SECTION AND BILLET MILLS

THE SMS GROUP IS A GROUP OF GLOBALLY OPERATING

COMPANIES IN PLANT AND MACHINERY CONSTRUCTION
FOR STEEL AND NON-FERROUS METALS PROCESSING.
WE COVER EVERYTHING FROM PIG IRON PRODUCTION TO
METALLURGICAL PLANT, ROLLING MILLS TO STRIP PRO-
CESSING LINES, TUBE MILLS TO THERMAL TECHNOLOGY
– COMPLETE WITH ELECTRICS AND AUTOMATION AS
WELL AS SERVICE.

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 PRODUCT RANGE

IRON MAKING

TUBE AND PIPE PLANTS LONG PRODUCTS PLANTS

ELECTRICAL AND AUTOMATION SYSTEMS PRODUCTION

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METALLURGY PLANTS AND FLAT ROLLING PLANTS
ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY

STRIP PROCESSING LINES AND FORGING PLANTS

FURNACE TECHNOLOGY

TECHNICAL SERVICE

5
SECTION MILLS
HISTORY
The rolling of sections has a long tradition.
It began with the period of industrialisa­
tion in the 19th century, driven in parti­
cular by the birth of the railways and the
need to produce rails in large quantities.
The section mills initially produced railway
rails and other sections. Later beams
manufactured using the 2-high rolling
method were added to the product range.
The advancing industrialisa­tion resulted in
a growing demand for beams. The inven­
tion of the universal mill stand at the end
of the 19th century enabled beams to be
manufac­tured with parallel flanges.
ROLLING METHOD
Sections are produced on a variety of mill
types:
3-high or 2-high mills, universal reversing
mills, continuous or semi-continuous mills.
Over the course of the years, both the roll­
ing technology and the mills themselves
have changed significantly. Modern mill
stands are equipped with hydraulic adjust­
ment systems that offer a large number of
benefits. Beams are predominantly rolled
on universal stands. These stands have
two driven horizontal rolls that influence
the web cross-section and two vertical rolls
that act on the flange of the beam. All four
rolls are adjustable.
6
MINIMILLS
Until the end of the seventies, heavy
sections were predominantly produced in
integrated steel mills where both ingots
and slabs served as starting materials.
With the introduction of the casting of
dog bones and beam blanks it became
possible to produce heavy sections also Beginning of section rolling.
on minimills. Here a continuous caster
pro­duces the feedstock that then enters a
universal beam mill. Production of beams
and sections on minimills is common
practice today. This has enabled the pro­
cess route to be considerably shortened,
with significant effects on the conversion
costs.The SMS group with its predeces­
sors and sister companies has played a
major role in de­veloping the technology
of section rolling:
Introduction of the casting of dog
bones at Algoma Steel in 1968
Delivery of numerous heavy section
Control concept for universal
mills based on the minimill concept roll setting.
Development of the patented XH® roll­
ing process and rolling of beams and
sections on a tandem reversing mill
Rail rolling on a tandem reversing mill
CBP® and MPS® plants
Development of new rolling methods
for the production of sections
WF-Beam HP-Beam Special S-Beam C
shapes
Product mix from a beam blank.
 Invention of universal rolling. CCS® tandem mill group.
PRODUCT RANGE
A wide range of sections, such as
beams, channels, angles, universal flat
steel, sheet piling sections, special sec­
tions and rails are produced on section
mills. Billets, rounds and squares, rect-
angles and hexagons also belong to the
product range. Depending on the rolling
programme, these sections are produced
on different mills. A distinction is made
be­tween the following mill types:
Heavy beam and section mills on
which beams, channels, angles and
possibly also sheet piling sections are
produced. Beam dimensions from
200 x 200 up to 1,000 x 400 mm.
MPS® plants which represent an
integrated casting and rolling plant for
the production of beams and channels,
possibly also other sections with web
Channel Mlsc. Sheet Sheet
heights between 150 and 900 mm.
Channel Pile Pile
Medium section mills for the produc­
tion of beams, channels, angles, also
flats and special sections in dimensions
between 100 and 400 (500) mm web
height.
Rail mills for the production of rails
for railways as well as for craneways
and special rails.
Billet mills for the production of
round, square, rectangular and hexa­
gonal billets (size 50 up to 350 mm).
The individual concepts are described on
the following pages.
The SMS group is the only supplier
worldwide able to cover the complete
range of section and billet mills. The
experience is based on numerous mills
delivered by the predecessor compa­
nies Schloemann, Siemag, Demag,
Krupp, Möller & Neumann and Sack, the
ongoing further developments and the
development of new mills, concepts and
rolling methods in recent years.
With our continuous further development
and the numerous mills supplied, we
have had a major influence on modern
mill layout and rolling technology. This
is reflected in particular by the large
number of mills built and commissioned
recently.
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HEAVY SECTION MILLS

