Steel Times International September 2020

HYDROGEN & STEELMAKING

ROLLING

WORKFORCE

WELDING

Siemens on how to decarbonise the steel industry

Using artificial intelligence to reduce profile and flatness failures

Claudia Atunes explains the thinking behind the Optima Project

The nature of welding and its relationship with the steel industry

Since 1866

www.steeltimesint.com September 2020 - Vol.44 No6

STEEL TIMES INTERNATIONAL – September 2020 – Vol.44 No6

STAINLESS STEEL – THE REAL MIRACLE METAL STI Cover.indd – read OK MM (Editorial).indd 1

17/09/2020 06:08:02

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06.07.20 09:48

CONTENTS – SEPTEMBER 2020

HYDROGEN & STEELMAKING

ROLLING

WORKFORCE

WELDING

Siemens on how to decarbonise the steel industry

Using artificial intelligence to reduce profile and flatness failures

Claudia Atunes explains the thinking behind the Optima Project

The nature of welding and its relationship with the steel industry

Since 1866

www.steeltimesint.com September 2020 - Vol.44 No6

STEEL TIMES INTERNATIONAL – September 2020 – Vol.44 No6

Front cover photo courtesy of Michael Gaida, Düsseldorf, Germany

2 Leader

By Matthew Moggridge, editor, Steel Times International.

4 News round-up The latest global news.

STAINLESS STEEL – THE REAL MIRACLE METAL STI Cover.indd – read OK MM (Editorial).indd 1

17/09/2020 06:08:02

EDITORIAL Editor Matthew Moggridge Tel: +44 (0) 1737 855151 matthewmoggridge@quartzltd.com Consultant Editor Dr. Tim Smith PhD, CEng, MIM Production Editor Annie Baker

11 USA update COVID is not the only problem 13 Latin America update COVID-19 and Latin American steel

Advertisement Production Martin Lawrence SALES International Sales Manager Paul Rossage paulrossage@quartzltd.com Tel: +44 (0) 1737 855116 Sales Director Ken Clark kenclark@quartzltd.com Tel: +44 (0) 1737 855117

17 & 37 Innovations The latest contracts and new products from international plant builders and suppliers.

Failure analysis 22 The nature of welding and its relationship with the steel industry 28 Failure Mode Effect Analysis (FMEA)

Managing Director Tony Crinion tonycrinion@quartzltd.com Tel: +44 (0) 1737 855164 Chief Executive Officer Steve Diprose SUBSCRIPTION Elizabeth Barford Tel +44 (0) 1737 855028 Fax +44 (0) 1737 855034 Email subscriptions@quartzltd.com

1

Special & Stainless Steels 45 Making eco-friendly waves 48 Stainless steels and hygiene 51 Hydrogen Hydrogen-based green ironmaking for a low-carbon environment in India 52 Rolling Reducing profile and flatness failures 55 Environment Steeling ourselves for change 58 Perspectives Q&A: Berry Metal Business conditions are improving 60 History Merthyr’s most successful ironworks

35

22

32 Workforce Growing old gracefully

Steel Times International is published eight times a year and is available on subscription. Annual subscription: UK £195.00 Other countries: £270.00 2 years subscription: UK £350.00 Other countries: £485.00 ) Single copy (inc postage): £45.00 Email: steel@quartzltd.com Published by: Quartz Business Media Ltd,

35 Hydrogen steelmaking Siemens on decarbonisation

Quartz House, 20 Clarendon Road, Redhill, Surrey, RH1 1QX, England.

Tel: +44 (0)1737 855000 Fax: +44 (0)1737 855034 www.steeltimesint.com Steel Times International (USPS No: 020-958) is published monthly except Feb, May, July, Dec by Quartz Business Media Ltd and distributed in the US by DSW, 75 Aberdeen Road, Emigsville, PA 17318-0437. Periodicals postage paid at

38 Rolling Bar and rod mill for Yongxing Special Stainless Steel, Huzhou City, China

Emigsville, PA. POSTMASTER send address changes to Steel Times International c/o PO Box 437, Emigsville, PA 17318-0437.

Printed in England by: Pensord, Tram Road, Pontlanfraith, Blackwood, Gwent NP12 2YA, UK ©Quartz Business Media Ltd 2020

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ISSN0143-7798

www.steeltimesint.com

Contents.indd – read MM not OK yet.indd 1

September 2020

17/09/2020 09:03:20

2

LEADER

A virtual Future Steel Forum for 2020? What’s not to like?

Matthew Moggridge Editor matthewmoggridge@quartzltd.com

I’ve been looking back over recent leader articles, as I tend to do when it’s time to write this column. In truth, I always have a few ideas in my head. However, I notice that all of my missives, going back to March, revolve around COVID-19 and how we’re not out of the woods yet or we’ve got to stick it out and so forth.

Infact, when I look back over our news pages, it’s interesting to note that, early on, there are loads of virus-related images, but they fade out as the months pass. In this issue’s news pages there’s just one related graphic at the top left hand side of page seven, which is odd when you consider that global media companies are pedalling doom and gloom around a second wave of the pandemic.

The problem with trying to create a panic among the people with stories of a virus comeback is that, in a sense, people have moved on, and that awful phrase, ‘the new normal’, has come into play.

On a personal note, now that I’m back at work on a ‘week-on, week-off’ basis, I too find myself forgetting about the virus, but not in an irresponsible sense (unlike the ‘covidiots’ I wear a mask and adhere to social distancing rules). I suppose it’s

best not to get too complacent as winter is coming and who knows what it will bring?

For Steel Times International, the ‘new normal’ means a virtual Future Steel Forum in November as it’s doubtful whether people will travel and who can blame them? Personally, the very thought of flying with a mask on is horrendous, and shaking hands with international delegates is probably asking for trouble.

So a virtual event it is and what’s not to like? My aim as ‘conference director’ is to keep the programme on the cutting edge.

I’m hoping it will remain roughly the same as planned, with a few additions.

So if you’re one of those people who look down their noses at the idea of a virtual conference, look at the upsides: you get exactly the same programme as the original live event, you get to watch the whole thing without having to travel anywhere, you can sit there, laptop on lap, on the sofa, munching your favourite snack items and, if you really must, you can watch it in your pants or wearing a psychedelic onesie with stick-up ears – and to cap it all, the live event in Prague is back in 2021 and I’m looking for speakers.

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September 2020

leader – read OK MM..indd 1

www.steeltimesint.com

17/09/2020 08:53:49

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4

NEWS ROUND-UP

• Tenaris and Severstal are building a US$240 million welded pipe plant designed to produce oil country tubular goods (OCTG) products. The new plant will be located in Siberia and will come on stream next year (2021).

According to online media reports it will reach full capacity in 2024. Severstal will own 51% of the plant and Tenaris 49%.

Source: Sputnik News, 10 August 2020.

German steelmaker thyssenkrupp is to invest in a new walking beam furnace in its Duisburg Hot Strip Mill 2 as part of the company's Strategy 20-30. The new equipment will ensure a significantly improved surface quality of premium sheets, which are used for exterior car body shells.

The first orders will be placed shortly, and completion is scheduled for 2022.

Source: ThyssenKrupp, 10 August 2020.

• Shagang Group chairman Shen Wenrong expects 80Mt of new steel production to enter the Chinese domestic market in the current year. He claims the new capacities will be part and parcel of capacity replacement plans (capacity replacing old or idled mills) and will likely lead to oversupply in local markets.

The report also claims that Li Xinchuang, vice chair of the Chinese Steel Association, believes such a capacity increase will have a big impact on the market.

Source: Steel Orbis, 11 August 2020.

• The US steel industry’s capacity utilisation rate rose to 60.4% for the week ending 8 August, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). It’s good news in a sense, but the figure is way down from the previous year’s 79.1%.

Production figures for the same week were up 2%, but year-over-year fell 26.5%. Source: AISI.

• As US steelmakers fail to produce enough highperformance steel for the automotive industry, news emerges that Trump has waived additional tariffs on 78% of Japanese steel and aluminium imports and had already waived tariffs on 64% of the same material back in June. In March, tariffs of 25% on Japanese steel and 10% on aluminium had been announced, but it turns out these duties were waived on most products.

Source: Nikkei Asian Review, 11 August 2020.

• July 2020 production at JSW Steel in India has dropped 5% to 1.24Mt from 1.31Mt last July. The company claims it was hit badly by the spread of COVID-19 close to its Vijayanagar steel mill. Joint managing director Seshagiri Rao said that 13,000 employees had been accommodated within the company’s colony and nobody was allowed in or out. A separate loading and unloading zone had been set up and the spread of the virus is now completely controlled.

Source: Hindu Business Line, 11 August 2020.

• During the first four months of the current Iranian year, sponge iron and crude steel production in Iran has increased by 11% and 8% respectively, according to Iranian Mines & Mining Industries Development and Renovation. The report claims that production of concentrate, pellets, sponge iron, and crude steel has increased by one, 2, 11 and 8%, respectively, compared to the same period last year.

Source: Mehr News Agency, 12 August 2020.

• Tata Steel Thailand is sticking to its sales projections for the business despite the fact that the domestic steel industry is likely to contract by 6.9%. The company is claiming that it will be close to sales of 1.1Mt because of its supply contracts with multi-billion-baht projects. The projects in question include the Thai-Chinese high-speed rail development and other significant rail-based projects.

Source: Bangkok Post, 11 August 2020.

September 2020

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NEWS ROUND-UP

• ThyssenKrupp has sold its elevator business to a bidding consortium led by Advent International and Cinven.

Agreement had been reached earlier in the year and it is believed that the contractually agreed purchase price was $17.2 billion.

Source: Robots and Automation News, 12 August 2020.

• Problems loom for Japan’s second largest steelmaker, JFE. The company is warning of a net loss of 100 billion yen (US$937 million) between now and March 2021. The reason?

You guessed it, COVID-19.

A restructuring programme announced in March 2020 might be speeded up, according to Koji Kakiki, the company’s president. Steel capacity will be reduced 13% if a blast furnace at JFE’s Keihin plant is shut down.

Source: Reuters, 12 August 2020.

5

• ArcelorMittal, the world’s biggest steelmaker, has announced plans to build an electric steelmaking facility at its AM/NS Calvert mill in Alabama, USA. On completion, the new mill will be capable of producing 1.5Mt of steel slab and a broad spectrum of steel grades for Calvert’s end-user markets. The new facility will create 300 jobs.

Source: ArcelorMittal, 12 August 2020.

• Russian steelmaker NLMK Group, which claims to be the largest steelmaker in Russia and one of the most efficient in the world, took on the role of strategic partner in the GreenTech Start-up Booster (GTSB), Russia's first accelerator for environmental start-ups.

Sergey Chebotarev, NLMK Group's vice president for energy and environment, participated in the launch of GTSB, which is organised by the Skolkovo Foundation and supported by the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment.

Source: NLMK, 13 August 2020.

• Having announced that July 2020 production was down 5% in July when compared with the same period in 2019, Indian steelmaker JSW has since claimed that utilization rates have crept up to 83% and that production had increased on a monthon-month basis across all product categories.

Source: Mysteel Global, 13 August 2020.

• Pressure is mounting on ThyssenKrupp to sell its ailing steel division as it faces losses in the region of 1 billion Euros (US$1.2 billion). It seems that all options are open to the company, including joining forces with big players such as India’s Tata Steel, Sweden’s SSAB or Germany’s Salzgitter – all of whom are considered potential partners according to a report by Reuters.

Source: Reuters, 13 August 2020.

• It looks as if Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) – India’s state-owned steelmaker – is about to appoint its first female chairperson. Soma Mondal (pictured left) has been recommended for the role by the Public Enterprises Selection Board and is currently the commercial director of the business.

She will succeed Anil Kumar Chaudhary who retires in December. Source: Times of India, 13 August 2020.

• The shipping industry in South Korea is not happy with POSCO’s intention of setting up its Global Smart Platform (GSP) as shippers believe the move will weaken the industry and encourage other conglomerates to join in. The South Korean steelmaker is sticking to its guns as it wants to transform itself into an advanced logistics platform based on artificial intelligence. Source: Korea Times, 12 August 2020.

• South Korean steelmaker POSCO has succeeded in mass-producing lead-free free-cutting steel in response to rising environmental concerns over the presence of lead in products currently on the market. POSCO claims it has been producing graphitebased free-cutting steel since June. Free-cutting steel is used predominantly in the automotive and IT sectors where precision is the name of the game.

Source: Korea Times, 13 August 2020.

• Commercial Metals Company (CMC) plans to build a third micro mill and it will be the first in the world to produce merchant bar quality products using a ‘continuous-continuous’ production process. The new mill, in Mesa, Arizona, USA, will replace higher cost rebar capacity and allow the company to meet West Coast demand for rebar and MBQ products. “We are excited by the tremendous promise of CMC’s third micro mill,” said Barbara Smith, chairman, president and CEO. Source: Commercial Metals Company, 13 August 2020.

September 2020

Industry news.indd – read OK MM .indd 2

16/09/2020 09:17:12

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7

NEWS ROUND-UP

• Indian steelmakers appear to be recovering fast from the trials and tribulations of COVID-19. An online report by Argus claims that Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL) saw crude steel output rise 13% to 603kt and sales up 29% to 637kt in July. Sales at state-owned steelmaker Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) were up 50% in July to 1.58Mt. Domestic sales were up 29% to 1.27Mt. Exports were up 340% to 310kt. Finally JSW’s crude steel output was up 9% in July to 1.24Mt, but production dropped 5.4% from July 2019.

Source: Argus Media, 14 August 2020.

• Any hopes of a UK Government financial bailout for Tata Steel have been lost, claims a report in the Financial Times. It was concluded that the steelmaker had ‘deep enough pockets’ to weather the storm. The same applies to Jaguar Land Rover.

Indian conglomerate Tata Group owns both companies.

There are also reports stating that Tata Steel doesn’t recognise media stories on the talks being shelved.

Source: Financial Times, 14 August 2020.

• Tata Steel is not sounding overly optimistic about the near-term future of the global steel industry.

Most of the steel-producing regions are expected to witness a decline in crude steel output due to pandemic-related cuts in production, according to the company’s annual report.

Steel demand is expected to decline significantly in 2020/2021. Tata’s chairman, N Chandrasekaran described the slump as the ‘worst contraction’ since the 1930s. Source: Outlook, 16 August 2020.

• Chinese steelmaker Wuhan Iron & Steel (WISCO) has issued a final acceptance certificate (FAC) to SMS group following the completion of a modernisation project.

The German plant builder has modernised finishing stands F4 and F7 of WISCO’s high capacity hot strip mill number two, the aim being to increase plant availability.

Source: SMS group, 18 August 2020.

• LIBERTY Steel Group (LSG) has acquired the steel assets of the Hayange and Ascoval steelworks in France following the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Strasbourg’s decision to award the French rail manufacturer to LSG. The deal secures the future of the nationally strategic plants and their 700-strong workforce.

Source: Liberty Steel Group, 18 August 2020.

• China Steel Corporation (CSC) increased carbon steel sales by 17.3% in July thanks to recovery in demand at home and abroad. CSC is Taiwan’s top steel producer and is based in Kaohsiung, South Taiwan.

Source: Mysteel Global, 18 August 2020.

• An innovative valve application designed to reduce carbon emissions from blast furnaces by up to 97% has been added to three blast furnaces at Hyundai Steel’s Dangjin mill in South Chungcheong Province, South Korea. The system was developed in conjunction with Danieli Corus. Hyundai claims it is the first steel company in the world to install ecofriendly bleeder valves.

Source: Pulse News, 18 August 2020.

• Rumours that Tata Steel UK is up for sale are being strenuously denied by Tata Steel. The stories started to surface after media reports claimed talks between the steelmaker and the British Government ground to a halt.

Tata was after several million pounds as part of Project Birch, a scheme to support strategically important companies, but it seems, according to some reports, that Tata isn’t strategic enough and, according to the Government, has deep enough pockets to keep itself out of the financial mire. Plenty of rumours abound that Liberty Steel Group is waiting in the wings to acquire the business and there are rumours that talks between Tata and the Government are far from over.

Source: Nation Cymru, 18 August 2020.

www.steeltimesint.com

Industry news.indd – read OK MM .indd 3

September 2020

16/09/2020 09:17:54

8

NEWS ROUND-UP

• Austrian steelmaker voestalpine is to restart a small blast furnace at its steel facility in Linz following closure in March due to COVID-19. There are two other blast furnaces on-site and when all three are up and running, steel production at the Linz site will be almost back to normal levels. Voestalpine has two production sites in Linz and Donawitz producing in total around 6.5Mt of pig iron.

Source: Steel Orbis, 25 August 2020.

• Czech Republic-based Liberty Ostrava, an integrated steel business with an annual production capacity of 3.6Mt, and part of Sanjeev Gupta's sustainable industry leader GFG Alliance, has been given Government approval to implement new low carbon technologies.

According to Liberty Steel, the Ostrava facility will now start its EUR750 million journey towards becoming carbon neutral by 2030.

Source: Liberty Steel Group, 26 August 2020.

September 2020

Industry news.indd – read OK MM .indd 4

• The Chinese HBIS Group has delivered over 100kt of high quality, high rise building steel, bars and wires for the construction of the BeijingXiongan Intercity railway.

The company claims it is one of the world’s largest steelmakers and China’s largest supplier of home appliance steel.

Source: HBIS, 28 August 2020.

• Asked for an Osceola expansion update, Big River Steel’s, CEO Dave Stickler (pictured) said: "We laid out our mill site to accommodate a doubling of capacity, so after having success and an opportunity to access the capital markets, we went about and decided to invest an incremental $700 million to double our hot-rolled capacity. That project was originally scheduled to start up at the end of January 2021, and I'm pleased to say that it's my full expectation that we will start up in November or December of this year."

Source: Big River Steel, 28 August 2019.

• The US Trade Representative’s office (USTR) has announced that it will reduce Brazil’s 2020 quota for semi-finished steel from 350kt to 60kt as a result of market deterioration caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. There are also plans for Mexico to establish a strict monitoring regime to tackle surges in steel pipe, mechanical steel tubing and semi-finished exports to the US, according to a Reuters news report.

Source: Reuters, 1 September 2020.

• Microsoft and Tenova have strengthened their partnership for Industry 4.0. The goal of their renewed co-operation is to provide Italian companies in the metals industry with industrial solutions based on Artificial Intelligence technology.

The two companies want to lead the digital transformation of the metals sector, using the Microsoft Azure platform and Tenova's production technology for the steel industry.

Source: Tenova, 7th September 2020.

• Fossil-free steelmaking came a step closer for Swedish steelmaker SSAB recently following the startup of HYBRIT’s ‘globally unique’ pilot plant for the production of fossil-free sponge iron. Key executives from the three companies involved in the project – SSAB, LKAB and Vattenfall – along with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Environment and Climate Isabella Lövin, were in attendance at what was described as an ‘historic opportunity’ to ‘hasten the climate transition’.

Source: HYBRIT, 1 September 2020.

• Global direct reduced iron (DRI) production eclipsed 100Mt in 2019 for the second consecutive year and set a new production record for the fourth consecutive year, according to 2019 World Direct Reduction Statistics.

