Siemens builds hot and cold steel mills

A Chinese state-owned steel producer has ordered equipment from Siemens Metals Technologies for a new hot strip mill and a cold mill.

Under the contract, Siemens will supply Tonghua Iron and Steel Group the complete automation for the hot mill and the drives and automation for the cold mill.

The 1600mm hot strip mill is expected to have a capacity of 1.5m tonnes per year (tpy) and the capacity of the reversing two stand cold mill is expected to be 800,000 tpy.

For the hot strip mill, Siemens will supply equipment such as the furnace exit side to the down coilers, all technological controls and process models required for mill set-up, short stroke and width control, profile and flatness control, in addition to the accurate cooling of the steel strip to enable the production of modern steel grades.

A central feature of the cold mill will be a thickness control system based on an advanced mass-flow concept. Siemens will supply the technology required for operating the six-high mill stands in the cold mill, as well as main drives and automation.