Stomana Industry SA, Bulgaria, will install a new Danieli bar mill at its Pernik steel works, with the aim of expanding production capacity and improving product quality.

Fed by a 120-tph Danieli Centro Combustion walking beam reheating furnace, the mill will be composed of 18 SHS stands with quick changing facilities, QTB system for on-line quenching of rebars, and a rake-type cooling bed and associated finishing facilities for straight bars. Danieli Automation will supply the advanced automation system and electrics.

Initially, the mill will produce 400,000 tonnes/year of 16- to 120-mm quality plain rounds and 8- to 40-mm deformed bars. Four-strand slit-rolling technology will be utilized for the smaller rebar sizes. Steel grades will range from low and medium carbon to cold-heading and free-cutting steel qualities.

In future the mill will be upgraded and completed to increase productivity and extend the mill’s production range to include sections, bar-in-coils, wire rod and larger-size round bars of up to 180-mm diameter.

The new mill will be fed with billets and blooms up to 250x300 mm coming from the 150 tonne/hour, four-strand FastCast Danieli conticaster, which has been in operation at the same works since 2002. Startup of the new mill is scheduled by the end of 2006.

Stomana Industry SA, the leading steel manufacturer in Bulgaria, is part of the Greek group Sidenor.