The annual publication of direct reduction industry data and information is compiled by Midrex Technologies, Inc. and audited by World Steel Dynamics.

Source: Midrex, 9 September 2020.

www.steeltimesint.com

16/09/2020 09:18:47

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USA UPDATE

11

COVID is not the only problem During times of crisis, like now with the corona virus pandemic, imports tend to rise dramatically and this had led to calls for the Trump administration to enforce trade laws and monitor rising import levels.

But let’s not kid ourselves that the US steel industry wasn’t in trouble prior to the arrival of COVID-19, argues Manik Mehta* THE US steel sector closely monitors the level of steel production in China; the higher the production, US steelmakers fear, excessive Chinese steel could find its way into the US market, and hurt them.

Indeed, curbing imports is perceived as the mantra that could allow the US steel sector to stage the much-needed steady recovery.

The key to curbing steel imports would lie in enforcing US trade laws and closing all the loopholes that enable foreign suppliers to circumvent import laws. Caught in the Covid-19 upheaval, the US steel industry is struggling to recover from the downturn. This is also the message which Kevin Dempsey, interim CEO of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) has been trying to convey in conversations with the media.

Dempsey, a trade attorney who in

2002 was involved in litigation concerning Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974 under which the George W Bush administration imposed tariffs on foreign steel, has been

saying that in times of sudden economic shock, as is happening in the country because of Covid-19, there is always the possibility of imports surging. He urged the administration to enforce trade laws and closely monitor new rising imports.

Dempsey urged the administration to be ready to face the present crisis, reminding of two previous major crises, which hit the steel industry. The 1997 Asian financial crisis dampened domestic demand, but attracted a surge in imports into the US, resulting in a string of bankruptcies among the industry.

The global financial crisis of 2007-2008 also caused a sharp rise in steel imports.

Overall steel imports declined in June.

Based on Census Bureau data, the AISI reported that the US imported a total of 1.39Mt (net tons) of steel in June 2020, including 1.31Mt (net tons) of finished steel, declining by 23% and 12.7%, respectively, over May. In the first six

* USA correspondent www.steeltimesint.com

USA – read and ok, MM....indd 1

September 2020

16/09/2020 06:26:14

12

USA UPDATE

months of 2020, total and finished steel imports amounted to 12.38Mt (net tons) and 8.63Mt (net tons), down 20.8% and 26.2%, respectively, over the year-earlier period.

In June, South Korea supplied the largest volume of finished steel at 187kt (net tons), (down 19% from May); Germany 79kt (net tons) up 22%; Taiwan 65kt (net tons) down 22%; Japan 61kt (net tons) down 41%; and China 39kt (net tons) up 13%.

For the first six months of 2020, the largest suppliers were South Korea 1.12Mt (net tons) down 23% over the 2019 corresponding period; Japan 434kt (net tons) down 40%; Germany 377kt (net tons) down 39%; Taiwan 333kt (net tons) down 36%; and Turkey 323kt (net tons) up 66%.

The coronavirus has taken a toll on US steel demand. Leading end users, like the automotive sector, curtailed production.

There have also been reports of buyers cancelling orders. Nevertheless, Covid-19 is not the only reason for the US steel industry’s plight. The industry was already in a bad shape before the pandemic.

Challenging market conditions US Steel, for instance, recently announced that it was idling two tubular facilities, leading to a potential 850 job losses.

The company said that it had taken the decision because of ‘challenging market conditions and high import levels’. This is quite a contrast to the euphoria of 2018 when President Trump announced 25% steel tariffs under Section 232, which had prompted the company to restart two blast furnaces in Granite City, Illinois. Indeed, the Lone Star facility, which the company is idling now, had been revived only a year back. US Steel had also restarted its idled electric arc furnace in Alabama last year after stopping this plant’s construction in 2015 amid declining steel prices.

Other companies, including ArcelorMittal, also idled some of their facilities in the US last year.

Experts do not see tariffs as an appropriate tool to revive the sagging fortunes of steel companies. “You cannot overhaul an industry by just imposing tariffs … that’s plain cosmetic … what is needed here is a different medicine that will attack the cause of the malaise,” one analyst, preferring to remain anonymous, told Steel Times International, suggesting that US steel products need to be competitive and the industry needed restructuring to September 2020

USA – read and ok, MM....indd 2

become more productive with the efficient use of technology.

US Steel is idling its facilities producing steel for the energy sector, which has been hit by a sharp decline in crude oil prices; this has forced the US energy industry to make huge budget cuts resulting in a sharp decline in steel demand. Like US Steel, Tenaris SA, which produces much of its oil industry tubular steel in North, Central and South America, faced adverse sales in the second quarter of 2020, which fell 35% compared to the year-earlier quarter, citing a “rapid decline in economic activity, oil consumption and drilling activity as a result

Lourenco Goncalves: pessimistic about future demand among the blast furnace steelmakers?

of the measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic around the world.”

Besides idling the two plants, US Steel – which uses costly blast furnaces in contrast to others, like Nucor Corp, which uses the less costly electric arc furnace to make steel products from recycled scrap – has reportedly lost nearly 70% of its market value since President Trump’s steel tariffs were imposed.

While some steelmakers have increased their capacity to get the market share, the more expensive operating blast furnaces at US Steel and AK Steel Holding Corp are finding it difficult to compete amid declining demand despite the tariffs

provided to protect them against imported steel.

None of the steel companies that had cheered Trump’s tariffs amid a flush of cash and other tax benefits, could have imagined then that things could dramatically change for the worse; indeed, they went on adding capacity, confident that demand would now continue unimpeded. Things do not look very promising right now, with a global economic slowdown, and falling demand and prices.

Lourenco Goncalves, the CEO of Cleveland-Cliffs, Inc., speaking at a recent conference, sounded pessimistic about future demand among blast furnace steelmakers. Cleveland-Cliffs is one of the largest vertically integrated producers of differentiated iron ore and steel in North America.

Electric steelmaking US Steel is also setting up electric arc furnaces; it announced in February that it was restarting construction of an EAF facility in Alabama and, later in May, it announced it was spending $1 billion to upgrade its Pennsylvania facilities to produce more high-strength steel for the automotive industry.

US steelmakers using the blast furnace process are finding it difficult to make a profit, at present. Mill capacity utilisation rates are slowly rising after falling to an alltime low in early May. However, they remain 30% below last year’s corresponding figures.

Costs of raw material, particularly iron ore, remain high. Minimills are faring slightly better than integrated producers due to their increased flexibility. Steelmakers are keen to restart their blast furnaces to improve plant activity and, subsequently, their balance sheets. However, they are moving cautiously because if production grows too quickly, it could impair price recovery and hurt profits.

The ongoing Covid-19 crisis and the upcoming elections in November may preclude or limit the steel sector’s recovery in the second half of 2020.

Forecasts about a full recovery of the US economy to pre-pandemic levels provide different scenarios about recovery time, ranging from one to five years, depending on how long Covid-19 lasts. But between and until full recovery takes place, some companies would have sustained huge losses. � www.steeltimesint.com

16/09/2020 06:26:18

LATIN AMERICA UPDATE

13

COVID-19 and Latin American steel COVID-19 has dramatically affected the global economy and, understandably, has had strong negative impacts on the manufacturing industry. Its effect on the Latin American steel sector has been intensely damaging in different ways for each country. Because the pandemic is not over, this article aims to provide a preliminary evaluation of the way the virus has impacted the South American nations.

By Germano Mendes de Paula* COVID-19’S DATA THE statistical data on COVID-19 has been updating daily, with significant changes.

According to UBS: “Brazil has confirmed 3.1 million COVID cases (as of Aug 8th), Chile 376K and Mexico 485K. In the last week, the number of new daily deaths was down 1% in Brazil, but up 12.6% in the city of Sao Paulo. Number of deaths oscillated to +25% in Mexico (vs -12% last week). The number of cases in Mexico, Brazil and Peru continues to increase, while deaths in Chile

are declining”. The trajectories, therefore, have been non-linear, which put strong limitations on generalising the trends.

On 11 August 2020, roughly speaking, the number of confirmed cases in Latin America reached 5 million, while the number of deaths was equivalent to 200,000. In both cases, Brazil has lead the way with 3.1 million and 110,000, respectively. Nevertheless, this outcome is clearly derived from its population size.

Thus, it seems more interesting to analyse

the relative number, as it is shown in Fig. 1. The horizontal axis demonstrates the number of confirmed cases by 1 million people, whereas the vertical one pays attention to the deaths by 1 million people.

It can be observed that Chile, Peru and Brazil have the worst performance, while Mexico and Ecuador are in the intermediate position and Uruguay and Argentina have the best relative situation.

Fig. 2 shows that the Latin American countries have tested very few people.

700 Peru

Deaths per 1M people

600 BRA

500

Chile

MEX

400

Ecuador

300 200

DR

100 0

ARG URU

0

5.000

10.000

15.000

20.000

25.000 Cases per 1M people

Fig 1. COVID-19 incidence rate in Latin America as of 11 August (cases and deaths/1 M

Fig 2. COVID-19 tests as of 11August. Source: UBS

people). Source: UBS

* Professor in Economics, Federal University of Uberlândia, Brazil. E-mail: germano@ufu.br www.steeltimesint.com

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September 2020

16/09/2020 09:56:17

14

LATIN AMERICA UPDATE

Table 1. GDP performance 2019-2021 (% y-o-y). Source: Oxford Economics (August 2020)

Fig 3. Fiscal policy stimulus to mitigate COVID-19 in Latin America as of July 2020 (% GDP). Source: CEPR

Fig 4. Crude steel production in Latin America, January-July 2020 (% comparison 2019)

Fig 5. Steel products apparent consumption in Latin America, January-May 2020 (% com-

Source: Alacero

parison 2019). Source: Alacero

In fact, Chile is more advanced than other countries in the region, in terms of incidence. In addition, the incidence ratio of tests is quite diverse among the Latin American nations: Chile (5.2%), Peru (3.0%), Mexico (1.8%), Argentina (1.0%) and Brazil (0.5%).

Macroeconomic data According to Oxford Economics, in a report released in August 2020, Latin America (excluding Venezuela) will experience a 6.6% drop in its GDP in 2020, followed by a 4.9% recovery in 2021, resulting in a net negative variance of 2.0% considering the two years together (Table 1). Among the largest countries, Peru is expected to have the greatest retraction in 2020 (12.5%), but also the strongest revival in 2021 (13.6%), resulting in a minor drop of 0.6%. The net GDP’s diminution in 2020-2021 will be equivalent to: Chile (0.3%), Brazil (1.9%), Colombia (2.1%), Argentina (2.8%) and Mexico (3.5%).

The Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) has conducted a comprehensive review of different economic policy measures adopted by 166 countries as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic and September 2020

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created a large database including fiscal, monetary, and exchange rate measures.

Most of the data is updated as of July 2020. Fig.3 demonstrates the fiscal policy package as a percentage of GDP in selected Latin American nations. It varied substantially from Chile (12.3%) and Brazil (11.8%), Peru (7.0%), Argentina (5.0%), Colombia (2.8%), Mexico (1.2%) and Costa Rica (0.5%). These differences clearly impact on the mitigation of COVID-19’s economic consequences.

Steel’s data According to Latin American Steel Association (Alacero), regional crude steel production during the January-July 2020 period vis-à-vis the same months of the previous year declined 19%. Nevertheless, as verified in Fig.4, the performance varied from an increase of 11% in Chile to a decrease of 54% in Venezuela. Between the two sides of the spectrum, it is important to highlight the retraction of: Mexico (17%), Brazil (18%), Colombia (27%), Peru (33%) and Argentina (37%). This remarkable disparity can be attributed, at least partially, to the differences of the shutdowns determined by the national governments.

In some countries, such as Argentina and Peru, the steel industry was not considered an essential activity and it was totally shut down temporarily. This was not the case in Chile, Mexico or Brazil.

Fig.5 demonstrates the apparent consumption of steel products in the region during the January-May 2020 period, in contrast with the same months of the previous year, also according to Alacero. It declined 13% in Latin America as whole, which was the same as Brazil.

Some countries, such as Uruguay, Honduras and Guatemala, even registered a positive performance, but they are tiny markets.

Chile had an 8% decrease, Peru and Mexico (9%), Colombia (23%), Venezuela (35%) and Argentina (45%).

Alacero affirmed that the Latin American steel industry suffered one of the heaviest negative impacts on production in the world.

Moreover, it is expected that there will be a slow steel demand recovery under an uncertain economic scenario. The data published here demonstrates that the impact of COVID-19 has been severe and has unevenly affected the Latin American steel sector. � www.steeltimesint.com

16/09/2020 09:56:22

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INNOVATIONS

17

Egyptian steelmaker modernizes automation processes Al Ezz Dekheila Steel Company (EZDK) has approved the completion of a full ABB modernization at its flagship wire rod manufacturing facility in Alexandria, Egypt, with commissioning to achieve rated speed and optimum productivity for all sizes rolled finalized in a record two weeks.

The wire rod mill’s automation and control systems were completely overhauled. The project included engineering, design and fabrication of a new level-1 automation technologies solution together with other networking systems and new DCS800 drives.

ABB commissioned DSC800-R01/R02 rebuild kits and DSC800-R00 upgrade kits for 19 DC stand drives and provided the latest ACS880 drives for the mill’s Stelmore Conveyor application, along with interfacing with existing LCI Tyrac drives.

EZDK, which is established as the largest independent producer of steel in the MENA re-

July/August 2020

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gion, worked with the ABB team on the hot trial stage and oversaw all integration and testing, subsequently awarding the commissioning engineers certificates of appreciation for the quick turnaround time.

“We were very impressed by the technical expertise and execution skills that the ABB Metals team displayed throughout this project, and we are already experiencing efficiency improvements thanks to this investment,” said Abd El-Moneim Sewaif, director for EZDK’s long steel division.

The project scope also included a new mobile application for a level-2 collaborative production management system — ABB Ability™ Manufacturing Operations Management for metals — including complete tracking from the furnace charging area to the C hook conveyor. Commissioning of the level-2 system started in January 2020 and has now achieved stability, despite having been carried out remotely.

“Our engineers took on various challenges in completing this complex modernization project in record time, including replacing IOs, upgrading drives, and installing a new automation platform,” said Nilabja Ash, global product manager for long product rolling mills at ABB. “These efforts have resulted in a high-quality solution that has already realized productivity benefits and cost efficiencies for a highly-valued customer.”

“Providing 24/7/365 access to the production management system dashboards from any mobile device, makes it even easier for customers to visualize their processes and utilize the information provided to further optimize operations,” said Nilabja Ash.

For further information, log on to www.abb.com

September 2020

16/09/2020 06:36:27

18

INNOVATIONS

OMK chooses Energiron DRI and Danieli EAF The Russian steelmaker OMK has signed contracts with Italian plant builder Danieli for the installation of a new direct reduction (DRI) plant for its Vyksa Steel Works.

The new plant, which is a part of a new production facility for slabs, seamless pipe and rail wheels, will be capable of producing 2.5Mt/yr of top quality direct reduced iron (DRI) for the most demanding steel grades, according to Danieli.

OMK has chosen Energiron DRI technology, developed by Danieli and Tenova, coupled with Danieli’s electric arc furnace (EAF), which the Italian production technology specialist describes as ‘a benchmark for energy efficiency and environmental compliance (green steel production).

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According to Danieli, OMK’s new DRI plant will be the largest single-module DRI plant in Russia.

The company claims that Energiron DRI plants can process a wide range of iron-oxide pellet qualities, which will prove advantageous to the Russian steelmaker’s sourcing strategy.

Energiron DRI plants, it is claimed, minimize CO2 emissions thanks to ultra-low NOx burners.

In fact, compared with traditional integrated blast furnace and BOF mills, CO2 emissions are reduced 64% while other pollutants, such as dioxin and PAH, are almost negligible, says Danieli.

The OMK DRI plant, claims Danieli, is ready for Carbon Capture Storage and Use and will allow the use of hydrogen instead of natural gas (par-

tially or totally) in pursuance of the no-carbon emissions concept.

Energy savings will be boosted by a HYTEMP hot-charge system, which is claimed to be the most reliable and effective way to continuously feed the EAF with hot DRI at 600 deg C. Danieli will provide all plant and engineering services along with equipment manufacturing, supervision, erection, commissioning and customer training. OMK’s Vyksa Steel Works recently took delivery of a complete meltshop and caster also supplied by Danieli.

For further information, log on to www.danieli.com

16/09/2020 06:36:41

INNOVATIONS

19

Chinese order world’s biggest ring rolling machine SMS group has received an order from Wuxi Paike New Materials Technology, based in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China, for the world’s largest ring rolling machine. The equipment manufactures components for aircraft engines.

Wuxi Paike is a medium-sized company with 350 employees, all based in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. Forgings made by the company are used in the chemical, shipbuilding, power engineering, and aerospace industries. As a well-established manufacturer of seamless rolled rings for aerospace applications, Wuxi Paike has all the necessary infrastructure in place to operate the new ring rolling machine.

In addition to the main product – rings for civil aircraft jet engines that are made from difficult-to-form materials such as titanium and nickel-based alloys – the machine is also designed to roll carbon steel rings up to a diameter of 10 metres. Thanks to this multi-purpose configuration, the first of its kind so far, Wuxi Paike is able

to respond flexibly to both current and future market demands and produce a wider range of different high-end products.

The RAW 1000/800-10000/1500-EH is the first ring rolling machine in the world capable of rolling jet engine rings with a maximum height of up to 1,500mm. According to SMS group, this dimensional capacity will enable Wuxi Paike to manufacture the rings required for the next generations of jet engines in an efficient way. “SMS group’s decades of experience in ring rolling machine engineering and its significant technological edge over the competition were crucial factors in our decision to award the contract for the ring rolling machine to SMS group,” says Mr. Shi, CEO of Wuxi Paike New Materials Technology.

An innovative electrohydraulic direct drive concept developed by SMS group for all process axes is another major advantage, it is claimed.

“The RAW-EH ring rolling machine offers not only more precise control compared to hydraulic-only

drives, it also enables substantial energy savings to be made,” explained SMS group. “The time required to assemble and install the machine is much shorter, as it does not have a central hydraulic station and requires far less foundation pipework,” SMS group continued, adding that the ring rolling machine ordered boasts a radial rolling force of 1,000 tons and an axial force of 800 tons. The machine will be supplied fully equipped with electrical equipment, hydraulics, rolling tools and a software and technology package.

SMS group claims a leading market position in the field of ring rolling machines for the aerospace industry.

Commissioning of the RAW EN is scheduled for Q4 2021.

For further information, log on to www.smsgroup.com

Airpes plans US support infrastructure Airpes, a Spanish manufacturer of lifting, weighing and below-the-hook equipment, has announced plans to establish a strong support infrastructure in the USA that will principally service primary metals, wind and other severe duty applications.

The company has set up a heavy repair facility to assist the company’s dealer partners who can’t or don’t have the time to do such repairs.

The most demanding of environments where overhead cranes and hoists are installed require the lifting equipment to work in almost continuous duty—to Crane Manufacturers Association of America (CMAA) Class F, for example. For equipment providers, this means products are only one facet of a service offering, at least at the top end of the market.