Heavy section mills essentially produce Manipulating and tilting devices up­stream
beams as well as other sections such as and downstream of the stand guide the
channels, angles, shipbuilding sections, stock into the individual passes.
special sections and sheet piling sec­
The tandem reversing group is in CCS®
tions. Depending on the market demand,
configuration. By contrast with conven-
these mills are built for a given size
tional stands with their closed-top
range. Typical mills cover web heights up
housings, these stands offer not only a
to 600 mm, 700 mm or 1000 mm, for
more compact design but also the added
extremely heavy beams and column sec­
benefits of a more precise adjustability
tions up to a web height of 1,100 mm.
of the rolls for closer tolerances on the
The layout illustrated shows a typical finished product and the automatic
heavy beam and section mill. It consists changing of rolls and mill guides.
of a reheating furnace, a 2-high reversing
The patented mill configuration permits
mill on which the leader pass for the
rolling lengths to be produced correspond­
subsequent universal rolling is produced,
ing to twice the cooling bed length.
a cropping saw, cross-transfer system,
Particularly with smaller dimensions, this
a tandem reversing mill comprising a
allows mill productivity to be significantly
universal roughing stand, an edger and a
increased. The cooling bed is generally
universal finishing stand. Depending on
designed as a walking-beam cooling bed
the rolling programme, these stands can
or as a combined walking-beam/chain-
be fitted with universal rolls or two-high
type cooling bed which, depending on
rolls. After rolling, the sections are cooled
the rolling programme, can be operated
on a cooling bed and straightened on
with an aerosol cooling system or forced
a roller straightener. The collected sec­
air cooling.
tion layers then pass through cold saws
where the cooling bed lengths are cut The subsequent straightening is perform-
into finished lengths before they are sta­ ed either on conventional roller straight­
cked and tied ready for shipping. eners with their cantilever-mounted
straightening rollers or on a roller straight­
Beams are produced on this mill using
ener of CRS® design with its rollers
the XH® rolling method patented by the
supported in bearings on both sides. The
SMS group . Here all three stands are
bars are collected into layers and cut to
in operation at each run, whereby the
finished lengths on sliding-frame saws.
first universal stand has an X draft and
The sections are subsequently stacked
the second universal stand, the finishing
vertically or horizontally. The stacks are
stand, has an H draft corresponding to
tied compactly ready for shipping.
the shape of the finished section.

A reversing breakdown stand can be

designed both as a conventional stand
with closed-top housing and in CCS®
configuration. The roll barrel length is
Piling machine.
determined according to the rolling pro­
gramme and can be as long as 2.8 metres.

8
 Product range of a heavy section mill.

BD stand entry side.

Tandem reversing mill group. Layout of a heavy section mill.

Cold saw. Roller straightener.

