakout for 650.000t
4 breakouts in 2010
0,06 %
Q1/2011
Low Carbon
Medium Carbon
HSLA

(Source: Siemens VAI)

Real Endless Strip Production

2-Step Rolling Step 2

Start up Performance May 2010 / Deviation Sum

0,20000

Hot Strip Standard

0,15000

Cold Strip Standard

Deviation [mm]

0,10000

2-Step rolling enables good

temperature control for thermomechanical rolling
Stable rolling conditions allow
good geometrical strip quality

0,05000
0,00000
-0,05000

Automotive Standard

-0,10000

Narrow Cold Strip Standard

Mean Value

-0,15000

Standard Deviation
-0,20000
0

0,5

1,5

2,5

3,5

Tickness [mm]

EN 10051

EN 10131

EN 10131 (narrow)

Reduced transient operation

conditions
No threading of heads leads to
lower wear, lower risk of
cobbles and same accuracy
along the whole strip

Real Endless Strip Production

2-Step Rolling Step 2

Precondition for production of

wide thin strips: Efficient
reheating of thin transfer bar
leads to lower rolling forces
Better surface quality than
other thin slab casting and
rolling processes as the
casting thickness and hence
the elongation is higher
Precondition for ESP-Crown adjustment
Inverse temperature profile at High Reduction Mill for lower
rolling forces
Precondition for ultra thin gauge rolling at full width
Finishing rolling at higher temperatures for lower rolling forces

Conventional work roll

contours at last mill stands
allows wear compensation

Real Endless Strip Production

Cooling

No increased risk of cobbles by flying

strip heads at decreasing strip
thickness
No exit speed limit decreases line
capacity like for batch processes
Full line performance at every strip
thickness at endless production
Constant operation behavior of the
cooling line at endless operation

Real Endless Strip Production

Cutting and Coiling

Straight cut!

No head and tail scrap

Cutting endless strips

leads to higher yield by
avoiding crop losses
Constant strip quality
along entire strip length
of endless coils
No change of thickness,
profile or flatness at head
and tail of coils!

Typical general space requirements

driving turnkey costs

0m

ESP
2,3 Mtpy

2-Strand Thin Slab

Casting and Rolling
2,8 Mtpy

Continuous Casting+
Slab yard+
Hot Strip Mill
4 Mtpy

100 m 200 m 300 m 400 m 500 m 600 m

approx.
20,000 m
8,7 m / Ktpy

approx.
60,000 m
21,4 m / Ktpy

approx.
100,000 m
25 m / Ktpy

Conclusio

The WSM is in a good shape, its living in its 5th and 6th generation
and new and important developments are on the way
This conference definitely shows the strength of the industry and the
people working in it, to deal with the future chanllenges of the 21st
century
And also I like to close the paper with 2 slides dealing with miners
expectations (Rio Tinto) of future ore and steel demand in the most
dynamic country, China, which should also should put in relation the
fear of weak markets and demands in a long term context