Tad Dunville, general manager at Airpes Americas, explained that Airpes was transitioning to the next stage of a three-phase roadmap in North America.

“We started by securing a formal presence in the US, where experienced management was empowered to sell series production lifting tools in the region; we then expanded infrastructure through sales reps and dealers on a national network; and now we are providing a backshop and technical support to our dealer partners for certain issues they don’t or can’t handle, as well as engineered lifting beams for the wind industry with a dual-citizenship technical director, Tad explained.”

Alex Lozano, technical director at Airpes Americas, said he spends most of his day supporting wind energy lifting customers. “I’m excited to help our EOT [electric overhead travelling] crane customers as well now,” he said.

Airpes recently installed a (CMAA Class F) www.steeltimesint.com

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40-ton capacity coil grab with rotating bottom block at North American Stainless (NAS), a Kentucky producer of stainless steel. Through Wisconsin-based partner WD Industries (WDI), the lifecycle of the below-the-hook system will be overseen by a manufacturers’ representative agency, with a specialized focus on primary metals, paper, petrochemical, mining, construction, and heavy equipment manufacturing.

Jesse Shively, crane maintenance supervisor at NAS, said: “We prefer the Airpes grab [to other brands] because it is far more substantially built and we are really happy to have a robust local service and support infrastructure to attend to the small details.”

Justin Wieners, business development at WDI, said: “Actually, our contacts at NAS wish the grab was working in an even higher production area, such has been the reliability of the lifter. Having said that, they get peace of mind in knowing that we’re based 45 minutes up the road and have been equipped by the manufacturer to serve as

resource, if required. To be able to rebuild grabs at the dealership—having entered the process at the point of consultation—is outside of the norm in terms of mill-duty lifting equipment.”

Dunville said: “It serves as a barometer by which to measure our ongoing expansion in terms of service infrastructure. Yes, we offered the best price, value-added engineering and a very robust design, but WDI’s proximity and ability to back it up will make a huge difference to the partnership going forward. Nobody wants to know how smart we are, they want to know how quickly we can support them. We don’t want to be the bottom feeder—ever. We all know who those guys are, and they’re constantly creating problems for owners with inexpensive components that have no support network.”

Airpes has three principle lines of business, namely pre-engineered weighing and monitoring kits for overhead cranes, including load cells, overload protection, readouts, and data loggers; engineered lifting devices for wind turbine erection; and engineered below-the-hook devices, such as coil grabs, rotating blocks, and magnets.

Dunville added: “It’s a cliché, but in this business, you can’t authentically love what you do, listen to customers, and learn from mistakes, if you don’t have a dealer-only policy that puts the end user first. I acknowledge that we’re not at the finish line yet in terms of our backshop infrastructure, but we’re making great strides. We don’t work with everybody; we’re highly selective about our partners, which is another criteria in effective dealer-led growth strategy,” he said.

For further information, log on to www.airpes.com � continued on page 37 September 2020

16/09/2020 06:36:42

ANSWER

Danieli Answers to be a step ahead

02

Danieli co2 reduction benchmark technology From carbon-based BF route to hot DRI, directly charged into the EAF

Metallurgical results obtained from DRI+EAF steelmaking equal those obtained with the blast furnace+converter process, for quality clean steel for demanding applications, including exposed automotive parts.

Considering the lower CO2 release of the DRI+EAF process, 800 vs. 1,800 kgCO2/tls for the BF+BOF, the DR+EAF route offers the most environmentally friendly solution to couple with the international and particularly European emission regulations (COP 21), which are becoming stricter and more expensive (carbon tax).

The 800 kgCO2/tls result is obtained thanks to the Energiron DR process technology developed by Tenova HYL and Danieli, and Danieli FastArc EAF. Furthermore, the Energiron Zero Reformer technology development allows the use of up to 70% hydrogen as a reduction agent, instead of 100% natural gas, without compromising the DRI quality and allowing liquid steel production with CO2 emissions down to 324 kgCO2/tls.

danieli.com

Twenty Danieli answers to be a step ahead 01.

02.

03.

04.

05.

06.

07.

08.

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Sustainability CO2 reduction 4.0 intelligent plant MIDA ECR QSP DUE Digimelter Energiron DRI Long-life BF

09. Quality slab casters 10. Pickling and cold mills 11. Galvanizing / Air knives 12. Billet casters 13. Billet welders 14. Wirerod mills 15. Rail and section mills 16. The Drawer sizing block 17. Reheating systems 18. Seamless tubes 19. Extrusion lines 20. Aluminium mills

European customers are requesting feasibility studies for Energiron technology combined with EAF steelmaking via Hytemp hot charging as a replacement for the ironmaking process.

26/06/20 11:02

ANSWER

Danieli Answers to be a step ahead

02

Danieli co2 reduction benchmark technology From carbon-based BF route to hot DRI, directly charged into the EAF

Metallurgical results obtained from DRI+EAF steelmaking equal those obtained with the blast furnace+converter process, for quality clean steel for demanding applications, including exposed automotive parts.

Considering the lower CO2 release of the DRI+EAF process, 800 vs. 1,800 kgCO2/tls for the BF+BOF, the DR+EAF route offers the most environmentally friendly solution to couple with the international and particularly European emission regulations (COP 21), which are becoming stricter and more expensive (carbon tax).

The 800 kgCO2/tls result is obtained thanks to the Energiron DR process technology developed by Tenova HYL and Danieli, and Danieli FastArc EAF. Furthermore, the Energiron Zero Reformer technology development allows the use of up to 70% hydrogen as a reduction agent, instead of 100% natural gas, without compromising the DRI quality and allowing liquid steel production with CO2 emissions down to 324 kgCO2/tls.

danieli.com

Twenty Danieli answers to be a step ahead 01.

02.

03.

04.

05.

06.

07.

08.

Danieli_pagine_2020_esecutivi_A3_05_14.indd 3-4

Sustainability CO2 reduction 4.0 intelligent plant MIDA ECR QSP DUE Digimelter Energiron DRI Long-life BF

09. Quality slab casters 10. Pickling and cold mills 11. Galvanizing / Air knives 12. Billet casters 13. Billet welders 14. Wirerod mills 15. Rail and section mills 16. The Drawer sizing block 17. Reheating systems 18. Seamless tubes 19. Extrusion lines 20. Aluminium mills

European customers are requesting feasibility studies for Energiron technology combined with EAF steelmaking via Hytemp hot charging as a replacement for the ironmaking process.

26/06/20 11:02

22

FAILURE ANALYSIS

The nature of welding and its relationship with the steel industry In this unprecedented time of the Corona virus pandemic, Dr France draws parallels to a ‘virus’ lodged within the engineering industry, which results in forensic engineers neglecting the advice of welding specialists when examining the causes of structural failures, and uses classic examples of catastrophic failures to illustrate his points. He stresses the fundamental symbiotic relationship between welding and the steel industry. By E J France*

OVER the centuries welding has been an empirical science that has initiated progress in the iron and steel industry. Major progress in iron and steel metallurgy and its processing industries occur particularly when there are simultaneous significant developments in welding progress. This indicates that the fundamental nature of the relationship between welding and the steel industry is a symbiotic one in which both disciplines benefit.

Steel quality has been incorrectly targeted as the cause of major weld structure failures. Experienced welding engineers, have had to analyse the evidence to determine the real cause of these failures, in order to correct the conjectures of the official investigators.

Observation and analysis of the welding fabrication industry of today reveals there exists what we might call, in current times, a virus that is corrupting and eroding the symbiotic relationship. Welding engineering is fast becoming the ‘Forgotten Technology’ – a most disturbing development.

Q: What is ‘welding‘?

A: ‘Welding‘ is the action of bonding by the atoms that constitute the mating parts

of a joint. There is a common objective for all disciplines of the welding engineering profession and any welding fabrication company (Fig.1).

Q: What initiated discovery of the ‘welding process‘, thousands of years ago?

A: It was the desire of mankind to join objects together to obtain and facilitate greater function of tools and ornaments for a civilisation. Joining would have been achieved when the atoms bonded but, at the time, mankind would be unaware that this was the requirement.

The forge welding process first provided an early joining action for the atoms in metallic materials, this welding impulse was crucial especially for the development of iron alloys. Years ago, other solutions for atom bonding, such as smelting and casting that were suitable for such metals as gold and copper, were not readily applicable to iron. The forge welding process stimulated the advent of the iron and steel industry, ie, the beginning of a relationship between metallurgist and welding engineer.

Q: From where did we derive the

energy required for the atoms to bond and form a welded joint?

A: Human beings could not provide this energy directly, it had to come from another source, the energy was sourced from the heat of a welding process.

We can now state a fundamental truth about welding: it is that the person we call a ‘welder‘ does not directly weld anything, it is the welding process that facilitates this function.

There is nothing new about the phenomenon of welding, as atom bonding has been present since the early days of the universe, but there have been developments in the welding processes. The bonding energy required for the atoms to combine can be sourced and delivered, for example, from an electric arc, an electron beam or a laser beam, or even friction, all depending on the particular welding process concerned.

To satisfy mans’ desire to increase the size of a piece of iron and obtain greater functionality, we needed to facilitate the atoms to bond from one smaller individual piece to another. By using this method we

*Dr France M Weld I, FIMMM – C Eng is a consulting metallurgist in welding technology. Email: enquiries@ejfranceconsulting.co.uk

September 2020

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FAILURE ANALYSIS

could, for example, move from small arrow heads weighing a few hundred grams to a lintel weighing many kilograms, (Fig.2).

To do this, forge welding was improved by carrying out action and effect techniques, which today we know of as Empirical Science, with the qualifying addendum that welding is empirical science only. It is not possible to predict the resulting weld quality, when applying a weld process, because to do so one would have to break the laws of physics. The fundamental nature of welding was then discovered and established.

We can now state that the driving force inherent within welding processes has facilitated and expanded the use of iron and steel product forms to make fabrications.

It is highlighted here, the coming into existence of a mutual dependency in the relationship between welding action and ferrous metallurgy; it was, and is, difficult for one science to progress without the other.

The nature of welding is best illustrated by the manufacture of a sword. Take the Samurai sword maker, these Japanese craftsmen work to an established ritual of actions developed by empirical science www.steeltimesint.com

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23

Fig 1. Areas of a fusion welded joint and the common objective of a welding action [SEE END FOR DIAGRAM]

September 2020

16/09/2020 11:00:17

BSE Spray Cooling Technology Safe, simple, reliable Cooling of EAF Components Principles.

Concept.

Advantages.

● Support structure with cooling elements consisting of water header and spraybars providing a pressureless water flow.

● Collector ring as an integral part of support structure used for water supply and return for cooling elements; water-cooled centre piece and fume take-off adapter.

● Maximum safety in operation, based on pressure-less function, thus eliminating the risk of explosions.

● Heat transfer through steel plate cooled by a thin water layer. ● Water amount adjustable according to individual heat load areas. ● Suitable for the furnace roof and the elbow.

● Area around electrode openings designed for refractory-lined, easily exchangeable centre piece. ● Usage of clog resistant spray nozzles and access hatches.

● Reliable operation and long lifetime due to proven design with well-balanced cooling performance. ● Lower consumption of cooling water compared to tubular design. ● Reduction of production delays – in many cases production can continue until next shutdown.

● Tested and proven at BSW, the steel plant of the Badische group, and at many customers’ plants worldwide.

● Designed for lower weight, thus increasing the lifetime of the gantry bearing.

● Quick repair of minor damages and good access to all areas.

Spray bars with nozzles providing a pressure-less, balanced and efficient water cooling

Top view of roof with holes for the electrode centre piece and the furnace elbow

Bottom view of the roof equipped with centre piece for the electrodes

● Easy cleaning of roof surface for an optimised maintenance.

Badische Stahl-Engineering GmbH Robert-Koch-Straße 13 D-77694 Kehl/Germany Phone (+49) 78 51/877- 0 Fax (+49) 78 51/877-133 eMail info@bse-kehl.de www.bse-kehl.de

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FAILURE ANALYSIS

hot riveting techniques predominant.

Fig 2. A Roman hypocaust lintel over 1m long and weighing some 40kg fabricated by forge welding a number of smaller ‘blooms’ of iron by repeated heating and hammering

over the centuries, which are still in use today. The student of the sword maker, the apprentice welder, would learn the ritual, parrot fashion, in a painstaking way, until becoming competent. Today, we recognise the ritual as a weld procedure.

The discipline of this procedure is given respect and thereby reinforced in practice by the Japanese sword maker by the use of religious quotations during fabrication, he is rewarded by the derived high quality of the forged welded carbon steel produced.

The success of sword making had a significant influence on the survival of civilisations years ago and as a consequence the welding phenomenon changed history to what we know today.

Centuries ago welding was established as an empirical science to be carried in accordance with derived and tested rituals, today’s weld procedures.

Q: Does today’s welding fabrication industry respect this truth about welding?

A: No. The current welding industry is in denial of the truth; if it said yes to this question, one actually finds deliberate deviations from this established philosophy.

People should be worried about this because it is the reason why we have had catastrophic failure of structures arising from defective welded joints.

Q: For how long did forge welding technology remain the dominant technique for joining iron alloy products together?

A: From thousands of years ago up until the early decades of the twentieth century forge welding was the sole process available for weld fabrication, with blacksmithing and www.steeltimesint.com

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Fig 3. A WW ll Liberty ship brittle fracture failure

Fig 4. The John Thompson pressure vessel that failed upon hydraulic testing - ‘Abandon the weld procedure at your peril’

Q: Where does welding, atom bonding, take place in the hot riveted joint?

A: Within the rivet itself. People outside of the metallurgical and welding engineering profession do not appreciate this significant fact.

Steel metallurgy took off in a significant way in the Victorian era along with mass production of steel for the first time with the invention of the Bessemer process. By using the Bessemer converter, a hot-riveted forge-welded vessel, the development of new carbon steels was eased.

Catastrophic failures Welding and steelmaking matters changed with the advent of the second world war and its demands for military and support equipment. An example of this requirement was the desire to build supply ships, the Liberty ships, more rapidly than before. ‘Five ships in five days’ was proudly displayed by the California Shipbuilding Corporation in January 1943. A contribution to faster production came from the application of arc welding to replace the traditional hot riveting forge welding technique. When arc welding processes were first used to fabricate the Liberty ships, it exposed a ‘material deficiency’, in the parent steel – the low toughness of the steel plate at service conditions around and below 0°C. All carbon steels undergo a ductile-brittle transition as temperature is lowered and the aim is to ensure this temperature is well below service conditions. Many early Liberty ships suffered catastrophic failures, breaking in two, even while in port (Fig.3).

This deficiency in the steel properties did not mean there was anything wrong from the metallurgical point of view – ‘the steel had the properties it had’. The welding process just exaggerated the effect of the steel deficiency on the properties of the weldment. Arc welding plates together creates a continuous path of steel for a crack, initiated at a stress raiser such as an arc strike or machined notch, to propagate through, unlike riveted plates where a crack initiated would stop at the joint to the next plate as there is no continuous Fig 5. The fractured brace D6 on the Alexander L Kielland oil platform showing fatigue crack propagation from the hydrophone insert joint – ‘No weld procedure – no function’ (Pic by permission of The Welding Institute)

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FAILURE ANALYSIS

path of metal. It is important to appreciate that riveted components are still used, for example, in welded pipelines as crack arrester joints, installed every few kilometres in order to prevent complete failure of a pipeline due to such crack propagation which can reach the speed of sound.

The ships required a different type of carbon steel for welded construction which was brought about by alloying. The composition of the parent steel plate was modified, with additions of manganese and silicon, to lower the transition temperature and so improve its fracture toughness, and new weld procedures were derived and tested for the production environment.

Afterwards, fewer catastrophic fractures with these ships were experienced for the reason we now know: that the material and physical condition in all areas of the weld was reduced in imperfection level as stated in Fig 1. This result showed and confirmed a ‘symbiotic relationship’ between welding and the steel industry, that had been characterised over the previous centuries, now employed to good effect.

Where metallurgists seek to develop new steels they need to consider if the steel is receptive to the application of welding processes. If say, a newly developed and improved corrosion-resistant austenitic stainless steel cannot be welded with electric arc processes and the associated consumables then its application to industry would be somewhat limited.

After the second world war, this symbiotic relationship flourished, until an incident in 1965 focused attention and revealed a disturbing development in welding September 2020

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engineering. This was the well-documented brittle failure of the John Thompson pressure vessel, upon hydraulic testing (Fig. 4). In this example, weld procedures were derived and qualified for fabrication of the joints, otherwise the insurance company inspector would not have allowed welding fabrication to proceed. The failure analysis investigators found evidence that the weld procedures were not carried out to the full, but abandoned part way through the sequence of operations. This abandonment of weld procedure was in complete contradiction to the reasons for doing the qualification exercise in the first place. The decision to do this action proved costly in economic terms and threatened worker health and safety.

This decision has to be documented as the behaviour of people who were irresponsible, and ignorant of the need to fully follow the welding procedure, a disturbing development in welding engineering.

Q: Was an experienced welding engineer asked for input when the decision was considered?

A: It appears unlikely. It must be assumed that the JT welding engineer had no say in the matter. Was this a first sign of the virus infection in a welding fabrication company? A derived, qualified and tested weld procedure for a joint, using the fundamentals of empirical science, establishes the parameters for the weld processes to be used and the physical manipulation techniques for the welder to apply.

Q: Was the true cause of the John Thompson vessel failure revealed by the investigation team?

A: No. Investigators did not recognise, nor understand, the significance of the decision made by the manufacturer to abandon the weld procedure, instead they became incapable of thinking straight. Natural features of the steel plate and forgings were blamed for the cause of failure, comments which are proven to be ill-founded, incorrect and ridiculous. The investigation report, (Ref.1) tarnished the steel industry in an unjustified way. Inevitably, the investigation then drifted into a fantasy world of misleading gobbledygook by suggesting a fracture mechanics approach to assess parent steel for fracture avoidance, as a solution to the problem. This is and was a load of nonsense.

While the investigators identified the physical reason for failure, from a hydrogen embrittlement mechanism, they did not understand the reason this arose. This was the consequence of a fabricator failing to implement, fully and correctly, the documented instructions of a designated weld procedure to a joint in the production environment. The result was that the ‘common objective’ as illustrated in Fig.1, could not be achieved. This simple act and mistake was the fundamental and true cause of the vessel failure upon hydraulic testing. By not delivering the common objective to the production joint, the weld, by definition, possessed excessive imperfection in all its aspects. Derived from the presence of these imperfections, now classed as defects, the weld now facilitates a variety of deleterious and dangerous failure and fracture mechanisms to come alive and operate.

Q: After the John Thompson incident was there a renaissance in the symbiotic relationship between welding and steel metallurgy?

