Sterling Steel Co., LLC has ordered a new Danieli endless welding rolling (EWR) line for its 12-inch rod mill in Sterling, Ill.

The new EWR unit will allow Sterling to continuously produce wire rod through on-line automatic head-to-tail flash welding of billets at the delivery side of the reheat furnace. Continuous production will help Sterling improve plant productivity, efficiency, material yield and production costs.

The billet welding process is particularly beneficial in wire rod mills as it enables production of customized-weight coils, granting higher product marketability. Extra-heavy coils can be produced, even starting from relatively low billet weights.

The new EWR line will be designed for automatic continuous welding of 130- x130-mm, 11-meter long billets at rates of up to 100 tons per hour, for low-, medium- and high-carbon spring steels. Danieli’s scope of supply also includes a new shear to be installed at the existing coil reforming tub for dividing the endlessly-rolled wire rod into the desired coil weight.

Sterling Steel's billet welder is the 13th EWR unit Danieli has supplied since 1997, and the first to be installed in the USA. Startup of the new facilities is scheduled for the end of 2005.