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MPS® PLANTS
The MPS® (multi-purpose section) plant
is an integrated casting and rolling plant
for the production of a broad range of
sections. The MPS® plant based on the
concept of the CSP® technology com­
bines a number of new processes:
Casting of near-net shape beam blanks
with a web thickness of only 50 up to
75 mm
Adaption of the cast beam blank
cross-section by edging, predomi­
nantly of the web height, but also of
the flange width
XH® rolling in a tandem reversing group
Continuous caster and rolling mill ope­
rate in conjunction with one another
The casting of near-net shape beam
blanks was developed at TXI Chaparral
Steel in Midlothian, Texas, USA in the
early nineties.
This process offers a number of benefits:
Apart from a simple caster and the rapid
solidification of the cast cross-section,
inexpensive scrap can be used as charge
material.
The first MPS® plant was commissioned
in 1999 by TXI Chaparral Steel in Virginia,
USA. This mill is designed for a capacity
Rolling process of an MPS®plant.
10
of approx. 1,000,000 tonnes per year
with a very broad product range including
beams with web heights from 150 to 920
mm, channels and sheet piling sections.
In an MPS® plant, continuous caster and
rolling mill operate in conjunction with
one another with the beam blanks being Layout of an MPS® plant.
charged directly into a soaking furnace. A
buffer zone in the furnace and the quick
programme changing of the stands allow
a size change to be carried out without
having to interrupt the continuous casting
operation.
In this plant, no conventional heavy rever­
sing roughing stand is required. The adap­
tion of the beam blank to the desired
chamber width is performed in a vertical
edging stand. This beam blank is then
rolled out in a horizontal stand positioned
behind the edging stand to pro­duce a MPS® roughing mill
with vertical and
leader pass for the universal roll­ing. The horizontal stands.
two stands operate as a reversing stand
group. This method of operation offers
cost savings. The rolling programme of
a typical MPS® plant includes medium
and heavy beams and sections, inclu­
ding channels and angles, sheet piling
sections and universal flats. A medium
section mill and a heavy section mill
in conventional layout are required for
 Cast near-net shape beam blank

Conventional Near-net-shape
dog bone beam blank
Comparison between dog bone and beam blank. Product range of an MPS® plant.

this range of sections. The introduction A further characteristic feature of the

of near-net shape casting allows beam MPS® plant is that all the sections are
blanks to be expediently designed even produced using the universal rolling
for smaller beam dimensions. The size method. New rolling methods were there­
range of a typical MPS® plant is designed fore developed for the production of
for beams from 200 to 600 mm web channels and sheet piling sections. Sheet
height. The rolling programme can also piling sections rolled from near-net shape
be extended. beam blanks using the universal rolling
method were produced for the first time
worldwide on the TXI Chaparral Steel
plant. This allows a further significant
cost saving to be achieved by comparison
with the conventional two-high rolling
method using rolls with large barrel
100% lengths and blooms as starting material.
Compared with conventional plants, the
3% Loss because of shorts
Yield loss MPS® plant offers a number of benefits,
Conversion costs in %

17% 57% Rolling mill and finishing end apart from the compact design of a flex­
Beam blank caster
7% ible multi-purpose production plant for
Higher scrap costs
47% high-quality products. Compared with a
35% conventional plant, cost savings can be
achieved here through the use of inex­
26%
pensive scrap, higher yield, less short
15%
7% lengths and reduced conversion costs.
Conventional plant MPS®plant

Cost comparison.

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MEDIUM SECTION MILLS

PRODUCT RANGE Tandem reversing mills have the great

Sections such as beams, channels,
angles and flats are rolled on medium
section mills. Special sections such as
fork-lift mast beams and wheel rims, etc.
are also produced on medium section
mills, whereby these sections necessi­
tate a special arrangement of the mill
stands. The universal rolling method and
the two-high method are employed.
The product range of a medium sec­
tion mill starts with a section height of
approx. 100 mm and flange width of 50
mm and generally extends up to a web
height of 450 mm (max. 500 mm) and
flange width of 240 mm (max. 260 mm).
MILL CONCEPTS
benefit that when using the XH® rolling
method for beams, only three stands
are required for finish rolling. This offers
great savings in the investment and ope­
rating costs, as less stands and therefore
less rolls and mill guides are required
by comparison with continuous mills.
Thanks to the small number of stands,
an outstanding feature of this concept is
its great flexibility. A size change can be
carried out in just 20 minutes, and larger
beams and sections can be produced on
this mill type more economically than on
a continuous mill. As a result of these
advantages, most newer medium section
mills have been built following the tandem
reversing concept (see layout of medium
section mill).