A: Yes. Round about this time and well into the 1970s there was the occurrence and advent in Europe of the North Sea Oil industry. During this time there were outstanding developments in steel metallurgy and product forms for the construction of the rigs, welded pipelines and other equipment required for the harsh operating environment. In addition, there was a parallel and significant development of welding consumables that were compatible with the new steels. www.steeltimesint.com

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Emphasis was placed upon developing weld procedures, approval of welders and simulation joint tests. Millions of dollars were spent doing this exercise. So there was a kind of renaissance in the symbiotic relationship between welding and steel metallurgy, common sense seemed to have been restored, being reinforced by this industrial activity in the North Sea. In the heady environment of this time, when in welding engineering terms we could have perhaps made the claim, ‘we seem to be doing it right’, why in 1980 did we incur the collapse of the Alexander L Kielland oil platform, with the loss of 123 lives? The reason was that in 1965 the true understanding of welding had been infected by a virus that corrupted truth, this virus was still present when this platform was constructed in 1976, at the supposed peak of good behaviour by welding fabricators. Confirmation of the virus sickness can be derived from examination of Fig.5 which is from the authors’ forensic analysis of the failure, (Ref 2). All the joints on a horizontal brace were to be welded in accordance with the mandatory instructions of the fabrication specification for the oil platform. These joints were specified as full penetration butt welds with visual inspection after completion of the joint.

The official investigation yet again claimed that the brace and insert steel plate was to blame for the failure. It was proven at the time that the steel complied to specification and there was no evidence of defects emanating from within the steel itself, therefore the steel was satisfactory for purpose (Ref 2). To briefly explain the true cause of the failure:On this brace, designated D6, one joint was fabricated correctly, which was the drain hole, but the other identically specified joint, the hydrophone insert, was not welded correctly to the requirements of the fabrication specification.

The fracture originated as a fatigue crack from a defective weld bead in the hydrophone insert joint. This joint was incorrectly designated as at a low stress zone and so was left to the welder both to decide on method of welding and to inspect the work after completion.

The failure of this brace and the ‘domino’ effect resulting from it, which caused the capsize of the structure, should be of no surprise to welding people today, but it was a surprise to everyone involved at that time.

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déjà vu here?

The hydrophone insert was already cracked when it first went down the slipway into the sea, evidenced by traces of paint on the fracture surfaces.

specifications.

Q: Is the virus still present today in the 21st century, 40 years after the Alexander L Kielland incident? Further, is the virus more virulent and has it created an even worse condition in the weld fabrication industry?

A: Yes, to an extent the situation has become ‘rotten to the core‘ as we say!

Currently, and as time goes by, the breakdown in the symbiotic relationship continues with deleterious effect on weld quality of fabrications. This fact should worry everyone. Dangerous complacency has set in at fabrication companies where essentially welding operations carried out do not reflect the information contained on the derived welding procedures. Despite the responsible actions by international welding authorities to issue new welding fabrication specifications to cover a broader range of welded products, fabricators pay only scant recognition of this and exhibit contemptuous behaviour towards doing what they should be doing. It is also disappointing to report that the new specifications still allow welders to make up their own welding parameters and thereby these specifications are totally contradictory and improve nothing. An example of this is BS EN ISO 3834 and its part 4. Clearly the correct welding message has not got through to the committees defining these

Q: Why is it that some members of the welding fraternity, in all the disciplines therein, cannot recognise from past evidence that welding engineering is suffering from a technical viral disease?

A: They have the virus, but don’t know it.

Q: Is welding engineering fast becoming the Forgotten Technology?

A: Yes

Q: Why is it that still today many welding fabrication companies permit their welders to weld fabricate without reference to a weld procedure?

A: They also have the virus.

Q: Does the modern welding fabrication industry give respect and acceptance to the truth about welding and its relationship to the steel industry?

A: No. References 1 and 2 confirm this as they do not demonstrate they give the respect to weld quality. So what do they care about? Profit. We must conclude so from the evidence. � References 1 British Welding Research Bulletin vol 7 (6) p149 – 178, 1966 Anon 2 The Alexander L Kielland Disaster Revisited – Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention, Vol 19, Issue 4, August 2019, p875 – 881

by E J France

September 2020

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Failure Mode Effect Analysis (FMEA) – A proactive approach to defect prevention and risk reduction There are two types of FMEAs, Design and Process. The former focuses on metallurgical failure modes ranked in order of the consequences for delivery.

Process FMEAs consider the consequences of a failure resulting from incorrect manufacturing and are prioritised in terms of a risk profile measured in terms of severity, occurrence and detectability. By Helen Gray* FAILURE Mode Effect Analysis, developed in the late 1950s, is a structured proactive approach to risk management. It helps manufacturers focus on identifying, understanding, mitigating and preventing risk of failure of a product design or a manufacturing process failing to produce product that will meet customer requirements.

Use of FMEAs varies with industry sector.

Automotive successfully adopted this methodology back in the 1990s as part of their Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) and Production Parts Approval Process (PPAP) and achieved multiple benefits of cost reductions due to lower scrap, rework and concessions, as well as increased capacity, shorter lead-times and higher customer satisfaction.

Other sectors, such as aerospace, have adopted the methodology, but have been less successful in getting lower tiers in their supply chains to see the value and, therefore, adopting FMEAs as a means of continuous improvement. Sometimes FMEA is seen as no more than a ‘box ticking’ exercise, with FMEAs being completed during manufacture or, worse still, as part

of the despatch documentation after the product has been manufactured. If an organisation has been ‘lucky’ in that there have not been any problems, the benefits of FMEAs fail to be understood and organisations continue to take uncalculated risks, resulting in missed opportunities.

The key to a successful FMEA is forethought and input before a design is released or before manufacture commences using a crossfunctional team with the right skills, knowledge and experience to construct a process that prevents non-conforming product. Team dynamics and effective team size should also be considered, and a balance should be struck between a team that is too small and risks having skills gaps and one that is too large and loses cohesiveness and individual productivity.

Teams should have operational, quality and engineering representation.

There are two types of FMEAs. Design FMEAs (DFMEA) consider the voices of the customer, of engineering, design

parameters and functional and nonfunctional requirements. Process FMEAs (PFMEA) consider manufacturing process parameters and product features.

Design FMEAs DFMEAs should be used as part of alloy design, focusing on metallurgical failure modes, ranked in order of effect they would have if the alloy failed to meet its intended performance and the effects of potential failure that would be experienced by the customer. During a DFMEA, the team would need to consider the ‘bigger picture’: not only late delivery due to a remake of

* Managing director, MQI Consultancy September 2020

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the cast or retreatment, but also premature failure of the alloy in a high integrity application such as an aero engine and the severity and the impact this would have on the customer and ultimately passenger safety if failure caused an air disaster and fatalities.

Process FMEAs PFMEAs consider every manner in which a process parameter such as temperature, teeming speed, degas time, vacuum pressure and features such as cast cleanliness, dimensions of the sheet, surface finish and flatness could fail to meet

specified parameters and the effects the potential failure mode would have on the customer.

It is important that descriptions of potential failure modes are sufficiently detailed to ensure the intent of what has been captured is understood by future metallurgists and engineers who may not be involved with the original PFMEA but may have to review or update it at a later date.

Defining risk It is key to have a good understanding of the severity of the effect both on the customer and the manufacturing process, if a failure mode occurred, the potential frequency of it occurring and how easily it could be detected. Severity, occurrence and detection are ranked on a basis of 1 to 10. 1 is the lowest ranking and represents no discernible effect on the process for severity, never for occurrence and detection not applicable. A ranking of 10 represents a failure to meet safety or regulatory requirements and may endanger the operator for severity, 100% of production affected for occurrence and no process controls in place resulting in the failure www.steeltimesint.com

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being undetected. Definitions change slightly depending on the industry sector.

Severity, occurrence and detection scores are then multiplied together to produce a risk priority number (RPN) that enables failure modes to be prioritised and proactive actions taken to reduce or even eliminate the potential risk of occurrence.

For the RPN number to be meaningful, historical data such as non-conformance, test and inspection results, lessons learned, customer complaints and feedback should be used to back up rankings rather than ‘gut feel’ and conjecture. This information will also help identify other failure modes.

Historically an RPN threshold score was common and assumed a measure of relative risk. There was also a tendency, without data, to underestimate or manipulate the severity, occurrence and frequency of failure. This reduces the RPN number and so removes the necessity to act and implement controls that will mitigate or detect the failure mode, thus promoting bad practices within the team. Team dynamics may also influence the decisionmaking process.

Rather than using an RPN threshold, an approach used by aerospace is to calculate a risk profile for each unique failure mode where there are multiple effects, using the highest severity ranking and lowest detection ranking. Actions to address risks are then prioritised based on the risk profile

score, where there are multiple effects, and RPN score where there is a single effect. The use of Pareto Analysis to assess the most frequently occurring defects by category, will identify process steps with the highest risks or RPN scores requiring attention. As a threshold is not defined, each risk must be considered independently against an organisation’s attitude to risk. Those failure modes with high severity, occurrence and detection rankings having priority.

Sometimes severity rankings can be reduced by a design change. However, a design change does not always result in a reduction in severity. The only options available are actions that will reduce occurrence of the failure mode, improve detection of it or a combination of both.

Actions taken to mitigate risks, responsibilities and target completion dates are recorded on the PFMEA. Once an action is complete, it must be verified as to its effectiveness before recalculating the RPN. The recalculated RPN also provides a measure of the actions’ effectiveness in reducing the risk of failure mode. If the RPN is still at an unacceptably high level, further actions should be identified, documented and implemented to reduce it.

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This methodology provides a means of identifying process key characteristics (KCs).

These are process parameters for which control is essential to manage process and product variation and reduce manufacture of non-conforming product.

Creation of a process flow diagram (PFD) before commencing a PFMEA provides a representation of the process steps required to make the product in sequential order from receipt of raw materials through to storage and shipment. It also provides a check to ensure no process steps have been missed. It is helpful to break the process down into different stages such as melting, forging, rolling, heat treatment, finishing with separate PFMEAs for each stage, otherwise a single document will become too large and unwieldy.

Documenting all controls identified by the PFMEA in a revision-controlled control plan provides a means of linking the PFD with all in-process checks identified in the PFMEA. Control Plans are also a form of documented instructions, informing shift management and their staff of the process

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controls and product checks required at each stage of the manufacturing process and specifying reaction plans to be invoked when processes become unstable and failure modes occur. Control Plans should be available at the workstation and broken down by operation and only listing the checks that are to be undertaken there.

It is good practice to implement proactive control activities at the earliest possible step in the manufacturing process, rather than reactive detection (inspection) activities to eliminate adding additional value to non-conforming product. Process controls may include such techniques as statistical process control (SPC), error proofing to ensure mistakes cannot be made, sampling plans and checklists.

Both ISO9001:2015 and AS9100 Rev D quality standards put more emphasis on considering risk than ever before. FMEAs are an ideal tool, providing an auditable record that risk has been considered. For organisations, whose customers do not demand FMEAs, this is still a valuable tool that can be incorporated into the quality management system. An ideal opportunity to undertake a PFMEA is as part of a feasibility study during the enquiry stage.

This will provide the organisation with a better understanding of costs associated with potential manufacturing risks. PFMEAs can also be used before making process and system improvements, installing new plant and approving new suppliers.

Initially, developing FMEAs can be a long process, but it becomes more efficient as inputs in initial FMEAs are used as a reference for future FMEAs. The benefits of dedicating resources at the front end, are more than outweighed by the reduction in scrap, rework and unplanned costs; and mean improved operational performance and satisfied customers. �

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16/09/2020 06:28:19

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WORKFORCE

Growing old gracefully The challenges presented by an ageing workforce have many implications on the future of work. The steel industry is not exempt from the problems of this ticking demographic timebomb. In this article Claudia Antunes* looks at how the OptimaSteel project might contribute towards a healthier outlook for steel industry workers around the world IN the EU-28, by 2019, the old-age dependency ratio was 31%; in other words, there were just over three persons of working age for each older person .

According to population forecasts, the European old-age dependency ratio will continue to climb and will reach 49.9 % by 2050, when there will be two persons of working age for each older person.

This represents a long-term impact of changes in the demographic structure on public expenditure covering pensions, healthcare and long-term care. Therefore, successful ageing at work and how to support and retain elder workers is a critical challenge for organisations. Such emerging demographic profiles require organisations to urgently take measures and develop new ways to enable older workers to remain in the workforce. Such issues are particularly accurate in the steel industry, a paradigmatic example of an ageing industry. Indeed, the mean age of steel industry employees has always been higher than the all-manufacturing average, both in Europe and in the USA. In the USA the mean age of the workforce for the iron and steel mills and steel product manufacturing is 44.2 years of age, while in Europe, and in the absence of updated data, it is estimated that it should be even higher, according to the latest Competitiveness Study for the sector, published by the EU. Consequently, industrial engineering and production research societies, as well as policy makers, have to deal with the challenge of talking about these ageing problems and their implications for work

conditions. Undertaking such problems is particularly needed in workplaces where employees are required to perform manual and mental tasks, comprising their physical and cognitive abilities, such as in manufacturing or assembly systems. To achieve the best results, it is essential to know the characteristics of older workers in this particular sector, which then allow companies to adequately support and guide them in executing their tasks.

Established in June 2019, the OptimaSteel project addresses the ageing challenges in the steel industry and is focused on identifying, assessing, demonstrating and disseminating, stateof-the-art technologies and ways of working to improve the quality of life of older adults’ working environment in the steel industry. This project is co-ordinated

by INOVA+ (a Portuguese Innovation consultancy) and integrates three additional members: Joanneum Research (innovation and technology provider), European Federation for Welding, Joining and Cutting (representative of the manufacturing community in Europe) and Groupe PSA (the second largest car manufacturer in Europe).

The main aim of OptimaSteel is to provide well-balanced and holistic systems that meet the needs of the steel industry and offer benefits to its workers.

OptimaSteel has adopted an holistic approach based on four pillars of wellbeing: workplace ergonomics, physical training, nutritional balance and stress management.

The project comprises four phases: scanning of the state-of-the-art solutions, screening

of identified solutions, demonstration and dissemination, and has a Portuguese automotive manufacturer, the Groupe PSA – Mangualde (Portugal) plant as a case study. First, to identify the workers’ needs and areas for improvement at PSAMangualde, a questionnaire was elaborated and presented to 100 workers with +50 years of working experience on the factory floor – body shop, painting, assembly and quality areas. 58% of the employees were between 50-54, 41% in the 55-60 age range, and only one was older than 61 years. The questionnaire aimed to tackle the four pillars of the project to identify the main challenges.

Regarding ergonomics at work, the results showed that 92% of the participants remain standing for six to eight hours a day; 87% indicated that their work involved tiring body positions; and about 53% needed to carry heavy loads. The Assembling area is where the most positive

* Project manager, Optima Steel Project September 2020

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answers are positioned since it is the less robot-supported. Regarding physical activity and health, the results presented alarming data. About 39% of the participants revealed that they do not practice physical activity more than twice a month, while 71% are overweight or even obese (according to body mass index). A large group of workers, 44%, have problems with high blood pressure. Regarding stress in the workplace, 34% of workers indicated that this is always, or almost always, a reality in their daily lives. Interestingly, based on this sample, stress levels seem to increase with age and the assembly and bodyshop lines appear to be areas with more workers www.steeltimesint.com

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affected by stress.

The OptimaSteel project identified a lack of digital literacy among these employees.

An estimated 38% of workers are not confident when using smartphone apps.

Couple this with a tendency to prohibit the use of smartphones on the shop floor and a challenge to the use of technology presents itself. The lack of digital literacy clearly hinders the capacity of these workers to find relevant information and use valuable digital applications that could introduce significant improvements in their daily lives.

Consequently, this project will also assume the responsibility of raising awareness about the potentialities of technology and

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how to best use them.

The results obtained showed a clear need to intervene at various levels and positively influence the quality of life and work of the participants. As such, extensive research was undertaken to find technological and other solutions that responded directly to the problems caused.

Research carried out relied upon good practices and recent developments in order to improve the living conditions of steel workers in the automotive sector. It also included visits to the PSA factory floor, as well as interviews with those responsible for various areas, in order to have a more complete picture of the results obtained in September 2020

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the questionnaire. A list of solutions was successively encouraged and refined, taking into account the internal discussions of the consortium partners and the creation of an evaluation table for technical solutions and non-technical techniques.

The result of this process culminated in the selection of the following solutions implemented in PSA Mangualde: RULA method (Rapid Upper Limb Assessment), trunk exoskeleton, anti-fatigue solutions, wearable technologies, improvements in the nutritional content of canteen food, and its own reorganisation of physical space, reinforcement and promotion of physical activity and, finally, promotion of activities designed to relieve stress, such as hug and laugh therapy, breathing and team building exercises.

Several solutions for each of the four pillars were identified during the first seven months of the project. The most suitable ones have been selected and will be piloted (September-November 2020) at the Groupe PSA – Mangualde plant. Data generated from these solutions will be collected automatically, through the use of digital solutions or via questionnaires, and

will allow the project team to monitor and evaluate the results. All the data collected during the pilot will be analysed and made available on the OptimaSteel tool portal.

This portal will be accessible also to other companies in the steel industry that wish to replicate and apply the OptimaSteel methodologies and solutions.

With regard to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, the consortium is already adapting some proposed solutions to manage social distancing restrictions. The solutions selected and validated by the whole consortium, namely the hug and laugh therapy, breathing exercises and team building activities, will have to be adapted to the contingency plan of the PSA Mangualde factory, which will mean changes to the originally thought out and

validated concept.

Worldwide this is a challenge faced by numerous companies in terms of facing increasing difficulties offering interesting solutions to their employees. They want to keep the team spirit and reduce the stress levels of their staff. As a result, the solutions to be implemented in the framework of the OptimaSteel project with regard to these issues will certainly bring a degree of innovation and novelty. Indeed, to bypass all the restrictions in place due to the current pandemic crisis, stakeholders need to resort to creativity and imagination.

Nonetheless, the project team aims to improve these specific aspects of their worker’s lives.

OptimaSteel will provide well-balanced and holistic systems that meet steel industry needs and offer benefits to its workers.

Our aim is to contact organisations (namely industrial communities) which can benefit from our project results to perform demonstration activities. This will be crucial to transfer knowledge, solutions, and technology, while broadening the impact of the project in the European (and global) steel industry. �

1. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/tps00198/default/table?lang=en 2. Ageing Europe LOOKING AT THE LIVES OF OLDER PEOPLE IN THE EU, STATISTICAL BOOKS, EUROSTAT, 2019 3. https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/1988/attachments/1/translations/en/renditions/native pdf September 2020

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HYDROGEN STEELMAKING

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How to decarbonise the steel industry Global climate goals aim to almost eliminate CO2 emissions completely by 2050. This poses challenges for industrial enterprises and energy suppliers and demands new technological solutions in both sectors.

In this context, CO2-neutral – ‘green’ – hydrogen is regarded as the most promising future option for facilitating the energy transition. Last year, currently the world’s largest and most advanced electrolyser has commenced production of green hydrogen at the voestalpine premises in Linz, Austria.

SINCE the world changed in 2015 when 190 nations officially adopted the Paris Agreement, the industry has come under increasing pressure to reduce its carbon footprint from both environmental and economic perspectives. The steel production process is highly energy-intensive. There are two main methods for manufacturing steel – blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF) route and electric arc furnace (EAF) route. The critical difference between the processes is the type of raw materials and energy carriers they consume. For the BF-BOF route, these are predominantly iron ore, coal, and up to 25% recycled steel, while the EAF route produces steel using mainly recycled steel and electricity.

