System supplier SMS Siemag receives order from China. SMS Siemag to supply cold rolling and strip processing lines for record strip width to Benxi

In April 2013, Chinese Bengang Steel Plates Co. Ltd. (Benxi) placed an order with SMS Siemag, Germany, for the supply of a pickling line/tandem cold mill and two continuous annealing lines. In addition, MET/Con is providing technical support and know-how for the production of high-quality automotive grades on these lines. With these grades, Benxi will be entering the market for premium interior and exposed automotive parts.

The lines are part of the new Cold Rolling Mill No. 3 to be installed in the northern Chinese province of Liaoning. As of summer 2015, the new facilities will produce more than two million t of high-grade pickled, cold-rolled and annealed steel strip, including high-strength grades such as DP and TRIP.

A highlight of this project is the record strip width: This pickling line/tandem cold mill and annealing line will be the first in the world to be able to process strips with widths of up to 2,150 mm. Besides the design of the mechanical equipment and the fabrication of sophisticated core components SMS Siemag's supply scope includes the supervision of the local fabrication as well as of the equipment installation and commissioning.

The pickling line/tandem cold mill will come with a highly efficient turbulence-tank pickling system and a five-stand six-high tandem cold mill, equipped with the new combined CVC plus^®/ESS technology. The line will be designed for 1,000 to 2,150-mm-wide strips with entry thicknesses between 1.2 and 6.0 mm, which can be rolled down to gages between 0.3 and 2.5 mm. Total annual capacity will be approx. 2.3 million tons, including ultra-high-strength and martensitic steel grades.

Highlights of the two continuous annealing lines are the annealing furnaces from Drever, which will provide highly efficient and environmentally friendly operation, a high production capacity and a comprehensive product range, as well as the inline skinpass mills for perfect strip surfaces. Except for the strip widths they can handle, the lines will be more or less identical. While one line will be able to process strips up to the record width of 2,150 mm, the maximum strip width of the other line will be 1,630 mm. Together, the two lines will be able to produce almost two million tons of high-grade cold strip.

Once again, Benxi is relying on the competence and experience of SMS Siemag: A hot rolling mill and two six-high reversing cold mills supplied by SMS Siemag commenced operation in 2007 and 2008. Two 20-roll cold rolling mills from SMS Siemag successfully rolled their first stainless steel strips in fall 2012.

More than two million tons of pickled, rolled and annealed steel strips will be produced by Benxi starting from 2015.

Based on SMS Group information