The mill concepts can differ, depending

on the rolling programme and the desired
capacity. The following are the most com­
mon mill configurations:

Continuous mill train

Semi-continuous mill with reversing

roughing stand and continuous finishing
mill train

Tandem reversing mill with or without

separate finishing stand

The continuous mill is employed where

the rolling programme is limited to smaller
sections and a very high capacity is
required.

Semi-continuous mills have the advantage

that less stands are required compared
with a continuous mill and a reversing
roughing stand offers a greater flexibility CCS® tandem reversing mill group.
with respect to the starting material.

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Product range of a medium section mill. BD stand with tilter.

Layout of a medium section mill.

Crop saw. Roller straightener. Walking-beam cooling bed.

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RAIL MILLS

Rail mills can be designed as single pur­
pose plants on which only rails for rail­
ways as well as crane rails, tram rails and
special rails can be produced. In some
cases, rails are also produced on com­
bined rail and section mills.
The rails are straightened on a special rail
straightener with horizontal and vertical
straightening machines. Subsequently
they are checked for surface and inner
defects and the section geometry and
waviness are measured.

Rails are produced either using the
two-high rolling method on two-high
revers­ing mills or on three-high mills
or, increas­ingly today, using the univer­
sal rolling method. The universal rolling
method has proved superior to the con­
ventional methods due to the following
advantages: Closer rail tolerances, better
surface quality and less roll wear.
The ends of the rails are cut off with spe­
cial cold saws and drilled, if necessary.
Gag presses subsequently straighten
the ends that cannot be straightened by
the roller-type straightener. Rails with a
length of up to 125 m are finally loaded
onto wagons.

The universal rolling method on a tandem

reversing group developed by the SMS
group offers the benefit that rails can be
pro­duced economically on a compact mill
and other sections and beams can be rol­
led on the same mill. This rolling method
is employed by leading manufacturers
such as INI Steel (Korea), Anshan Iron &
Steel (China) and Steel Dynamics (USA).

A modern rail mill is shown on the layout

opposite. Of particular note here are the
extensive finishing facilities. The rail is the
rolled product with the most demanding
requirements. These include not only
metallurgical properties such as steel
analysis and purity, but also physical and Horizontal roller straightener.
geometric properties such as straight­
ness, tolerance, surface quality, micro­
structure properties and residual stress
level. Rails are used today for high-speed
transport so that compliance with these
demands is of crucial importance.

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Vignol rail Crane rail
Tram rail Special rail

Switch rail Mine tram rail

Product range of a rail mill. Tandem rail rolling.

Layout of a rail mill.

Cold saw. Gag press for rails.

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BILLET MILLS

Semis, blooms, billets or even large round, Newly developed billet mill stands permit
square and hexagonal dimensions are pro­ quick size changing thanks to the cartridge
duced on billet mills. Blooming mills are changing system and are equipped with
employed today for grades that cannot be hydraulic roll adjustment systems that per­
produced by continuous casting. Ingots are mit an automatic size control (ASC®).
rolled out to billets. Billet mills roll semi-
After rolling, the billets are cut to length by
finished products of quality and stainless
four-crank shears, friction saws or abrasive
steels for use i.e. in the automotive indus­
cut-off machines. The products are cooled
try. The size range covered by billet mills
on turn-over cooling beds, in order to
is from approx. 50 up to 350 mm diame­
achieve the best possible straightness.
ter or edge length.
Turnover cooling bed.
The SMS group philosophy is to make the
rolling process as economical as possible
and to meet the demands for product
range, quality and capacity on a compact
mill with the least number of stands pos­
sible. This enables a high flexibility with low
conversion costs to be achieved.

The stands illustrated here (compact billet

stands) can meet these demands with
a minimised number of stands. They are
equipped with a large number of technical
innovations: Quick size changes thanks
to the CCS® design prin­ciple, hydraulic
roll adjustment, constant pass line, profile
measuring and automatic size control
Two-high reversing stand.
(ASC®) systems.