World crude steel production reached 1.868.8Mt for the year 2019. According to the World Steel Association, every ton of steel produced in 2018 emitted, on average, 1.85 tons of carbon dioxide, equating to about 8% of global anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. www.steeltimesint.com

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Reducing CO2 emissions in steelmaking is a severe environmental issue that must be overcome on a worldwide level. Making the substantial CO2 reductions required will need technology transfer, collaboration, and breakthrough technologies.

Decarbonising the economic and energy system is a crucial challenge for the future.

For that reason, the industry in general and the steel industry in particular requires new processes and novel technologies, like electrolysis to generate green hydrogen from renewable energies to achieve longterm climate goals. The steelmaking sector is also looking at the potential of carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) or biomass as a reducing agent and electrolysis. The belief is that every one of these technologies will have a role to play in cutting CO2 emissions.

Hydrogen is no stranger to the steel industry. It is used as a process gas, as the main element in the coke oven gas used in the voestalpine energy system and as a reducing gas in the BF process at its Linz

plant or in steel strip annealing processes.

The hot-briquetted iron (HBI) plant of voestalpine in Corpus Christi also employs hydrogen, which it generates from natural gas during the CO2/H2O reforming process, as reducing gas.

H2Future – an overview One crucial technology being tested at a steel plant in Austria is CO2-free production of hydrogen. The EU-funded H2Future project – currently the world’s largest pilot plant for the CO2 neutral production of hydrogen – brings together the steel industry, technology providers and research partners, to produce green hydrogen from green electricity. This will be achieved by combining proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyser technology with grid services integrating both into the steel manufacturing process. The partners, voestalpine, Verbund, Siemens, APG, K1MET and TNO, are researching the industrial production of green hydrogen, which in the September 2020

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long term will replace fossil carbon in steel production.

H2Future is located at the voestalpine site in Linz, Austria. voestalpine, an international steel and technology group, has been a pioneer in environmental protection, investing €2.3 billion over the past decade. “We have set ourselves clear targets for the direct avoidance of CO2 emissions in steel production for the coming years. The largest hydrogen generation plant using state-of-the-art PEM electrolyser technology at our Linz location is a major step in driving this technology transformation forward,” Hubert Zajicek, member of the management board and head of the steel division at voestalpine, says.

The €18 million project is testing the potential applications for green hydrogen in the various process stages of steel production, and integration into the power reserve markets for the power grid.

For the industry, transport, and energy sectors, CO2-free hydrogen is an essential source of energy for sector coupling and can significantly contribute to achieving climate goals. The new plant is designed to be a technological milestone on the pathway to the energy transition, and thus to the gradual decarbonisation of the steel industry.

The pilot plant has a connected load of 6MW. It will be used to test whether the technology is suitable for large-scale industrial production of green hydrogen.

CO2-free, or green hydrogen, is considered to be the most promising future option to make the energy turnaround possible.

The plant can produce 1,200 m3 of green hydrogen per hour. The goal of the project is to achieve a record output efficiency of 80% in converting electricity into hydrogen.

Mass production and large hydrogen generation plants are required in order to reduce the specific system costs. Electricity costs, grid fees and CO2 emission prices need to be adjusted to make hydrogen electrolysis more competitive.

Until these goals have been achieved, voestalpine is following an intermediate step in hybrid technology, i.e. the gradual switch from the carbon-based blast furnace to electric steel production in combination with the HBI plant in Texas.

This would enable voestalpine to reduce its CO2 emissions by about one third after 2030 (three to four million tonnes per year). In the long term, voestalpine September 2020

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plans to gradually increase the share of hydrogen and renewable energy to reduce CO2 emissions by more than 80% by 2050.

What is important is the long-term costeffectiveness of such technologies, which could be realised by suitable regulations, that enable cost-effectiveness and stable up take.

“However, the most important prerequisite for this scenario planning based on green electricity or green hydrogen is that renewable energy is available in sufficient quantities and at economically feasible prices. Only in this way will we be able to operate the future technologies competitively,” adds Zajicek. “The pilot plant for the CO2-free production of hydrogen successfully started operation at the voestalpine site in Linz, Austria, in November 2019 and sets an international milestone in the development of new options for energy supply.”

The large-scale production of hydrogen being developed and piloted in the H2Future project is an essential pillar to turn this vision into reality. Testing PEM electrolysis technology on an industrial scale at 6 MW and simulating rapid load changes in electricity generated from renewable energy sources for grid balancing, are the critical elements of this European flagship project.

Fuelled by PEM At the heart of the system is Siemens’ Silyzer 300 PEM (proton-exchange membrane) electrolyser. PEM technology works using a proton-exchange membrane as the electrolyte. This membrane has a unique property: it is permeable to protons, but not to gases like hydrogen and oxygen.

This means that in a PEM-based electrolyser the membrane acts as an electrolyte and as a separator to prevent mixing of the gas products. Electrodes are attached on both sides of the proton-exchange membrane.

Voltage is applied to the anode causing the water to decompose into oxygen, hydrogen ions (protons), and free electrons.

The membrane only allows the hydrogen ions to pass through. When they arrive on the cathode, they encounter the free electrons with which they combine to form hydrogen.

PEM technology is still relatively young, but it has enormous potential. PEM systems such as Silyzer can capture ever-larger amounts of energy from wind and solar electricity so that it can be transformed, used, and stored as required. The hydrogen obtained in this way is a valuable and versatile product for use in different industries, for fuel cell mobility applications, and reconversion into electricity at a later time.

A critical advantage of the PEM electrolysis process used in the project is its flexibility, making it an ideal choice even for dynamic industrial processes and grid services. In the course of the project implementation, one of the use cases developed by the leading Austrian renewable energy provider Verbund, will focus on the automatic provision of primary control and frequency containment reserve (FCR) by changing the power consumption of the electrolyser based on local grid frequency measurements. In the demonstration phase, the electrolyser will, after successful pre-qualification, provide these services to the Austrian Transmission System Operator APG, as one possible use case.

“The pilot facility in Linz is bringing the world one step closer to the goal of global decarbonisation,” Prof. Armin Schnettler, CEO of New Energy Business at Siemens Energy, says. “Technology such as PEM electrolysis allows us to help our customers meet their climate protection obligations.” �

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INNOVATIONS

Green hydrogen for Salzgitter Flachstahl German steelmaker Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH (Salzgitter) has taken delivery of the world’s largest high-temperature electrolyser (HTE), which is designed to produce energy-efficient hydrogen.

The equipment was delivered to Salzgitter by Sunfire GmbH, a company that develops and manufactures systems for renewable industry gas and fuel production.

Sunfire’s HTE system has a rated electrical output of 720kW and its installation at Salzgitter Flachstahl represents its first deployment in an industrial environment. It will be in operation for at least 13,000 hours by the end of 2022 and will produce at least 100 tonnes of green hydrogen from renewable electricity.

The development of Sunfire’s HTE and its delivery to Salzgitter is all part of the GrlnHy2.0 project, which is a collaborative venture between partners Sunfire GmbH, Paul Wurth S.A., Tenova

SpA, French research centre CEA and Salzgitter Mannesmann Forschung GmbH. The aim of the EUR5.5 million project has been to develop the world’s most powerful Steam Electrolyser (StE) for the energy-efficient production of hydrogen.

Tenova’s role in GrInHy2.0 is to assist in bringing about green hydrogen-based steel production using its ENERGIRON-ZR direct reduction technology, jointly developed by Tenova and Danieli, which offers an integrated CO2 absorption system and is ready to use up to 100% hydrogen. The technology was jointly developed by Tenova and Danieli.

Tenova’s Markus Dorndorf, the company’s iron and steelmaking business development director (vacuum degassing) commented: “Our co-operation with Salzgitter and Sunfire could lead to a revolution in the European steel industry.

Our extensive know-how and experience of the new process route DRP-EAF – that we have been optimizing for years with the goal to minimize the carbon footprint – together with innovative hydrogen production solutions form the ideal

combination to achieve the sustainable transformation of the steel industry”.

Nils Aldag, Sunfire GmbH’s managing director, said that the steel industry was intensively developing new and low-CO2 production routes. “We are pleased to participate in this together with our partners. The technology is ready for hydrogen production on an industrial scale, and we are ready to significantly increase our production capacity for this purpose”, he said.

Benedikt Ritterbach, managing director of Salzgitter Mannesmann Forschung GmbH, and responsible for R&D in the Salzgitter Group, commented: “GrInHy2.0 will provide us with further findings in the industrial demonstration operation of a high-temperature electrolyzer. By integrating this world’s most powerful plant into large-scale industrial processes, we are breaking new ground in energy-efficient hydrogen production.”

For further information, log on to www.tenova.com

Remote diagnostic monitoring for lubricants Des-Case Corporation (D-CC), a global manufacturer of speciality filtration products designed to improve process equipment reliability and extend lubricant life, has launched a new remote diagnostic monitoring subscription plan for industrial lubricated assets. The company claims that customers can have peace of mind knowing the lubricant health, cleanliness and humidity inside their critical assets have real-time monitoring by a team of experts.

Brian Gleason, D-CC’s CEO, commented, “Des-Case has innovated and manufactured solutions that keep lubricants clean and dry for more than 37 years, so adding sensors to those solutions, tying them back to an intuitive and easy-to-use IsoLogic® software platform and wrapping it all with a diagnostic monitoring service was a natural enhancement to our portfolio to become a part of the rapid emergence of the digital plant.”

D-CC’s We Monitor™ package offers a bundling of its solutions for a low monthly price (billed quarterly). The remote monitoring service is delivered by a team of analysts and lubrication experts providing real-time advice, the edge gateway devices, the connected desiccant breather plus replacement cartridges, and lubrication training and consulting all wrapped into one plan. Additional sensors per asset can easily be added on to the package to monitor an array of lubricant conditions.

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to provide enhanced features and functionality, most notably the ability in the platform to quickly view asset status across the plant or multiple locations, lubricant condition status, connectivity status and dig deep with multi-layer trend analysis per sensor per asset.

Email alerts notify the customer when an alarm or warning goes off, followed up with a call to provide diagnostic instructions and actions from

a lubrication expert. Monthly, quarterly and annual reports and presentations are provided to help show return on investment, report on asset trends and deliver lubrication best practice advice for an holistic and sustainable programme.

Stephanie Schaffer, vice president, connected solutions and marketing, said that ‘the new reality of our working environment – from home or

in plant with limited resources – is a large catalyst for the need of this remote monitoring service.

“Survey results show companies don’t have the in-house resources, the time or knowledge necessary to analyse and interpret the data they are receiving across multiple data points, and lubrication expertise to predict and prevent failures and sustain best practices. That’s why we want to provide more than just the sensors and software, but also incorporate training, consulting and our decades of in-house knowledge in lubrication.

“No two reports will be the same because this service is truly tailored to the customer and solving their unique challenges. Our objective is to be a partner with each company year after year, working together to prevent downtime, reduce maintenance costs and provide continuous training for employees.”

The We Monitor™ — and Enterprise packages for companies with 100 or more assets— will roll out in North America first, with plans to bring it to other countries in the near future. Another option is the You Monitor™ package where customers can purchase the sensors and edge gateway device and monitor the data on their own via the IsoLogic® platform or hardwired into their own CMMS. For further information, log on to www.descase.com September 2020

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ROLLING

A high quality bar and rod mill A new 250kt/yr combination bar, bar-in-coil and wire rod mill has recently been commissioned at YongXing Special Stainless Steel Company. The mill, located Huzhou City in China, is designed to produce 250kt/yr of stainless valve steels, nickel-based alloy steel and numerous stainless grades, including austenitic, ferritic, dual phase and hardening steels. By J Hsueh1, SM Shore2, R Masini3

THE new mill, supplied by Primetals Technologies, can roll wire rod in sizes 4.5 – 16.0 mm, bar-in-coil from 16 – 40 mm and straight bar from 30 – 130 mm. This article presents several equipment and process innovations incorporated into the new mill design and examines the initial results.

The equipment includes quenching and heat treatment facilities to maximize in-line processing, plus new innovations such as step-less coil reforming for wire rod and optical bar counting for straight bar products, all selected to deliver higher-grade stainless products. As production in the new mill continues to increase, YongXing is able to meet customer demand for special steel grades used in the nuclear, automotive and petrochemical industries, among others, affirming the company’s position as a top stainless steel supplier in China.

Company profile YongXing Special Stainless Steel Company (referred to as YongXing) specializes in the development and production of special stainless steel rod and wire, mainly used in petrochemical, basic energy, equipment manufacturing and other industrial

fields. As a leading stainless steel rod and wire player in China, YongXing plays an important role in the development of the nation’s basic industries.

A growing shortage of skilled and experienced workers in the steel industry means that the key to success in sustaining and improving operations is to replace outdated equipment with new technology and increase the level of automation in a new facility. The previous generation of workers could rely on their experience to optimize ageing equipment and process practices. The installation of a modern mill provides consistent operations with higher speeds, less maintenance and downtime, and less wear and tear of parts, meaning more up time between changes, and minimal operator intervention.

Products and processing YongXing produces wire rod and bar products for the nuclear and petrochemical industries, among others. Grades rolled in the combination mill are mainly various grades of stainless steel and nickel-based alloys. The stainless steels include austenitic, ferritic, martensitic, welding, vulcanized,

dual phase and hardening grades, plus austenitic and martensitic stainless valve steels.

The new mill rolls a wide range of sizes to satisfy the speciality steel market: Wire rod from 4.5 – 16 mm, bar-in-coil from 16 – 40 mm and straight bar from 30 – 130 mm.

The wire rod is formed into coils with an outer diameter of 1,250 mm and an inner diameter of 850 – 900 mm. The bar-in-coil package has an outer diameter of 1,250 mm and an inner diameter of 850 mm.

Straight bar bundles are made in lengths from six to 12 metres.

Starting billets for the stainless steel grades are either 220 mm, 180 mm or 150 mm square, from six to seven metres in length and weights from 1,200 – 1,800 kg.

The nickel-based alloy billets are 120 mm round, with a length of seven metres and weight of 612 kg.

The mills are designed to roll at a maximum speed of 80 metres/second with production rates of up to 62 tonne/ hr. Yearly production for the new mill is expected to be approximately 250kt.

Fig.1 Mill layout.

1.YongHing Special Stainless Steel Co Ltd, Zhashuiqiao Road 618, Huzhou City, PRC .

2. Primetals Technologies USA, 40 Crescent Street, Worcester, MA, USA. Email: markshore@primetals.com 3. Primetals Technologies Italy Srl, Via Luigi Pomini, 92, Marnate, Italy, 21050. Email: Riccardo.masini@primetals.com September 2020

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Rolling mill equipment Primetals Technologies provided a significant amount of equipment to YongXing for the new mill, including a new reversing breakdown mill and a three-roll sizing block in the main roughing and intermediate mill trains.

The straight bar line included a cooling bed run-in table with brake slide, cooling bed, plus bar handling with hot saws and bar counting. Automated bar bundling and binding prepare the finished bar for storage and shipment.

The wire rod line equipment included a 680 shear, a 10-stand Morgan Vee NoTwist® mill, 4-stand Morgan Reducing/ Sizing Mill, Morgan Water Boxes, Morgan Intelligent Pinch Roll and Morgan High Speed Laying Head. For controlled cooling of the coiled rod, a four-zone Morgan Stelmor® conveyor was installed, ahead of a new step-less coil reforming station.

The bar-in-coil line was configured with pouring reels and coil quenching tanks for heat treatment of the coiled product. Coil handling of both bar-in-coil and wire rod coils was combined in a common system with vertical stem pallets and a vertical coil compactor.

Fig.1 below shows the overall layout of the rolling mill.

Bar Line – Mill The breakdown mill is a housing-less reversing sliding stand, with RedRing® design (see Fig. 2). Grooves are changed according to pass design by sliding the stand transversally to the rolling line, which remains fixed. Between subsequent passes, rotating devices turn the bar under rolling.

The sliding breakdown has a 940 mm maximum roll centreline distance and a

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Fig 2. Reversing sliding breakdown with bar rotating device

1,800 mm roll barrel length.

The roughing, intermediate and prefinishing trains are all constructed with fifth-generation RedRing stands, scaled in three sizes, with maximum roll openings variable from 450 to 750 mm.

Bar Line – Cooling Bed For the bar line at YongXing, a shear arrangement is used to cut the bars headed to the cooling bed. In order to cover the complete size and speed range, a 1,400 mm dual ratio crop and divide shear with a 600 mm chopping shear is used for dividing sizes ≤60mm. For sizes greater than 60mm, no divide cuts are necessary due to the length of the cooling bed. The cut lengths to the cooling bed are calculated based on multiples of the finished commercial cut length. Cut length optimization software adjusts the primary cut lengths to the cooling bed to minimize yield losses. The tail end of the last bar can be cobble cut

at the divide shear arrangement, or if the length is greater than three metres, collected at the short bar recovery after the abrasive saws.

Immediately after the divide shear arrangements are the approach and run-in tables to the cooling bed. The approach table is provided with individually driven horizontal rollers that are gradually inclined to match the incline of the run-in roller table. The approach table is designed to operate faster than the finishing stock speed in order to create a gap between divided bars prior to entering the brake slide to the cooling bed.

The run-in table rollers are also individually driven and inclined at the same angle as the brake slide. The brake slide, as shown in Fig. 3, lifts the bar off the run-in table rollers to allow braking of the bar under friction before being discharged onto the first notch of the cooling bed. A hydraulic cylinder cushions the bar against

Fig.3 Brake slide to the cooling bed

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ROLLING

cutting parameters are system-controlled, including sample cuts and removal.

Bar Line – bar counter The patented bar counting system at the entry to the bar bundling area at YongXing enables the accurate piece count of the bars as they are transported to the stacker.

The autonomous system illuminates the ends of groups of bars as they pass an image processing camera and ancillary components while on a conveyor. As bars pass the camera, the images of the bar ends are digitally captured and the image processed with a proprietary algorithm to provide the number of pieces in the layer. The system provides an accurate and reliable means of providing a count for each of the bar bundles.

Fig.4 EVO abrasive disc saw

the brake slides while lowering it for smoother control. The entry section of the run-in table is equipped with drop down walls to prevent the larger bar from sliding down the brake slide before the previous bar is discharged. The number of drop down walls used depends on the product size. Special wear-resistant plates along the approach table and brake slide prevent scratching of the bars prior to the lifting of the brake slide.

For conventional operation at YongXing, the bars are deposited from the brake slide onto the straightening grid of the cooling bed. Moving rakes, operating automatically by two variable speed motors, advance the bars one notch at a time from the straightening grids to the fixed rakes. The speed of the rake section can be varied to control the temperature of the product exiting the cooling bed. For better yield, a set of aligning rollers are located at the end of the rake section to align the front of bars in layers before cutting at the cold saw.

During normal operation, the bars are cooled on the moving rakes and then discharged one-by-one, onto a grouping chain transfer, driven electro-mechanically, which shifts layers of bars in the required numbers. A lifting tray system picks up each layer of bars and moves them onto the cooling bed run-out roller table feeding the cold saws.

