The Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK), Russia, has commissioned SMS Demag, Germany, to supply a continuous caster and a heavy plate mill with electrical and automation systems.

The order covers the entire process line for plate production, with two walking beam furnaces, the mill stand, plate cooling, hot leveler, cooling and inspection bed, shear line, finishing line with cold leveler and heat treatment facilities.

The continuous caster will be designed for the production of 300-mm thick slabs and a maximum casting width of 2700 mm. With a normal casting speed of 2.0 meters/minute, the caster’s width can be varied during the course of operation. Resonance oscillation with variable oscillation frequency, stroke length and curve shape will help to guarantee a continuously good slab surface.

The new plant will also be equipped with a mold monitoring system, hydraulically adjusted Cyberlink^® segments and an air-mist cooling system. SMS Demag will also provide such technology packages as a breakout prediction system, dynamic soft reduction, and the dynamic cooling mode to help ensure reliable production of high-quality slabs, and make the caster highly efficient and flexible.

The new heavy plate mill will produce plates in widths of up to 4800 mm. The planned annual capacity of the plant is around 1.5 million tonnes. Production will focus on pipe grades (up to X120) as the starting material for large-diameter pipes in the gas and oil sector. Other areas of application will include bridge construction and ship-building as well as heavy mechanical engineering.

The mill stand, which will be one the world's most powerful mill stands with a rolling force of 120 mN, will also be the first in Russia to employ the SMS-developed CVC plus^® system. Plate cooling is implemented by combining a pre-leveler, the newly developed inline roll-spray cooling system and the laminar-flow cooling system. The crop shear and the dividing shear are of closed design in order to ensure a clean cutting edge even for extremely high-strength plates. The cold leveler can be operated in the nine-roll or five-roll mode with an extended leveling range.

SMS Demag’s scope of supply for both plants includes the entire electrical equipment, drive technology and all automation systems. The complete automation is being prepared and made operational with the aid of the proven Plug & Work procedure, which simulates the production sequence and enables the automation functions to be tested and optimized under realistic conditions prior to installation in the works.

Commissioning of the plants is scheduled for mid-2009.

SMS GmbH is the holding for a group of companies internationally active in plant construction and mechanical engineering relating to the processing of steel, non-ferrous metals and plastics. The group is divided into SMS metallurgy, which includes the Business Areas SMS Demag and SMS Meer, and into the Business Area SMS Plastics Technology. In the year 2005 some 9,250 employees worldwide generated a turnover of about EUR 2.33 billion.