A high degree of automation permits the

reliable manufacturing of products with
low personnel requirements. Two-high
reversing stands (see figure) operate fully
automatically today. A) Reversing mill

Tilting and guiding system

on a BD stand.

B) Semi-continuous mill

Mill concepts. ASC ®

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 Product range of a billet mill.

Four-crank shear.

Compact billet stand.

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STRAIGHTENING PLANTS –
CRS® FOR SECTIONS
(Compact Roller Straightener)

The straighteners of CRS® design are em- ening force

­ployed in medium and heavy section mills Uniform and low strain application on
and represent the following technology: the rolled product
Hydraulic axial positioning of each
Higher product quality and better
straightening shaft
re­sidual stress behaviour
Compensation of spring by hydraulic
Symmetrical application of the straight­
adjustment mechanisms
ening force with the rollers supported Variable straightening roller pitch is not
on both sides
necessary
Automatic straightening roller chang­
Automated straightening roller chang­
ing within 20 minutes
ing within 20 minutes
Fixed straightening roller pitch for a
An off-line computerised model of the
large product range
straightening process is available
Automated straightening roller chang­
Less maintenance and roll changing
ing with less personnel
personnel
The straightening shafts of sandwich Minimum foundation costs
de­sign are supported in bearings on both
sides. All nine straightening shafts are
driven individually, while the hydraulic
cylinders allow the shafts to be adjusted
under load.

The straightener plant is charac­terised by

the following features:
Overload protection
Backlash-free mounting of the straight­
ening rollers
Maximum concentricity of the straight­
ening rollers
Automated setting of all the adjust­
ments mechanisms and drives accord­
ing to the straightening data set-up
Position transducers for reproducible
recording of all the setting values

The CRS®straightener offers the follow­

ing benefits compared with conventional
straightening machines: Automatic changing of straightener rollers (manipulator).

Symmetrical application of the straight­

18
Schematic arrangement of a CRS® straightener.

Hydraulic adjusting cylinder. CRS® straightener. Workshop assembly.

19
STRAIGHTENING PLANTS
FOR RAILS

In line with the relevant standards, we Precalculation of the machine settings,

offer our customers straightening plants allowing for the known material data,
consisting of horizontal and vertical and prediction of the anticipated wavi­
straighteners on which rails of the high­ ness using the offline straighten­ing
est quality with respect to waviness model
and straightness can be produced. The
High-speed railway lines in Germany,
machines are characterised by a very
Spain, Italy, France, Japan, Korea and
rigid, robust design with individual drives
China are laid with rails straightened
for each straightening roller. Our offline
almost exclusively on rail straighteners
straightening model in combination with
from the SMS group.
a special tension control between the
individual straightening rollers enables an
optimum residual stress level to be achie­
ved in the product to ensure maximum
service life of the rail on the track. The
straightening plant is fully automated. The
patented mounting of the straight­ening
rollers permits a roller change
within 30 minutes. The rail straighteners
exhibit the following features:

High housing rigidity

Backlash-free mounting of rollers and

sleeves on the straightener shafts

Backlash-free mounting of the

ad­justable straightener shaft housings

Individual drives for all straightener Drive side of a horizontal roller straightener. Exit side of the vertical roller straightener.

shafts

Mounting of the straightener sleeves

with bayonet rings and high-pressure
hydraulic nuts on the straightener
shafts

Flat machine fronts for easy removal

of scale

Linear position transducers for all

adjustment mechanisms

Automated setting of the machine for

the respective product

20
H-V arrangement of a rail straightener.

HMI screen for settings. Horizontal and vertical roller straightener.

Record of waviness measurement.

