After several years of successful co-operation, Shougang Jingtang United Iron & Steel Co., Ltd. once again confirmed its trust in and satisfaction with the “product” supplied by Danieli, placing another order with the Group for a Danieli Universal Endless (DUE™) plant, to be installed in Caofeidian, P.R. of China.
The new DUE™ plant features an innovative and patented layout configuration, which Danieli has developed in a continuous effort to improve existing processes and technologies and overcome their current limitations. This new concept in thin slab casting and rolling plant is able to combine in a single production line all the winning features that up to now have been obtained using either endless or coil-to-coil rolling modes on separate production lines, while eliminating the limiting factors of each one of them. Hence this new DUE™ plant will be the first thin slab casting and rolling plant in the world able to reach all the niches of the flat product market by applying the process that is best suited to each steel grade and product.
This DUE™ plant will be designed for a total capacity of 2,100,000 tpy of hot-rolled coils for strip from 0.80 to 12.7 mm thick and in widths from 900 to 1,600 mm.
The DUE™ unique vertical-curved caster features a 5.5-m main radius designed to operate with a single slab thickness of 110 mm after dynamic soft reduction, at casting speeds in excess of 6 m/min, depending on the steel grade.
The tunnel furnace, in-house developed by Danieli Centro Combustion, provides a fundamental buffer function that increases plant flexibility and provides the possibility to perform work roll change as a background task, without affecting the operation of caster and meltshop.
The DUE™ mill features the well-known and already successfully proven configuration with separation of the mill stands into high-reduction units and finishing units, in order to perform dual-step rolling. In the transfer bar area, the bar undergoes intermediate reheating in an induction heating system. This system is in-house designed and manufactured by Danieli Automation for consistent production of thin and ultra-thin gauges in endless mode, and can be retracted off-line when not in use (i.e. in coil-to-coil production mode).
The mill stands, designed to guarantee superb geometrical and mechanical properties of the final product, are equipped with all state-of-the-art features for utmost strip crown and profile control, bearing in mind that these control functions also have to be operational under load conditions as required by the endless rolling process.
The line is complete with a laminar cooling system, including power and normal units; and a coiling area made up of a high-speed shear to cut the coil to length when working in endless mode; pinch rolls and downcoilers.
Danieli Automation will develop and supply the induction heating system, along with the automation of caster and tunnel furnace area, while TMEIC will be in charge of the rolling mill automation together with on-line instrumentation and MV/LV drives for the whole DUE™ line.
Thanks to decades of research and development, comprehensive engineering and to its own state-of-the-art workshops, Danieli is in a position to offer a complete package of exceptional quality to ensure optimal process performance and cutting-edge equipment.
Coil-to-coil and endless, thermo-mechanical and multi-phase, ultra-thin and thick products are now all possible on a single production line. This means that niche products with high value added and the mass-produced commodities segment are within reach of this new plant, which today represents the most extensive application of Danieli’s concept of flexibility.
With this project, Danieli proves once again that it is a world-wide leader in advanced thin slab casting and rolling equipment.