Fast transfer across the cooling bed is also provided to deliver products to the slow cooling bins at elevated temperatures. In this case, the lifting tray system picks up the layer of bars immediately after they have been deposited on the moving rakes after the straightening grid and quickly transfers September 2020

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them to the cooling bed run-out table for cutting the final commercial lengths, before depositing them into the slow cooling bins.

Bar Line – sawing systems Dividing the finished product at YongXing for handling and shipping requires a high-quality cut to prevent product surface cracks or undesirable hardening effects.

As installed at YongXing, the EVO abrasive disc saws, Fig.4, enable cutting several different sizes, shapes and grades with the same machine, improving operational flexibility. This high-speed, fully automated process allows full production capability of the plant. Both hot and cold materials may be processed and all the

Bar Line – bar bundling and binding The bundle-forming station at YongXing includes three independently driven chain sections. The first is a buffer chain section accumulating bars that cannot be advanced to the next section. The second pre-selects a fixed number of bars for feeding into the bundle-forming cradle. The third feeds the bars to the bundle-forming cradle. The cradle lowers incrementally, minimizing the drop distance from the lances to the top of the bundle. Vertical and horizontal rollers then help support the loose bundle during transfer to the tying machines.

Two sets of fixed bundle-forming arms and tying machines are provided at the

Fig.5 Bundling station and tying machines

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ROLLING

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exit of the bundle-forming station. The loose bundle advances through the tying machines and stops at a pre-set position, depending on the commercial length, to space the ties equally along the length. The bundle-forming arms compact the bars into a bundle before the ties are applied. After tying, the bundle-forming arms retract and the bundle advances to the next tying position. Fig.5 shows the bundle-forming station arrangement.

Wire Rod Line - shears A 680 mm continuously rotating divide shear arrangement, preceded by a pinch roll unit, was installed at YongXing ahead of the finishing block. This shear arrangement is used for front and tail-end crop cuts which are collected in scrap buckets below the mill floor level. In case of production interruptions downstream, the shear makes a divide cut and chops the bar.

Wire Rod Line – Vee No-Twist® mill The modular and versatile design features of the Morgan Vee No-Twist Mill allow the mill to be supplied in 4-, 6-, 8- or 10-stand configurations with fixed single-pass reductions from 10 to 25%, allowing a wide range of grades to be rolled.

The Vee No-Twist Mill, (Fig. 6), can be configured with 250 mm, 230 mm or 160 mm cantilevered roll housings, depending on the processing requirements and product size range. Due to the unique design of the pinion and bevel gear housings, the roll housings are interchangeable, allowing the mill configuration to be changed to increase its

Fig.7 Morgan Reducing/Sizing Mill (RSM)

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Fig.6 Morgan Vee No-Twist Mill

product size range (5.0 mm to 26.0 mm) or enhance the processing requirements, depending on global demand. For this application, a 10-stand 16 % average reduction Vee No-Twist Mill was installed with a 230 mm ultra heavy-duty (UHD) roll housing providing the optimum configuration for the size range specified as well as reduced roll cost and improved section control.

Wire Rod Line – reducing/sizing mill One of the most significant advancements in high-speed rod mills was the development of the patented Morgan Reducing/Sizing Mill (RSM) in the early 1990s, which serves as a post-finishing mill block. More than 70 strands of RSMs have been installed worldwide, mostly as part of new mills and major mill modernization

projects.

At YongXing, a two-family rolling method is used in conjunction with the 16% average reduction No-Twist Mill to restrict the overall reduction of the special stainless and nickel alloy products. With the installation of three-roll sizing, a single roll groove set-up is used at each stand, from the first stand in the roughing mill to the last stand in the finishing mill, to produce the necessary feed sections to the rod outlet. This not only simplifies mill setup, but improves yield through a reduced number of cobbles and the elimination of trial bars. It also significantly reduces the roll and guide changes, and, therefore, the need to maintain their inventory. The mill’s design provides for future off-line roll units and the quick-change transfer car to allow size changes to be made within

Fig 8. Morgan high-speed laying head and pinch roll

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ROLLING

Fig 9. Morgan Stelmor Conveyor and DST line

five minutes. As a result, even when the rolling rate or finishing speed has not been significantly increased, the mill is still capable of improving its productivity through increased operating efficiency with the reduction in downtime for roll changes.

The RSM also provides improved product tolerance and ovality – typically ±0.1 mm tolerance and 0.12 mm ovality. With special steel products, the ability to produce a close-tolerance product reduces the amount of peeling required, resulting in large savings during post-rolling operations.

In addition, experience with the ovalround-round-round pass sequence in many mills has shown that the overall pass life is double that of conventional rolling, thereby reducing downtime for pass changes. This pass sequence is also beneficial to wire drawers and other post-rollers, since it minimizes circumferential surface variations at the parting areas.

Wire Rod Line – water boxes A common limitation in rod and bar mills is product temperature control through the process line. In many cases, there is a lack of cooling capacity, making difficult the control of mechanical and metallurgical properties, as well as the amount and type of scale. Product quality requirements, particularly for speciality grades like those produced at YongXing, have, therefore, driven many mills to install the latest technology water box systems offering efficient cooling with easy-to-maintain components. Primetals Technologies’ split bore cooling nozzle design allows operators to quickly and easily open a nozzle for inspection or cleaning.

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Wire Rod Line – pinch roll and laying head An area of the process line that commonly limits the success of a rod mill is that of the laying head and pinch roll. The ability to roll small size products at high speeds is meaningless if the ring pattern on the Stelmor® cooling conveyor is not consistent and the laying head pipe needs frequent changes. A bad ring pattern can result in failure to achieve the specified tensile uniformities and additional personnel required at the laying head or reform station to prevent cobbles in each coil.

The Morgan High Speed Laying Head was developed to operate at those speeds and has achieved a good reputation for reliable high-speed operation. Numerous mills have upgraded their laying head and pinch roll systems in recent years to increase production, reduce manpower, improve

yield and ensure consistent product quality.

Recent developments on the high-speed laying head system have resulted in a new upgrade package, which YongXing included in its new mill. Design changes in the laying head and pipe support have led to even better performance at high speeds, with extremely low vibration levels. Also, a significant advancement in the technology of the laying head pipe – the patented SR Series® pipe – now enables the rolling of many more tons of small diameter products at high speeds, which results in a dramatic reduction in downtime for pipe changes.

The success of the laying head and pinch roll system is also dependent on the mechatronics package that is part of an equipment upgrade. This system provides for consistent co-ordination of speeds between the units, for repeatable front-end positioning of each coil, fine control of ring diameter and wobble adjustment for large sizes. The Morgan Intelligent Pinch Roll incorporates servo control of pinch force and position, closed loop control of pinch force and speed, plus rapid and repeatable roll close times.

Wire Rod Line – Stelmor® conveyor The Stelmor controlled cooling system incorporates a wide range of processing conditions, including fast and slow or hybrid fast and slow cooling in a single system to produce a wide spectrum of plain carbon, alloys, and stainless steel grades. This flexibility, coupled with controlled temperature rolling, allows more grades to be produced in a directly useable condition, thus eliminating or accelerating downstream processes such as

Fig.10 Stepless reform station

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ROLLING

Fig.11 Pouring reel outlet with water quenching tanks

recrystallization and solution treatment.

For slow cooling, the Stelmor is equipped with insulated covers, which can be closed to retard the cooling rate. Solid conveyor rollers on the conveyor deck are designed to dissipate heat transferred from the rings during slow cooling, thus preventing distortion and reducing maintenance requirements. For YongXing, this operating mode is specifically used for martensitic stainless steels that will be heat treated off-line.

Immediately after the entry section is a curved traversing zone that directs product to either the Stelmor conveyor or Direct Solution Treatment (DST) line (Fig. 9). This is used for direct charging of the coils on the conveyor into the solution treatment furnace for annealing/slow cooling through isothermal transformation of stainless steel grades.

Wire Rod Line – coil reform The coil reform station is a critical element of the finishing end of the wire rod mill, collecting the rings from the Stelmor conveyor and DST line into an ideal coil package, while minimizing cycle time in order to meet production demands.

Accurate control of coil plates and nose cone supports insure smooth and continuous coil collection. Integral to the reform tub is the ring distributor system, with a specially designed rotating blade to guide the rings as they fall, creating a wellordered coil package.

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Fig.12. Vertical pallet coil handling system

plate arrangement supports the forming coil with independent drives for each. The two coil plates maintain a constant distance from the bottom of the ring distributor to the top of the forming coil during the forming cycle, eliminating the conventional system’s crop between iris fingers and coil plate.

Bar In Coil Line – pouring reels A high-speed pouring reel switch located immediately before the rollerized turndown into the pouring reels at YongXing directs alternating bars within the billet gap into the individual pouring reels, providing sufficient time to transfer the coils from the reels onto the walking beam cooling conveyor. The turndown utilizes three cluster rollers to prevent scratching of the bar on the bar as it enters the pouring reels.

These roller clusters are water-cooled and air/oil lubricated for long life and reduced maintenance.

Two pinch rolls are located close to the pouring reels for control of tail ends as they enter the reel. All pinch rolls are traversable to allow quick change between the grooves required to cover the complete size range and include hydraulic roll mounting. The pouring reels are equipped with wear strips on the outer rotating drum to prevent mechanical damage during the formation of the coil. An elevating coil plate assembly incorporated in the reel removes the coil from the tub. A coil transfer mast transports the coils from either of the two pouring reels and delivers them directly to either water quenching tanks or the vertical pallet system (Fig.11).

Wire Rod and Bar-in-Coil – coil handling and compacting A common vertical pallet coil handling system is being used to transport both the wire rod from the Stelmor or Direct Solution Treatment lines and bar-in-coil products to either the slow cooling pits or unloading station for internal transportation to off-line annealing and pickling facilities. The vertical pallet system has been designed with the flexibility to ensure the shortest transport time to allow the coils to be delivered to the slow cooling pits as quickly as possible, while also providing sufficient cooling distance to ensure low coil temperatures prior to trimming and compacting.

RESULTS Production experience The newly expanded combination wire rod, bar-in-coil and bar mill in Huzhou has started production.

The wire rod and bar mills are ramping up their production with a focus on the commercial austenitic stainless steel grades such as 201Cu, 204Cu, 303Cu, 304DC, 304H, 304HC (1, 2 & 3), 304L, 304S, 316 and 316L. Harder stainless grades such as ER2209, ER 309LSI and nickel alloys will begin their initial testing in the upcoming months.

The contracted mill production rates and finishing speeds have been achieved on grades rolled to date with a maximum finishing speed of 80 metres/second and a rolling rate of 62 tonnes/hr for all rod sizes and bar-in-coil sizes < 40.0 mm.

Very good product tolerance has been achieved on all rod and bar products, with all rod products achieving the September 2020

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Wire Rod Products Grade

Size [mm]

Property

Stelmor

Direct Solution Treatment

Off-line Treatment

Tensile Rm (MPa)

578

519

513

Mechanical Property Elongation A(%)

56

64

67

Reduction Z(%)

80

82

304HC

7.5

Grain Size (ASTM No.) 9.5 - 10 4.5 - 6

83 3.5 – 5 Partial 1.5 – 2.5

Tensile Rm (MPa)

588

529

525

304HC1

Mechanical Property Elongation A(%)

58

68

70.4

Reduction Z(%)

80

83

7.5

Grain Size (ASTM No.) 9.5 - 10 4.5 - 6

81.8 3.5 – 5 Partial 1.5 – 2.5

Tensile Rm (MPa)

572

511

505

304HC3

Mechanical Property Elongation A(%)

54

61

62

Reduction Z(%)

79

82

7.5

Grain Size (ASTM No.) 9.5 - 10 4.5 - 6

81 3.5 – 5 Partial 1.5 – 2.5

Table 1. Comparison of heat treatment process for rod products

Grade

Size [mm]

Property

Water Quench

Off-line Treatment

Tensile Rm (MPa)

582

554

Mechanical Property

Elongation A(%)

58

58

Reduction Z(%)

78

77

Grain Size (ASTM No.)

8 - 9

2.5 – 4.5

Tensile Rm (MPa)

560

503

304HC

Mechanical Property

Elongation A(%)

53

55

Reduction Z(%)

78

80

Grain Size (ASTM No.)

8 - 9

3.6 – 6

Tensile Rm (MPa)

580

542

Mechanical Property

Elongation A(%)

59

60

Reduction Z(%)

79

79

8 – 9.5

2 – 4.5

304D

304D

18.0

16.0

16.0

Grain Size (ASTM No.)

Table 2. Comparison of heat treatment process for bar-in-coil products

guaranteed tolerance of ± 0.1mm with an ovality of ≤0.12mm. For many sizes these performance parameters have been exceeded (Fig.13). The only rod product size remaining to be rolled is 4.5 mm.

A major focus of mill performance is related to surface defects. Many improvements have been made to reduce the defect depth especially on the rod and bar-in-coil lines. Surface defect depths of ≤0.04 mm are being achieved consistently on rod sizes of ≤ 8.0mm and between 0.04 to 0.08mm on rod sizes of ≤8.0mm.

Bar-in-coil product surface defect depths are typically 0.08 to 1.0 mm; however, additional testing on reducing these depths to levels consistently ≤ 0.08mm are currently underway.

From a metallurgical properties standpoint, the mill has been able to meet or exceed the performance parameters for the grades and sizes rolled to date. Table 1 and Table 2 show comparisons between the on-line and traditional off-line heat treatment processing routes for both rod and bar-in-coil products. � September 2020

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Fig.13 Finished product tolerances

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SPECIAL STEELS

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Making eco-friendly waves

Building high-performance boats requires strong materials. Typically, stainless steel is not even under consideration for ship construction, but that may be changing. In fact, governments and businesses the world over are starting to take an interest in a new, low-maintenance and environmentally friendly ship hull, built entirely from high-strength, molybdenum-containing super- and hyper-duplex stainless steel, at no additional cost. By Karlee Willston* DEPENDING on their size and purpose, ships are most commonly made of steel, aluminum or fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP). No matter what, ships are generally expensive to keep because they are constantly exposed to water and humidity, which will break down nearly any construction material over time. Steel ships are strong and tough, but steel is heavy and requires corrosion protection and a lot of maintenance. Aluminum is light, but it is very soft, dents easily, has serious fatigue cracking problems, and corrosion is a concern. Carbon fibre-reinforced plastic is very light, but it is expensive, can crack when it hits a rock, and can even go up in flames when there is a fire on board. It is also not recyclable at the end of its life.

Hence, the time is ripe for a better, more sustainable solution.

Keeping fouling at bay Among the most important design aspects

for the performance of a boat are its weight and its hull surface quality.

Reducing its weight improves its agility, top speed and fuel consumption. However, if the surface is rough, there is more drag in the water, which slows a ship down and increases fuel consumption.

Furthermore, barnacles, seaweed and other marine organisms readily attach to most surfaces submerged in seawater. This process is called “fouling” and it makes the surface bumpy and rough, creating more resistance.

To minimize marine growth, the ship hull under the water line is treated with biocide paint. These paints can be extremely toxic, not only to the target-organisms, but also to aquatic life in general. Even with such treatment, marine growth is only slowed, not eliminated, so it has to be removed by divers to keep it in check. For commercial ships that may be a monthly chore. Antifouling paint itself must also be reapplied at

least every few years, as it is consumed over time loosing its effectiveness. This takes a ship out of the water, and with that, out of commission. But now, ships built with specialty stainless steel offer an alternative solution.

Lighter, faster, stronger Realizing the dream of building a lighter, faster and stronger vessel, entirely from stainless steel wasn’t plain sailing for the entrepreneurs Håkan, Petra, and Alistair Rosén of SSY. Traditional stainless steels, such as austenitic Types 304 or 316, are not sufficiently corrosion-resistant in seawater. And while they are quite tough, they are not that strong. However, when the entrepreneurs discovered the far superior properties of super- and hyperduplex stainless steels, in particular their great combination of high-strength and outstanding corrosion resistance, a seed was planted.

*Editor, IMOA Molyreview www.steeltimesint.com

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The stringers are spot-welded to the hull. The frames, welded to the stringers, are not in direct contact with the hull. The flexibility of the stringers allows them to absorb the wave

Welding of the interior structure of a ship.

forces, preventing the hull from buckling.

With a stainless steel that is up to three times stronger than the carbon steel traditionally used for shipbuilding, it would be possible to significantly reduce the thickness of the hull, and with that, the weight of the whole ship. But the problem is that thin sheet, no matter how strong it is, buckles easily under wave load when used in normal ship design.

To solve this problem, inspiration finally came from studying the shipbuilding techniques of the seafaring Vikings – over a thousand years ago – and their efficient, strong and flexible wooden hulls. Using a similar design approach in stainless steel resulted in a construction that is both strong and light. The boat glides effortlessly through the water, is very fuel-efficient, and will survive a major impact without springing a leak or losing its structural integrity.

The ductility and energy-absorbing properties of duplex stainless steel even give the hull good anti-ballistic properties, ensuring it deforms to absorb a potential impact without rupturing. Military and law enforcement organizations have shown interest in the vessel due to its enhanced protection against bullets and explosives Corrosion resistant in high seas While light-weighting was a primary driver for using advanced duplex stainless steels, a further advantage was their ability to resist the severely corrosive nature of seawater without any protective coating.

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steel. SAF 2507 super-duplex includes around 4% molybdenum, while SAF 3207 hyper-duplex contains around 3.5%. These levels of molybdenum significantly increase the corrosion resistance of stainless steel, making it ideal for handling the highchloride salt levels found in seawater over a prolonged period. Such steels already have a proven track record in offshore oil and gas exploration as well as hydraulic and instrumentation applications in tropical marine environments.

Efficient and eco-friendly High-strength stainless steel also contributes much to the fuel efficiency of these vessels.

Increased strength means that the amount of material required is considerably less than traditional boat construction. For example, high-speed stainless steel patrol vessels that are 15 to 25 metres in length require stainless steel sheets that are between two and three millimetres thick.

This is one third to one fifth the thickness of the steel used in a traditional ship.

Overall, these agile vessels weigh about 50 % less than a similar carbon steel vessel.

Surprisingly, they are also lighter than boats made from aluminum and even what is usually considered the lightest material – carbon fibre-reinforced plastic.

Additionally, the hull’s mirror-polished finish minimizes drag and friction, which also affords fuel efficiency and reduced emissions as well as greater speed and agility. Moreover, the performance does not deteriorate over time, because the hull is so smooth, it makes it difficult for any performance reducing marine growth, such

as barnacles, to hold onto the surface.

Avoiding the monthly removal of fouling by divers and reapplication of the toxic antifouling paint every five to seven years leads to significant operating cost savings.

Because super-duplex stainless steel does not corrode, it also will not have to be repaired to replace deteriorated panels.

And at the end of its life, stainless steel is completely recyclable. All these benefits add up to huge cost savings over the life of a ship, but maybe more importantly, they significantly reduce emissions and eliminate the impact of biocides on marine life.

Overcoming the welding challenge Joining the thin-walled super- and hyperduplex stainless steels with corrosionresistant, high-integrity welds is part of the core strength of the boat design.