21
CCS® MILL STANDS
(Compact Cartridge Stand)
With the CCS® mill stands we offer our
customers a rolling facility with which
sections can be produced more cost
effectively than to date. At the same time,
product quality is improved by comparison
with that from conventional stands, the
total investment is lower and operating
costs are reduced thanks to the lower roll
costs. CCS® stands can be used as both
two-high and universal stands and are
employed in heavy and medium section
mills as well as in rail mills. The CCS® stand
has become an integral part of a tandem
reversing group and forms the heart of
our section mills. Apart from installation
in new mills, the CCS® is ideally suited to
mill modernisations thanks to its compact
design. The characteristic feature of the
CCS® stand is the simultaneous changing
of rolls and mill guides within 20 minutes.
CCS® two-high stand.
22
Further benefits are the high stand rigidity,
the possibility of installing rolls with dif­
ferent barrel lengths and the all-hydraulic
adjustment systems with the following
features:
High adjustment precision
Close rolling tolerances on the finished
product
High reproducibility
Automatic roll gap control (AGC) over
the section length
Automatic zeroing of the rolls under load
(roll kissing)
Automated determination of actual mill
stand modulus after roll change
Exact presetting of the roll gap
Automatic overload protection
CCS® tandem reversing mill group in operation.
Schematic arrangement of a CCS® universal stand with changing positions.

Changing positions during automatic roll changing.

Entry side of tandem reversing mill group. CCS® stand during workshop assembly.

23
PROCESS CONTROL
SYSTEMS

PROCESS MODEL “ROLLING”

With the development of the online
“Rolling” process model we have taken
a further step towards the complete
automation of the rolling mill. Particularly
in conjunction with our fully-hydraulic
adjustable mill stands and the associated
technological control systems, this soft­
ware makes a major contribution to opti­
mising the rolling process and improving
the product quality.
The key technological features and bene­
fits of our process model are:
Simulation of the rolling process on
the basis of physical models
Adaption of the calculation to mea­
surement data
Automated pass schedule calculation
Optimisation of the rolling strategy

The interfacing of the model to the Process monitoring

measurement data acquisition on the
Measurement data analysis
mill (roll forces, roll torques, temperature,
geo­metry) allows a quick adaption to pro­ Improved product tolerances
cess changes.
Higher yield

Temperature curve in the tandem group.

STRAIGHTENING MODEL

The straightening process can be simula­

ted offline in order to determine the neces­ • Profile data • Roller adjustment
sary settings of the straightener in advan­ • Material data • Bending line,
ce. The straightening model serves hereby curvature
• Roller straightener straightening forces,
to determine optimised straightening rol­ data bending moment
Adjusting
ler settings with respect to a minimisation • Calculation mode • Product load stress
program of cross section and
of the residual stresses in longitudinal and • Straightening through the machine
strategy
transverse direction of the sections, and • Residual stress after
• Entry conditions roller straightening
to achieve an optimum straightness and (curvature,
residual stress)
waviness, particularly for rails.

Input/output data of straightening model.

24
Control concept for universal rolling.

PMO
set-up model

PMO
Measurement data checking up Optimisation
with adaptation

PSC offline
Product data simulation "customer"
t
PSC offline
Rolling data
simulation "SMS"

Calculation diagram of process model (rolling). Sequence diagram of process model (rolling).

Stress curve in straightener Stress in the longitudinal direction.

25
DEVELOPMENTS

AEROSOL COOLING BED

The cooling of the rolled stock is accele­ Natural cooling

rated in a section of the cooling bed Forced air cooling
by the use of water spray. This process
Aerosol cooling
offers the following features and benefits:

Reduction of the cooling bed area

Lower investment costs
Low operating costs
Modular activation of the cooling sys­
tem possible
Comparison between cooling systems. Aerosol nozzles.
Selective influencing of the cooling
curve
Increase in the cooling bed capacity of
existing plants

SELECTIVE COOLING LINE

A cooling line adapted to the product geo­

metry can be installed between the stand
delivery side and the cooling bed to
homogenise the temperature profile of
H beams and rails. In conjunction with
a control system, parts of the product
cross-section can then be selectively
cooled.

Apart from the improvement in the sec­

Temperature distribution in rail cross-section. Selective beam cooling.
tion straightness on the cooling bed, this
also helps to minimise the residual
stresses in the product thanks to a more
uniform transformation. In addition, the
mechanical properties can be improved.

The selective cooling section is also suit­

able for later installation in existing plants.

