Ovako, together with Linde Gas AB, conducted a full-scale trial using hydrogen to heat steel before rolling. The trial was performed with good results in one of the company’s pit furnaces at the Hofors rolling mill in Sweden. This historic development for the steel industry proves that carbon dioxide emissions from rolling can be eliminated provided the right financial support and infrastructure are in place. 

BNP Media has announced the launch of the Process Heating & Cooling Show, an interactive conference and exposition where executives and engineers from various industries – including oil and gas, electronics, pharmaceuticals, food, beverages, packaging and plastics – will learn from thought leaders and discover new technologies and trends exclusively for the process heating and cooling sectors. This new event will be held June 16-17, 2021, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Ill. Visit www.heatingcoolingshow.com for more information.

In May 1920, a long century ago in the shadows of Cleveland’s steel mills, two brilliant and visionary engineers founded The Ohio Crankshaft Company.

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. successfully completed the acquisition of AK Steel Holding Corp., integrating North America’s largest producer of iron-ore pellets downstream into the production of value-added steel and specialty manufactured parts for the automotive industry. The combined company will be led by Chairman, President and CEO Lourenco Goncalves. It combines mining, pelletizing, direct-reduction, EAF steelmaking, BF/BOF steelmaking, highly technologically developed finishing mills and automated manufacturing of auto parts.

Jingye Group, a Chinese steelmaker, acquired British Steel’s facilities in the U.K. and the Netherlands, a move that will secure approximately 3,200 jobs. Jingye will invest approximately $1.5 billion in the business. Initiatives include: the development of an electric-arc furnace (EAF) in Teesside; the construction of a new 250-MW power plant to serve the Scunthorpe site; investment in the rolling mills to produce high-quality steel products; the construction of a new rebar line; and enhancing the current rail mill.

Saarstahl AG successfully commissioned a new five-strand billet caster at its steel plant in Völklingen, Germany. The caster, supplied by SMS Concast, a member of SMS group, is designed for a nominal annual production of 850,000 tons and the casting of 180-mm-square billets. According to SMS Concast, the casting machine at Saarstahl is the first caster in the world designed with mechanical soft reduction (MSR) technology for a billet cross section of 180 mm (7 inches) square. It produces billets in a wide range of steel grades, including bearing steel, spring steel, cold-heading and free-cutting steels.

The R10 series of fixed infrared sensors is designed for use in OEM equipment and industrial process control and monitoring applications. All models have a temperature range of 32-932°F (0-500˚C) and feature 4-20 mA output.

Protective coatings continue to play a major role in increasing productivity and reducing costs in hot forging and heat treatment. This paper presents details and successful case studies of three such protective coatings.

The first part of this article ran in the December 2019 issue. It gave an overview of a challenge facing forgers of microalloyed steels – controlled cooling!