Habaş successfully commissions hot strip mill from SMS Siemag

The Turkish steelmaker Habaş has successfully commissioned a hot strip mill supplied by SMS Siemag, Germany, in Aliağa, Turkey. Production of the first coil in July 2014 marked Habaş’ entry into the market of flat products.

The compact hot strip mill is designed for an annual production of 2.5 million tons of hot strip. The strip widths vary between 700 and 2,100 millimeters and the strip gages between 1.2 and 25.4 millimeters. The hot strip mill is designed for the production of a wide range of premium steel grades according to international standards as, for instance, carbon steels and multiphase steels as well as pipe grades up to strength class X80.

The main components of the hot strip mill in the first construction stage are a four-high reversing roughing stand with edger, a mandrelless coilbox, a drum-type crop shear, seven finishing stands with CVC^® plus, the laminar cooling section, two downcoilers and a pallet transport system including an inspection line. Mill capacity may be increased at a later stage to 4.5 million tons per year by installation of a second reheating furnace, an additional two-high reversing roughing stand and a third downcoiler.

Plant technology highlights are the strip cooling system and the downcoilers. Strip cooling with reinforced cooling groups allows Habaş to benefit from high cooling rates and differentiated cooling strategies for the manufacture of special grades. The two downcoilers are designed as UNI plus coilers for the winding of high-strength pipe grades up to a strip gage of 25.4 millimeters. The UNI plus coilers are characterized by reinforced mechanical components and an optimized coiling strategy for high-strength, heavy-gage strips.

The supply scope of the X-Pact^® automation package included the level-1 and level-2 systems with the process models, level-3 production planning system, technological measuring systems, instrumentation, sensors, industrial camera system and a common HMI for both automation levels. The drive systems with their converters and all motors, main and mill pinion gear units, as well as the drive spindles for the compact hot strip mill at Habaş were also included in SMS Siemag's supply.

Thanks to the fact that the complete plant technology was supplied by SMS Siemag, Habaş achieved a fast ramp-up of the hot strip mill and good strip quality already in the first weeks of production. One reason for the good results was that the complete X-Pact^® auto-mation package had been pre-tested and pre-optimized according to SMS Siemag’s unique Plug & Work concept.

Layout of the new hot strip of Habaş, Turkey

Based on SMS group information