26
Aerosol cooling bed.

LASER SECTION
MEASUREMENT –
PROGAUGE™ TBK

Section measurement using the laser light-

section method on a finish-rolled rail in hot
state. The same principle is also employed
for H beams and other sections. A laser
line projected onto the product surface is
reflected diffusely and the reflected light is
detected by a high-speed, high-resolution
image sensor. The distance from the sec­ Section measurement of a rail down­
tion surface and hence the contour of the stream of last stand.

object is calculated from the position of

the illuminated spots on the image sensor.

Gauge computer
HMI
control pulpit

Data concentrator

Length measurement

Temperature
measurement
Laser sensor

General configuration. Laser light section method.

27
FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS
XH® ROLLING METHOD
The XH® rolling method patented by the
SMS group permits rolling on a compact
tandem group. Conventional mills have
a universal roughing stand, and edger
and a separately installed finishing stand.
This has the disadvantage that during one
reversing pass, only one working pass
can be carried out so that a correspon­
dingly large number of reversing passes
are required for rolling a section. With the
XH® rolling method, however, all three
stands are in operation during each pass,
whereby the first universal stand has an
X draft and the second universal stand an
H draft corresponding to the shape of the
finished section.
Benefits:
Higher productivity
Higher rolling temperature
Lower roll wear
Larger product lengths possible
Compact arrangement, shorter layout
CCS® STANDS
With the CCS® stands we offer our
customers a rolling facility with which
sections can be produced more cost
effectively than to date. At the same
time, product quality is improved. By
comparison with conventional stands, the
total investment is lower and operat­ing
costs are reduced thanks to the lower roll
costs and quick changing ability.
Benefits of this concept are the high
stand rigidity, the possibility of installing
rolls with different barrel lengths and the
28
all-hydraulic adjustment systems with the
following features:
High adjustment precision
Close rolling tolerances on the finished
product
High reproducibility
Automatic roll gap control over the
section length (AGC)
Automatic zeroing of the rolls under
load (roll kissing)
Automated determination of actual
mill stand modulus after roll change
Exact presetting of the roll gap
Automatic overload protection
Automatic roll and guide changing
within 20 minutes
CRS® STRAIGHTENER
The straighteners of CRS® design are
employed in medium and heavy section
mills with the following benefits com­
pared with conventional plants:
Symmetrical application of the straight­
ening force
Uniform and low strain application on
the rolled product
Hydraulic axial positioning of each
straightening shaft
Compensation of the spring by hydrau­
lic vertical adjustment
mechanisms
Variable straightening roller pitch is
CRS® straightener.
not necessary
Automated straightening roller
chang­ing within 20 minutes
A computerised model of the
straightening process is available
Less maintenance and roll changing
personnel
Minimum foundation costs
 XH®rolling method.
Measurement of Tandem group Measurement of
temperature and temperature and
product speed product speed

Geometry

Roll gaps, Roll forces PMO

Motor torques, Speeds setup model

PMO
Measured data Postcalculation
with adaption

CCS® stand. Technological process support. Process models.

PROCESS MODELS TECHNOLOGICAL PROCESS

The use of process models enables a
better and more constant product quality
with closer tolerances. The availability of
the plant is increased and the yield
boosted. A certified process chain can now
be set up. Offline studies allow specific
further developments to be investigated.
SUPPORT
We employ commercial and in-house
software as tools for process optimisation
in the calculation and simulation of the
roll­ing process for standard sections and
customer-specific demands for the follow­
ing tasks:

Increased yield Pass design

Better and more constant product qua­
lity
Direct reactions to process changes
Precise presetting and reduced adjust­
ment times
Shorter learning time for the rolling of
new products
Documented process chain
Offline studies
Avoidance of operating mistakes
Pass schedule planning
Calculation of rolling forces and torques
Drive dimensioning
Temperature calculations
Finite Elements Method (FEM) simu­
lation of the shaping process