SSY worked in partnership with stainless steel producers, a welding supply and an industrial gas company, to develop the specialized welding techniques. The welds have proved to be as strong as the stainless steel sheets and stringers, and the team has been delighted with the consistency and quality of the results. Thanks to the lightweight, optimized design and the efficient welding technique, these stainless steel boats cost around the same as traditional aluminum, steel, or composite boats. In the future, with higher production volumes, stainless steel vessels will cost even less than those made of traditional building materials.

Bigger and better applications The first 10.8-metre prototype, Elvira, successfully set sail on its maiden voyage www.steeltimesint.com

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in 2014. This revolutionary approach to boat design marked the beginning of a new era of faster, lighter and more agile boats. Two more prototypes, 7.5 and 17.5 metres in length, followed the first vessel, with plans to build another six in the near future. These boats will be displayed at shows and events in the USA, Europe and elsewhere.

There are numerous other opportunities for marine applications that can benefit from the durable, lightweight design developed by the company. Static floating hulls for solar and wave power generation are among them. The first wave power prototype of a super-duplex stainless steel hull for a Swedish power company is currently being tested. It has been suggested that eventually around 100 of these huge 85-metre floating structures will be used in a single location. By building the hulls out of superduplex stainless steel, they can remain in the water without any maintenance for the target lifespan of 50 years and beyond.

Other potential applications include the building of much larger ships such as super and mega yachts of more than 100 metres in length. Even bigger ambitions will see the development of giant vessels such as container ships and cruise liners. Reducing the drag and the weight of these vessels using mirror-polished, molybdenum-containing superduplex stainless steel offers a considerable opportunity to reduce fuel consumption and, more importantly, pollution. It has been estimated that one container ship – the length of six football pitches – produces up to 5,000 tons of sulfur each year – the equivalent of 50 million cars.

Calculations show that duplex-stainless steel hulls could reduce fuel consumption and emissions by an estimated 20%.

Whether producing a patrolling vessel or luxury liner, the benefits of using molybdenum-containing super-duplex stainless steel are evident. Lightweight ships with an exceptionally smooth hull surface, have considerably lower fuel consumption than traditional ships while maintaining their essential integrity and strength. At the same time, there is no need for regular maintenance cleaning and repainting of the hull with toxic anti-fouling treatment. This adds up to significant operating cost savings as well as much reduced environmental impact. With those benefits, the opportunities for super-duplex stainless steel structures in marine applications are limitless. �

LEADERS IN CUSTOMISED HANDLING SOLUTIONS

Stainless steel hull of a prototype at the ship yard.

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Stainless steels and hygiene

THE development of stainless steels for hygienic applications, like in the food industry or medical sector, is explained by the fact that these steels meet exactly the requirements expected of materials for use in hygienic conditions. The requirements fall into one of the following three categories: 1. Chemical, bacteriological and organoleptic neutrality 2. Ability to be cleaned so the hygiene and appearance of the product is guaranteed 3. Durability, including resistance to corrosion and ageing Other factors also contribute towards making stainless steels the preferred material for the entire food processing industry and other hygienic applications.

These include the strong mechanical characteristics, desirable expansion coefficient, good thermal conductivity and the ease of working with and the use of, stainless steels.

Chemical and biological neutrality People are more aware than ever of the impact of the materials used to manufacture and transport food. Certain materials are widely distrusted because of problems with pollution, allergies and the volume of technical, scientific and medical information available. A number of studies have found that stainless steels have no adverse affects on human health and have enjoyed wide and lengthy use in fields such as food, health and human hygiene. Stainless steels are stable, homogeneous alloys composed principally of iron, chromium (11% to 30%) and nickel (0 to 25%).

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Cleaning and disinfection Cleaning involves the elimination of both visible and invisible contamination that adheres to the surface of a material.

However, cleaning does not necessarily destroy the micro-organisms that are present on the material. Full bacteriological cleanliness is obtained only after surfaces are disinfected. Disinfection aims to reduce the microbial population on a surface to a level that is compatible with satisfactory hygiene practice. www.steeltimesint.com

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STAINLESS & SPECIAL STEELS

Making available to everybody a high level of hygiene in people’s environment, food preparation, medical services and public infrastructure has been a big achievement.

Stainless steels have played a significant role in this process.

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Durability and corrosion resistance Chromium, a key alloying element within stainless steels, forms a protective oxide compound on the surface of the metal.

Known as a passive film, this layer slows and even prevents corrosion. If the surface of the metal is damaged, the passive film reconstitutes spontaneously at room temperature through the reaction of the chromium with both oxygen and water.

The stability of the passive layer is the determining factor that ensures stainless steels resist corrosion. Stability can be affected by the nature of the corrosive environment. This includes the oxidising power of the material that comes into contact with the stainless steels, its acidity level, chloride content and temperature.

The corrosion resistance of different stainless steels are very important when they are being cleaned or disinfected. When a piece of stainless steel equipment is being cleaned in place, only products that are highly alkaline or acid should be used to obtain perfect hygienic conditions.

In comparison to other materials, stainless steels require lower concentrations of disinfectant in order to achieve the level of hygiene required by law and this helps to protect the environment by limiting the release of effluent.

Stainless steels are neutral to human beings and the environment. They neither patinate nor age. They require no applied layers – which are prone to damage and can wear off. Their cleanability remains unaffected over time. Hence stainless steels are the normal choice of material wherever hygiene is of the utmost importance: in food-processing, catering and medical applications. Decades of positive experience in professional use also reassure consumers that stainless steels are a good choice for domestic appliances, cooking utensils, tableware and cutlery – in other words, wherever cleanability and hygiene come first.

Stainless steels as a food contact material The extremely wide usage of stainless steels as food contact materials reflects the fact that stainless steels resist corrosion by foods and beverages. In addition, they are readily cleaned, thereby providing hygiene in food preparation and handling. No flavours or discoloration are imparted to foods and beverages in contact with stainless steels.

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Stainless steels are basically inert to most of the acids or alkali media which are released by cooked and uncooked foods and vegetables, food additives and so on. They do not normally get pitted, thus avoiding the harbouring of bacterial infection.

Stainless steels are practically impervious to corrosive attack by animal fats, blood, salts, fruit and vegetable acids, human waste, detergents and moisture.

Surfaces and equipment that come in contact with food products, such as raw meat or eggs, must not only be easy to clean and sanitize, but also have surfaces that naturally inhibit food adhesion and bacterial growth. Having no pores or cracks to harbour dirt, grime or bacteria, stainless steel is easily cleaned with soap and water.

Some examples Stainless steels’ exceptional resistance to corrosion has enabled the dairy industry to develop widely and rapidly. Stainless steels behave neutrally and do not alter the taste of fresh milk.

Road tankers for foodstuffs are another good example of the excellent cleanability of the material: although they may contain different foodstuffs every day, standard cleaning processes make it easy to avoid cross-contamination.

Stainless steels are often used for kitchen sinks since the material does not develop cracks, is corrosion resistant and cannot absorb acids or colourants. It remains a shiny item in many kitchens for decades.

Dishwashers and washing machines are typical illustrations of the hygienic properties of stainless steels; after each washing cycle, the surfaces are clean and shiny again – even after many years of daily use.

In more industrial environments or in commercial kitchens floor drainage can be a weak point, since it may partly be difficult to access for cleaning. When made of stainless steels a surface is provided, which is naturally smooth, the material is corrosion resistant to disinfection procedures, and the welded technique produces smooth joints to ensure perfect hygienic conditions.

Stainless steels in healthcare Few environments are subject to more stringent hygiene standards than hospitals, clinics, pharmacies and continuing care facilities.

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many decades of practical experience and is subject to compliance against international healthcare standards. Surgical instruments are typically made of stainless steels. They are exposed to aggressive disinfectants.

The most common ‘surgical steels’ are austenitic 316 stainless and martensitic 440 and 420 stainless steels. The extensive use of stainless steels in operating theatres show how well the material performs when absolute cleanliness and sterility are essential.

The first surgical implants using stainless steels were performed in 1926. There are multiple forms of stainless steels starting with the introduction of type 302 for its application in orthopaedic surgery. Type 316L stainless steel is commonly used in surgical procedures to replace biological tissue or to help stabilise a biological structure, such as bone tissue to aid the healing process.

Stainless steels in public spaces Sanitary equipment can be made in stainless steel both for domestic and commercial use. The thin material can be an advantage where space is an issue: for the same inner diameter of a washbasin, the outer diameter can be much smaller than in conventional solutions.

Stainless steels are equally a good option for waste disposal as even with mild detergents and a minimum of maintenance, it allows waste bins to be kept in good condition – hygienically and visually.

The material used for self-service machines like dispensers, vending machines and ticket machines must meet a number of requirements; when for food products or for the front panel of the machine, they must be inert and easy to clean; when placed in public locations they are exposed to accidental damage, intrusion attempts and vandalism, the body should have a high level of mechanical resistance; in outside locations they must withstand humidity and UV radiation. Choosing stainless steels means all these boxes can be ticked for a long and hygienic service life.

Conclusion Stainless steels are safe materials that do no harm to people or the environment. They are standard materials in hospitals, medical applications, and food processing, where their stringent hygienic and corrosion resistance properties are highly valued.

Stainless steel is also the perfect solution for touch surfaces in public areas such as train stations, shopping centres, and entertainment venues. The passive protective layer ensures germs and microbes can be easily cleaned away. �

Further reading

In the pharmaceutical industry stainless steel is specified because its surface conditions ensure a maximum of corrosion resistance and cleanability for parts-washing baskets, product-processing containers, biosample processing, sanitary product handling and sample incineration/disposal.

https://www.worldstainless.org/Files/issf/nonimage-files/pdf/ISSF_Stainless_steel_for_Hygiene. pdf https://www.worldstainless.org/Files/ issf/non-image-files/PDF/Euro_Inox/ WhenHealthComesFirst_EN.pdf https://www.worldstainless.org/Files/issf/nonimage-files/PDF/Team_Stainless_Disinfection_of_ stainless_steel_in_hospitals.pdf https://www.worldstainless.org/Files/issf/nonimage-filesPDFHygienicimportanceofstainlesss

teelindevelopingcoun.pdf https://www.worldstainless.org/Files/issf/ non-image-files/PDF/Euro_Inox/Cleaning_ steel_home_EN.pdf www.steeltimesint.com

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HYDROGEN

Hydrogen-based green ironmaking for a low-carbon environment in India

By Debasis Mukerjee *

CAN hydrogen be a potential replacement for carbon as a reducing agent for iron ores and ore agglomerates? Hydrogen would open the possibility of a dramatic reduction in the emission of the global warming gas, carbon dioxide. Laboratory studies and industry efforts are under way to realise such a scenario. The key enabler for this, however, hinges on the availability of hydrogen produced from renewable sources at a much cheaper cost than at present. All the carbon entering a steel complex leaves as CO2.Therefore, it is important to restrict carbon use to the barest minimum possible.

The steel industry globally and in India, being one of the highest emitter of CO2 among manufacturing sectors, is vigilant

about reducing its carbon footprint and gradually plans to move towards a carbon neutral environment. Use of hydrogen as a possible replacement for coal/coke as a reductant holds promise and potential, primarily due to its faster reduction kinetics besides elimination of harmful CO2 emission. Use of this gas in a plasma state will be immensely beneficial in terms of superior output and yield because of faster reduction kinetics. However, the generation of hydrogen from renewable sources and at a cheaper cost than at present is key to its use. The application of hydrogen as a reducing agent, in lieu of carbon, will have a positive influence in blast furnace as well as in fluidised bed reactor

technologies for iron production. In an Indian context, development of a suitable commercial technology package, employing hydrogen as a reductant, in the next 15-20 years, is a possibility by synchronising the indigenous expertise, knowledge and skill of various stake holders. By 2040, when India is expected to produce around 500Mt of steel, availability of an appropriate hydrogen-based technology will not only drastically reduce dependence on metallurgical coal, of which the country is deficient, but also significantly curtail the emission of CO2 gas. This will go a long way to fulfil the Indian Government’s commitment towards global climate change control measures. �

For the full article go to https://issuu.com/quartzbusinessmedia/docs/steel_times_international_digital_august_2020?fr=sMGYwMDE1NTc0ODQ The author is the Former Chair of the Ministry of Steel and Professor at the National Institute of Foundry and Forge Technology (NIFFT), Ranchi, India and the former Executive Director In-charge, R&D Centre for Iron and Steel, SAIL, Ranchi, India Email: debasismuk@gmail.com www.steeltimesint.com

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ROLLING

Reducing profile and flatness failures A significant improvement in profile and flatness failure reduction is achieved by precise process control through artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). The main innovation is not only predicting profile and flatness deviations, but computing optimal hot strip mill settings in a fully automated way for each campaign and each process step, for each slab, transfer bar and strip. Automated optimisation based on AI and ML is applied during campaign planning and online during production. By Selim Arikan1, Dr. Jan Daldrop1, Dr. Otmar Jannasch2 and Dr. Falk-Florian Henrich3 PROFILE and flatness failures are wellknown problems at hot and cold rolling mills. They are difficult to precisely predict and directly affect the quality of the strip especially for ultra-thin strips, high-tension grades and non-oriented electrical steels.

Over time, improvements in thickness accuracy, width accuracy and profile (crossstrip direction) thickness distributions have been made.

Yet, steelmakers are still suffering from deviations in process parameters (for example, inadequate reduction profiles and non-homogenous reheating) that might lead to local variance in strip profile and consequently result in flatness failures.

These failures introduce additional costs to steelmakers for reworking the coils to meet the required quality specifications.

Therefore, it is crucial to predict the flatness deviations and failures correctly and early enough to prevent them from being introduced at all.

Generally, finite element and rule-based models are used for predicting profile and flatness failures. If the parameters (such as roll temperature and roll gap settings) deviate from accepted ranges, flatness failures may emerge. However, the rule-based models can only produce useful results when the flatness failures are imminent because they do not take into

account the historical values of all operating parameters and upstream process steps.

In the actual production process, many other factors come into play that affect the expected flatness of the strip, such as non-uniform thermal gradients, failure in force distribution, local irregularities in roll thermal expansion due to zone cooling failures and so on.

Compared to typical machinelearning-based solutions, Smart Steel Technologies’ approach not only predicts the flatness deviations and failures, but also automatically computes the optimal mill settings so that fewer flatness failures occur in the end.

1. Team lead – Machine Learning. 2. VP – Metallurgy. 3. Founder and CEO, Smart Steel Technologies, Berlin September 2020

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ROLLING

above challenges and computes in a fully automated way a complete set of optimal settings for all relevant finishing mill parameters to minimise all profile and flatness failures. When setting all rolling parameters for the upcoming strip, prior to the start of rolling, Smart Steel Technologiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; system takes the existing mill settings as an input and automatically outputs optimised settings.

The optimisation of all finishing mill settings takes place not only for each process step, but in particular for each slab. The Smart Steel Technologies Rolling Optimiser is complemented by online modules that support rolling mill operators to reach the highest level of precision and to minimise all process deviations.

Thus, Smart Steel Technologies significantly reduces the rate of profile and flatness failures through the elimination of their root causes.

While the underlying reasons for flatness deviations and failures are well-known, steelmakers cannot predict these failures early and precisely enough to prevent them from happening. This is because existing approaches focus mainly on rolling parameters only and do not consider upstream events, steel properties or the historical behaviour of the previous strips in a sufficient way during rolling.

Current models are unable to take the specifics of very similar steel grades or strip dimensions rolled in the past into account.

So, one example out of many is the correct choice of bending forces of the work rolls based on the non-uniform thermal gradients across the strip profile. If the local temperature deviation around the edges of the strip falls out of the temperature tolerance range for the selected rolling schedule, high reduction ratios may lead to edge waves. The key question is, how can we find and eliminate the actual root causes of edge waves to prevent them from happening in the first place? Potential candidates for root causes are many and include roll gap settings, reduction plans, non-homogenous reheating of slabs, lubrication of working rolls and more.

Smart Steel Technologies has created a software system that solves all of the www.steeltimesint.com

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Step 1 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Predicting flatness deviations Defining a correct and precise target signal is vital for a successful machinelearning-based quality optimisation project.

Measured flatness values obtained from strip inspection systems contain valuable information. However, they are insufficient for a modern quality control approach if they are used alone without considering

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Fig 1. Profile and flatness deviation heatmap

any of the corresponding process information such as slab and transfer bar dimensions, rolling speed, roll gap settings, bending forces, leveling, the lifetime of the work rolls, information on looper positions, roll-gap-lubrication and interstand cooling.

Smart Steel Technologies uses the measured flatness values along with all relevant upstream data for the prediction of flatness deviations. The source data consisting of thousands of signals with varying tick frequencies from 0.5 Hz up to 50 Hz and associated metadata is piped through advanced predictive models based on proprietary recurrent neural networks to predict the flatness deviations. An example illustration of flatness deviation is shown by SST Coil Topography in Fig.1.

Smart Steel Technologies provides a fully-developed model for the prediction of profile and flatness. This model is then only tailored to the specifics of the particular hot strip mill in order to reach the highest possible performance value.

Fig 2. The user interface for inspection of merged data from roughing mill and descaler

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Fig 3. Analysis of the quality effects of different parameter combinations

All existing historic slabs, transfer bars and strips are then processed with this new technology. Finally, the signals and prediction information are mapped to a common co-ordinate system as a precondition for the root cause analysis to achieve a precise position-based matching for every strip.

All profile and flatness values are predicted online and mapped onto Smart Steel Technologies’ Flatness Analyser shown in Fig.2.

Step 2 – Optimising the hot rolling process Based on SST’s own cross-product position matching technology, the flatness target signal, which is the flatness deviation level per metre of the strip, is assigned to each position on the transfer bar automatically.

Simultaneously, Smart Steel Technologies’ software automatically merges flatness deviations with all Level 1 hot rolling signals such as reheating oxygen percentage, roughing temperature between passes, settings for all mill stands, looper positions and information on lubrication or cooling and many more.

Modern systems typically provide thousands of high-frequency raw signals with different sampling rates. Smart Steel Technologies analyses the actual high-resolution time series. This is of vital importance because short spikes in signals (such as loop lifter tension) contain valuable information.

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data as depicted in Fig.2.

At this point, it is important to note that all the mentioned data is obtained from the live production system rather than doing a post-mortem analysis. Also, the recommendations for the finishing mill settings are directly submitted online to the live L2 system.

Clearly, the raw signal data from the finishing mill is still of limited use even after all relevant reheating furnace and roughing mill data have been merged correctly.

Therefore, the next step is to extract meaningful features from each relevant hot rolling mill signal.

In addition to the finishing mill, the relevant process steps include the upstream stages (roughing mill, descaler and slab reheating furnace) whose process status influences the finishing mill. Subtle deviations in timing, temperature and geometrical adjustments can add up to influences that lead to deviations in rolling and could cause profile or flatness failures.

Based on the information extraction described above, Smart Steel Technologies provides an easily understandable system that allows technologists to inspect the feature space of the hot rolling mill. The users of the software can select arbitrary combinations of roughing and finishing mill parameters, steel grades, operational data and inspect their effects on the flatness deviation as depicted in Fig.3.

