SMS group received an order from China’s Shandong Iraeta Heavy Industry Co. Ltd. (SIHI) for the supply of a newly developed ring-rolling machine for the production of seamlessly rolled rings. The machine can produce seamless rings with a diameter of up to 16 meters and 3 meters high. According to SMS group, no other system is known to produce larger rings. The rings produced on the machine will be used as tower flanges for wind turbines and will have to withstand extreme loads. Another application for the rings will be large shells like those required in the construction of large pressure vessels.

During radial-axial ring rolling, the cross section of a ring blank is reduced in a combined forming process in which wall thickness and height are reduced at the same time. As a result, the ring diameter increases due to the constant volume of the workpiece.

The ring-rolling machine will allow SIHI to increase production capacities for rings that are made from blanks with a weight of up to 200 ton at its facility in Zhangqiu (Shandong province). It will be equipped with the latest sensor technology and a state-of-the-art machine controller.