29
REFERENCES

MEDIUM AND HEAVY BILLET MILLS

SECTION MILLS
In the last 40 years, we have delivered
We have built more than 100 section more than 115 billet mills to customers
mills over the last 40 years. Our custo­ such as Ispat, OEMK, Kia Steel, Timken
mers worldwide include ArcelorMittal, Company, China Steel, BHP, Stahlwerke
Peiner Träger, Stahlwerke Thüringen, Südwestfalen, Ugine Aciers, Stelco,
Celsa, Hoesch, Lucchini, TXI Chaparral Mysore Iron & Steel, Nippon Steel,
Steel, Steel Dynamics, Tung Ho Steel, ArcelorMittal, Aceralia, SKF, Stahlwerke
United Gulf Steel, Nucor Yamato, Röchling-Burbach, Sumitomo Metal
Kawasaki Steel, Sumitomo Metal Industries, Cockerill-Ougrèe S.A.
Industries, Toa Steel, Tokio Steel, Nippon
Steel, Yamato, Maanshan Iron & Steel,
Angang Group, Panzhihua Iron & Steel, CCS® STANDS
Hyundai Steel, Gerdau Acominas, Corus,
In the last ten years we have supplied
Huta Katowice, Wuhan Iron & Steel,
more than 60 CCS® stands to the follow­
Laiwu Steel, Steel Authority of India Ltd.,
ing customers: TXI Chaparral Steel, Steel
Peiner Träger, Kardemir Karabük Demir
Dynamics, Celsa, HSP Hoesch Dortmund,
Çelik
Stahlwerke Thüringen, Angang New Steel,
ArcelorMittal, Panzhihua Iron & Steel,
Wuhan Iron & Steel, Laiwu Steel, Steel
RAIL MILLS
Authority of India Ltd., Peiner Träger,
In the last 25 years, we have built more Kardemir Karabük Demir Çelik
than 30 straightening plants for rail finish­
ing plants. Rails are rolled on more than
14 rail mills worldwide supplied by the FINISHING MACHINES
SMS group. Straighteners are in opera­
Straighteners
tion in more than 22 rail finishing plants.
More than 450 straighteners have been
High-speed trains in Germany, Spain,
delivered by us worldwide to all the lead­
Italy, France, Japan, Korea and China run
ing rolling mills in Europe, North America,
on rails rolled and straightened on plants
South America, Africa, Australia and Asia.
from the SMS group.
Saws
Our plants are installed i.a. in the
We have supplied more than 575 saws.
works of the following customers:
Most leading rolling mills worldwide
ThyssenKrupp, Huta Katowice, Aceralia,
employ our hot and cold saws.
Lucchini, Corus Sogerail, Voest-Alpine
Schienen, ProfilARBED, Trinecke
Zelezarny, Nippon Kokan, INI Steel,
Angang Iron & Steel, Panzhihua Iron &
Steel, as well as in Australia at BHP, in
Egypt at Heluan Steel and in India at
Bhilai Steel and Jindal Steel & Power.

30
31
APPLICATIONS
FOR SECTIONS

Rails, high-quality rolled products, are

among the preferred transport systems
worldwide even today.

Rails are rolled in lengths of up to 125 m

in modern mills, transported and laid and
welded by the customer.
Rails laid in the railway system.

Railway rails.

Special sections are used

everywhere: Steel con-
Transfer of rails, 125 m long. structions, shipbuilding,
civil engineering, harbour
and slope rein­forcements.

Special sections in shipbuilding.

32
 Stacked H beams.

Use of H beams in construction

engineernig and in machine and
plant construction.

Office buildings. Multi-storey car park.

Sheet piling sections.

Larsson section. Application in water engineering. Facing of high buildings.

33
NOTES

34
35
SMS GROUP GMBH
Business Unit Long Products Plants

Ohlerkirchweg 66
41069 Mönchengladbach
Germany

Phone +49 2161 350-1724

Fax: +49 2161 350-1753
sectionandbilletmills@sms-group.com
D1.08 / 15 en · Printed in Germany

www.sms-group.com

The information provided in this brochure contains a general description of the performance characteristics of the products concerned. The actual products may not always have these characteristics
as described and, in particular, these may change as a result of further developments of the products. The provision of this information is not intended to have and will not have legal effect. An obligation
to deliver products having particular characteristics shall only exist if expressly agreed in the terms of the contract.