ADVANCES IN THE DESIGN OF MINI-MILLS WITH IN-FURNACE COILERS AT THE NOVOKRAMATORSK MACHINE PLANT

摘要

One of the progressive trends in machine design that received new impetus at the end of the last century was the creation of mini-mills with coilers installed in furnaces (Steckel mills). The most distinctive feature of such mills is that the strip temperature is maintained by performing the final rolling operation simultaneously with coiling and uncoiling of the strip on the drum of coilers located inside a furnace. Despite their relatively low productivity, these mills are profitable due to their lower capital and operating costs compared to continuous and semi-continuous hot-rolling mills. Two main designs have become predominant recently for mills with coilers in furnaces: the traditional scheme [1], in which the mill has one roughing stand and one finishing stand; a two-stand tandem mill [2] in which the same stands are used for both rough and finish rolling (Fig. 1.). The two-stand tandem mill has a significantly shorter production line than the traditional Steckel mill.