March 2007 — Danieli Centro Maskin will provide billet conditioning and cold processing facilities for a new 550,000-tonne/year minimill plant being constructed for Ural Mining and Metallurgical Co. (UMMC), Russia. UMMC had previously contracted Danieli for turnkey supply of the new greenfield facility for special steel long products.

UMMC will use the new facility to process cold-finished products for the automotive industry. To help minimize substandard quality products after rolling, Danieli Centro Maskin will install a billet inspection and conditioning line. Final product quality will be certified on one of two bar inspection lines, and bright bars will be produced on a peeling and reeling line.

The billet-inspection area will be made up of a shot blasting machine and a magnetic NDT system for surface checking and defect marking. Danieli Centro Maskin will also supply two grinding machines for conditioning of 30- to 160-mm thick, 6 to 12-m long engineering-grade and stainless billets.

The bar-inspection line No. 1 will process 10- to 42-mm diameter round bars, and bar inspection line No. 2 will process corresponding hexagonal and square bars, in 6- to 12-m lengths, with a maximum yield strength of 1100 N/mm2, at speeds of up to 120 meters/minute. The lines will comprise a straightening machine, chamfering/facing station, and an NDT system for bar size, surface and internal defects control. The two lines will grant bar straightness down to 0.5 mm/meter and 1 mm/meter, respectively. Conditioning facilities located at the NDT system's exit side will enable bar repair (where possible), to maximize the overall plant yield.

Bright bar production will be performed by a peeling and reeling line for round bars. The line will grant bar dimensional tolerances down to H8/H7, and straightness of 0.5 mm/meter, as well as good surface quality with an Rmax down to 0.5 µm. A surface-defects NDT system will complete the line, for total certification of final product quality.

Startup of the new UMMC minimill is scheduled for the end of 2008.