German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp's subsidiary Acciai Speciali Terni in Italy has started to use innovative ‘S-6-high' rolling technology integrated on strip processing lines, which is in use at only a handful of stainless steel mills worldwide, a ThyssenKrupp release said.
Following installation at the beginning of the year and completion of the ramp-up phase, the new two-stand rolling mill is now running at full capacity.
The particular advantage of this method is that it combines several processing steps, such as tandem cold rolling, hot strip annealing and pickling, in the stainless steel production process and thus increases efficiency. In this way, ThyssenKrupp Acciai Speciali Terni has not only significantly consolidated the production process and boosted efficiency, it can now also market a product whose microstructure, mechanical properties and geometric tolerances are virtually the equal of a standard cold rolled strip.
Hot strip can also be produced in a greater range of sizes and the process chain for cold strip is shortened considerably through the combined rolling and annealing of hot strip.