The cleaned and transformed live production data then allows Smart Steel Technologies to algorithmically find the optimal combination of finishing mill parameters with respect to strip flatness uniformity based on historical data.

The optimiser takes all relevant process constraints into account. To achieve this, Smart Steel Technologies combines deterministic, physical process modeling of the hot rolling process with probabilistic modeling based on methods from Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.

Through live integration with the production planning system, an optimised rolling schedule is computed automatically for each production campaign, see Fig.4.

Additionally, live model output supports operators of the rolling mill itself with live recommendations for settings, such as rolling speed, roll gap settings, bending forces, leveling, tension control, roll-gaplubrication and interstand cooling to reach the highest precision in process control.

The consistency of the Smart Steel Technologies’ software suite allows the extension of the optimisations to all upstream and downstream processes through the connection of all relevant parameters and model outputs. This state-of-the-art optimisation approach is the most promising solution for the whole production process in order to achieve the best quality in final products. �

Fig 4. Automated parameter optimisation for each rolling campaign, selected sample parameters

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ENVIRONMENT

The £20 million Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre (IDRIC) has been tasked with taking the UK’s biggest industrial carbon emitter sites on a path to net zero.

Professor Mercedes MarotoValer * says decarbonisation will require a partnership approach with joint efforts from industry, government and academia to succeed, and offers five reasons why collaboration is vital in efforts to decarbonise

Steeling ourselves for change STEEL has been one of the most challenged traditional industries in the UK in recent times, with a high profile manufacturer entering insolvency and citing declining market demand, high raw material prices, the weakness of the pound and uncertainty over Brexit as key factors impacting the sector. Growing competition from China has also reduced domestic orders.

Despite its challenges, steel remains a key industrial sector in the UK, contributing £1.6bn directly to the UK economy, and around £3.2bn worth of export goods and services, according to a recent report by Make UK .

Steel remains an essential raw material in a variety of industries, including renewables, automotive and construction. In the UK, we still rely heavily upon domestic steel for many of our large-scale infrastructure initiatives, such as the rail network.

The sector employs around 32,000 people in the UK and supports up to a further 52,300 jobs through supply chains.

Further afield, more than six million people work for the global steel industry, and for each direct job created, 7.1 indirect jobs are created, generating employment for some 42 million people, according to the World Steel Association (worldsteel).

Manufacturing steel is a carbon-intensive process. Recent figures from worldsteel showed that for each ton of steel that is

manufactured, approximately 1.8 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) are produced, with the sector contributing around 15% to the total UK industry emissions.

To be converted into steel, liquid iron must reach temperatures of up to 1,700°C, significantly hotter than volcanic lava.

The amount of energy required to do this is considerable. In addition, coke, which comes from coal, is used as a reducing agent in the blast furnace, producing CO2 as a waste product in the process.

Decarbonising this key industry, however, presents a strong opportunity for the UK to reinvigorate one of its core traditional industries, both domestically and as an export product.

Many industrial areas of the UK remain heavily reliant on carbon fuels. IDRIC will focus mainly on six core clusters with the largest, in terms of emissions, located in Humberside followed by South Wales, both key steel producers with Scunthorpe and Port Talbot cited as the two largest single industrial sources of UK carbon emissions.

The other clusters include Grangemouth in Scotland, Teesside, North West England and Southampton. Steel is a great source of employment for these regions, so it is vital that we protect these jobs and support local communities, as we find the right decarbonisation solutions to meet their needs.

IDRIC has ambitious goals, including creating the world’s first net zero carbon industrial cluster by 2040 and at least one low-carbon cluster by 2030. These goals can only be achieved through close collaboration, with industry, government and academia working in partnership to decarbonise. But what makes IDRIC’s approach different? Here we outline five reasons why collaboration is key to decarbonisation success.

1. A one-stop shop There are many opportunities to engage with IDRIC as we build a multi-disciplinary research and innovation programme, which currently does not exist at the scale. We will reduce the costs, risks and timescales of low-carbon technologies, making them cost-effective and integrating them into the individual business plans of dozens of operators across clusters.

We are developing a resource for all industrial decarbonisation matters – where industry and policymakers can discuss how to accelerate progress, academia can provide research and innovation expertise and together we can map what we need, and when, to achieve net zero emissions; and all in one easy-to-access facility, available to anyone who needs it.

We will accelerate the cost-effective decarbonisation of industry by developing

* Head of the Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre (IDRIC) www.steeltimesint.com

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STEEL TIMES INTERNATIONAL WEBINARS Through a series of webinars, Steel Times International is offering, free-of-charge, access to some of the best minds in the business.

THESE WEBINARS ARE AVAILABLE TO VIEW ON-DEMAND NOW! Covid-19, Climate Policy and Steelmaking

The Future of Work

Resilience in Supply Chain Management

European Steelmaking and COVID-19

Industry 4.0 and Steelmaking

View them today at www.steeltimesint.com/webinars

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ENVIRONMENT

and deploying low-carbon technologies, along with the deployment of infrastructure at scale by the mid-2020s. We will ensure the industry transition to low-carbon is environmentally and socially sustainable for all, building on current workplace strengths and potential.

Companies that are part of large multinationals may need assistance to put forward the business case for new technologies to their global headquarters and we can help. Our proposals will need support from existing policy and regulation, and we may need to negotiate complex changes. We believe this will be most effectively and quickly achieved in partnership, ensuring businesses retain their competitive advantage, while reducing emissions.

By creating low-carbon industrial clusters, we can make the UK an attractive option for multinationals who want to prove their green credentials. We’ve already heard that companies would consider moving to a net zero area in order to meet their corporate social responsibility (CSR) goals.

2. Growing our green skills together As the world moves towards more energy-efficient processes, the UK will be in a strong position to export its ‘green economy’ approach internationally. Greener skills will form an essential element of IDRIC’s role, ensuring that those currently working in industry are protected and (re)-trained as we transition to net zero emissions.

For our steel industry, net zero presents an opportunity to upskill the existing and future workforce with in-demand greener skills.

One of IDRIC’s tasks is to complete an options assessment to support skills and (re)-training in the six clusters. We need to understand the new skills that will be required as we start to decarbonise further and plan how we can upskill in those areas.

We aim to be a single resource for industrial employers, including steel manufacturers, across the UK. We’ll become

a rich resource for advice on training, education and creating a pipeline of skilled workers. Steel industries across clusters may have the same needs, and we can exchange knowledge and best practice.

The deployment projects delivered today in each of the focus clusters will play a significant role in reducing emissions in the future. It is key that knowledge learned during this vital time is shared and analysed across industry.

3. Export our knowledge Decarbonisation presents a unique opportunity for adapting and engineering new technologies while building prosperity. IDRIC’s role is to ensure this is a just transition, focusing on up-skilling and protecting the existing workforce and protecting local communities and economies.

We’re moving faster than many other countries and IDRIC will help accelerate this process. This means we will develop a skilled, knowledgeable workforce and technology and systems before anyone else, which could make for a new export market.

All of this requires acuity, ingenuity and a new way of looking at industry across the UK – and an opportunity for our steel sector to provide real innovation to lead the way.

4. Bridging industry The industrial clusters are complex – no two are the same, although some may have similar activities.

To decarbonise across whole regions, we need a holistic understanding of the problems we face with emissions in these areas, and overarching solutions. A joinedup approach is required.

The UK can position itself at the forefront of the emerging decarbonisation industry and steel manufacturers can take this opportunity to evolve accordingly. From a technical point of view, the work is interesting and, moreover, decarbonising these clusters will require new business models, challenging policy and practices to create a world first.

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5. Collaborating to put people first We aim to place the UK at the forefront of the global shift to Clean Growth but to do this, it is essential that we safeguard existing jobs and local economies while creating new opportunities for prosperity.

IDRIC will help to jointly reduce costs, risks, timescales and emissions while considering economic and policy implications alongside institutional reforms.

The next three decades will see radical changes as we transition away from traditional, carbon fuels into a low carbon economy. We will be capturing and safely storing CO2 emissions, using it as a resource to create new materials and sustainable fuels, and we will be using low-carbon fuels, such as hydrogen, bioenergy and clean electricity to power our industries.

This process will only succeed and, most importantly, safeguard jobs if it is a partnership: we must work together.

University research can focus on the areas that are particularly challenging for industry to decarbonise, and the academic community can make industry more aware of ongoing research that could translate into opportunities for them.

Industry experts can share knowledge gleaned from real-world experience to inform academics as they develop their research, ensuring they are able to deliver optimum outcomes.

How can I get involved?

We want to hear from industry, regulators, trade unions, policymakers and interest groups about their needs, and challenges.

But most of all, we want to hear ideas.

We are continuing to engage regularly with our stakeholders using these same channels to keep everyone informed and up-to-date with our progress.

IDRIC is funded by the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) through UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and is headquartered at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. For more information, visit: idric.org, follow us @IDRICUK and sign up to receive our newsletters. �

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/827884/clean-steel-fund-call-for-evidence.pdf www.steeltimesint.com

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PERSPECTIVES Q&A: BERRY METAL

Business conditions are improving While COVID-19 seriously impacted the automotive industry and then steel shortly after, business conditions at Berry Metal are starting to improve, says David Werner* 1. How are things going at BERRY METAL? Is the steel industry keeping you busy?

The first quarter of 2020 was extremely busy prior to COVID-19. The virus impacted the automotive market which in turn hit the steel industry shortly after. We are now seeing business conditions improve.

5. Can you discuss any major steel contracts you are currently working on?

We are currently supplying chemical energy packages, valve stands, ladle preheaters, and material handling systems for a number of new EAF projects.

2. What is your view on the current state of the global steel industry?

The global steel industry is plagued with overcapacity. China’s capacity is at least twice what it should be. This is impacting the market in North America which is compounding what is becoming an overcapacity situation with new EAF mills being commissioned and in process. The European market is also being impacted negatively by China. Provided there is a balanced playing field, those that operate cost effectively will survive.

3. In which sector of the steel industry does BERRY METAL mostly conduct its business?

Berry Metal has been known for 70 years as an integrated supplier focusing on BOF and Blast Furnaces. After having spent the past 25 years being an OEM supplier manufacturing equipment behind the scenes in the EAF sector, Berry Metal has taken significant steps the past five years moving away from the OEM market to become a technology leader in the EAF market. We also have solutions for alternative iron, downstream caster and rolling mills, and material handling systems for lime, carbon, and other alloys.

4.Where in the world are you busiest at present?

North America remains our busiest market due to the expansion we are seeing with new EAF mills coming online.

being touted as Industry 4.0 items that simply do not provide a strong enough payback. These are ‘nice to haves’ and not necessity. The Industry 4.0 items that add value and a clear payback are what we are focused on. Within this vast area Berry Metal is making an impact with solutions such as real time, continuous bath temperature measurement, lance automation for the BOF, and other types of cost saving efficiencies which are enhancing operations.

8. “…any hint of doubt when it comes to predictions of climate doom is evidence of greed, stupidity, moral turpitude or psychological derangement.” This is a quote from Bret Stephens writing in The Wall Street Journal. Do you sympathise with his view?

No comment.

David Werner

6. Where does BERRY METAL stand on the aluminium versus steel argument?

This has been an ongoing topic and we are obviously pro-steel. Most of our technology and equipment is focused on steel production. However, some of our technology does cross over into the smelting arena where it provides some very effective solutions there as well.

7.What are your views on Industry 4.0 and steelmaking and how, if at all, is BERRY METAL using it?

Industry 4.0 is such a general term with a huge scope. There are certainly critical areas of steel making where access to data and automation are absolutely critical and needed. However, there are some things

9. In your dealings with steel producers, are you finding that they are looking to companies like BERRY METAL to offer them solutions in terms of energy efficiency and sustainability?

If so, what can you offer them?

Energy efficiency is usually directly linked to cost savings on significant inputs such as raw materials, electricity, oxygen, or natural gas. Our technology focuses on reducing the volume and/or maximizing the effectiveness of these energy requirements to help reduce the overall costs of making steel.

10. How quickly has the steel industry responded to ‘green politics’ in terms of making the production process more environmentally friendly and are they succeeding or fighting a losing battle?

I feel a significant portion of the steel industry has made the environment a key focus for quite some time. As an example,

* President and Chief Operating Officer September 2020

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PERSPECTIVES Q&A: BERRY METAL

steel production today is a major recycler, using scrap that would otherwise be sitting in landfills.

11. Where does BERRY METAL lead the field in terms of steel production technology?

Berry Metal provides advanced furnace technology in the areas of BOF, EAF,and Blast Furnace. This technology is focused on improved cooling, maximizing efficiency of inputs, and reducing down time for maintenance.

12. How do you view BERRY METAL’s development over the short-tomedium term in relation to the global steel industry?

Berry Metal has satellite offices around the world including Western Europe, Eastern Europe, China, Mexico, and Argentina.

We continue to look to distribute our technology around the world.

13. China dominates global crude steel production and is accountable for almost half of global production.

How should the industry react to this

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situation?

This ties into a major problem in the steel industry that was mentioned before. The problem is China has steel making capacity that is double what their own market needs. This impacts not only the rest of the world, but also hurts their own market as well.

14. What is BERRY METAL’s experience of the Chinese steel industry?

Berry Metal has an office in China and we are active in the Chinese steel industry. We find it difficult to partner in China when it comes to providing our best technology.

We aggressively patent and protect our technology throughout the world.

China needs to understand and respect technology that others own. Trust is always a factor.

15. Where do you see most innovation in terms of production technologies – primary, secondary or more downstream?

That is a good question. Depends on what department you ask internally both at the

steel plant and at Berry Metal. I think there are opportunities for Berry Metal to help in all areas.

16. How optimistic are you for the global steel industry going forward and what challenges face global producers in the short-to-medium term?

I remain very excited about the global steel industry. We have customers all over the world and the common denominator is that we all want to see the steel industry succeed. I think there will always be challenges facing steel producers in particular with cost efficiencies and ongoing environmental regulations.

17. What exhibitions and conferences will BERRY METAL be attending over the next six months?

Nothing is scheduled at the moment due to COVID-19.

18. BERRY METAL is headquartered in the USA, but what’s happening steelwise in the country?

We discussed the new EAF mills that are coming online. This is the big topic at the moment.

19. Apart from strong coffee, what keeps you awake at night?

The COVID-19 virus has certainly had an impact around the world. It is something none of us have had to deal with before.

Right now what keeps me up is when will we be able to get back to somewhat normal business conditions in respect of how we are able to communicate and work more closely together.

Berry lime injection system

20. If you possessed a superpower, how would you use it to improve the globalsteel industry?

I would invent a vaccine for COVID-19. � September 2020

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HISTORY

The 27-mile long Glamorganshire canal was a vital link to the coast at Cardiff

Merthyr’s most successful ironworks Dowlais was the first of the four large ironworks built in Merthyr Tydfil in Wales built between 1759 and 1788. By Tim Smith* DOWLAIS was established on 19 September 1759 in the north-east edge of the town, on a tributary of the River Taff. Thomas Lewis – a local landowner – was the major investor while Isaac Wilkinson brought technical expertise having worked in foundries in Cumbria and Lancashire before moving to Bersham Ironworks near Wrexham, North Wales. The first furnace was built on the edge of the coalfield and coke was the fuel and reductant. Building materials were brought 20 miles by packhorse and mule. This remote location was far from ideal for transport, but the investors had secured an 89-year mineral lease for a mere £31 annually, providing rights to mine ironstone, coal and lime.

Wilkinson left the partnership after just two years. John Guest was appointed manager in 1767, a family association, which lasted for the next 163 years until the closure of the works in 1930 under the ownership of Guest Keen & Nettlefolds (GKN). John’s son Thomas succeeded him in 1787 and was followed by his grandson, Josiah John in 1807. Under Josiah’s management, by 1845 the Works was the largest in the world making 17,000 tons of pig iron a week from 18 furnaces, and monthly outputs of 2,000 tons of rail and 2,000 tons of bar iron. The workforce totalled 7,000, men, women and children.

John Guest bought shares in the business in 1782 at which time the works still only had a single furnace and was producing around 700 tons of iron a year. A second furnace was built around 1790 and a third in 1796 bringing output to 2,800 tons/yr.

By 1805 the three furnaces were producing 6,800 tons/yr. The number of furnaces had increased to five by 1812, each with a weekly output of 200 tons.

To get iron to market the Glamorgan Canal was built to Cardiff in 1790, then a small port on the Severn Estuary. The

four Merthyr ironworks owned the canal, but it best benefitted the rival Cyfarthfa ironworks, where the northern terminus was located. Traffic soon exceeded capacity on this 27-mile canal, which had 51 locks to descend 500 ft (150m). In 1802, nine miles of tramline were built to ease congestion at its northern end. In 1797 it was the first works in Merthyr to employ a Boulton and Watt steam engine to power the furnace blast. In 1796, it contracted to supply its rival, Cyfarthfa, 2,000 tons of pig iron a year for five years, where it was converted to wrought iron bar in puddling furnaces. At the end of this contract,

Local siderite ore was high in phosphorus, making it unsuitable for the early Bessemer process

Dowlais built its own puddling furnaces adding a steam-driven rolling mill to make bar from shingled billet. A second steam engine was added in 1808. Further blast furnaces were commissioned making a total of 10 by 1823 with an output of 22,287 tons/yr of pig iron. By 1832 hot blast was in use in its furnaces thereby reducing coke consumption.

The lease of mineral rights ended in 1848, and the then landowner, the Marquis of Bute, insisted on a punitive renewal in view of the over-generous term of £31 annually granted by his predecessor. £80,000 was demanded for renewing the lease, plus an annual rent of £9,000

and royalties on all iron produced. This was unacceptable to the three remaining Dowlais shareholders who decided to close the works and started to dismantle equipment. The Marquis refused to modify his terms but, fortunately for the company, he died, and the Bute Trustees offered more favourable terms, which were agreed.

In 1850 and 1851, Josiah Guest bought out the remaining two shareholders, but died the following year leaving his wife, Lady Charlotte Guest, as sole and able proprietor. By 1867, 17 were each making 180 tons a week in 1867.

Dowlais became the first licensee of Bessemer converter steelmaking in 1856, and constructed the world’s most powerful mill to roll Bessemer ingots the following year. However, at first the Bessemer process proved unsuccessful using pig iron made from the local ironstone, which was high in phosphorus. Richer haematite ore from Spain and Somerset, which was lower in phosphorus, replaced the local ore and by 1865 the works were producing Bessemer steel. In 1869, six 5-ton Bessemer convertors were in operation producing steel at £6/ton compared to puddled wrought iron at £40/ton. A Siemens-Martin open-hearth furnace followed in 1871 to increase the range of steels made.

In 1891 a second works was built at East Moors in Cardiff to produce pig iron and in 1900, Dowlais was taken over by Arthur Keen of the Patent Nut & Bolt Co. The following year, the new Company took over the Nettlefolds woodscrew manufacturing business to form GKN. In 1905, a new blast furnace complex was built which included two American designed ‘Yankee’ furnaces and a new rail mill was added. The slump in the steel trade during the Depression of 1929-33 resulted in closure of the works in 1930. A foundry remained on the site until 1987. �

* Consulting editor, Steel Times International September 2020

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