Mechel OAO announced the commissioning of a new modern ring-rolling mill at its Urals Stampings Plant OAO steel subsidiary. The total cost of the new forging equipment at Urals Stamping Plant, which produces hot-stamped billets, was approximately $11 million. The new ring-rolling mill was manufactured by SMS Meer and was designed to produce weldless straight and section rings by radial-axial rolling. The new machine, which has an average capacity of four metric tons per hour, will enable the facility to produce rings with an outer diameter of 400-4,200 mm (16-165 inches) and a height of 60-1,000 mm (2.5-39.5 inches).

The machine’s full computerization reduces production costs and time and ensures high product quality. Its options include ROLLTRONIC, complete digital measuring and indication of the rings’ sizes during the entire rolling process with the help of a laser measuring device; ROLL TRACK, graphics support during manual rolling operations; and CARWIN, the program of automated ring rolling, which includes optimal selection of billets and tools and rolling process modeling.