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Michigan Steel Processor Expanding Annealing Capabilties
01/08/2016 - U.S.-based steel processor HyCAL Corp. is expanding its annealing capacity, installing what it says is a first-of-its-kind continuous annealing (CA) line that uses hydrogen rather than water for strip cooling to produce ultra- and advanced high-strength steels.
In a statement, the company said work has begun on the project and expects to put the line into service late this year.
HyCAL said it is installing the line to serve producers and distributors that haven’t invested in continuous annealing technology, but want to sell high strength steels into “products-in-motion” markets, such as automotive.
“The new CA line provides customers the unique benefit of being able to test the size of specific markets, determine the best products and find the heat treat process that is most suitable for them—without the risk of investing in equipment,” it said.
The company said the new line will offer an improved prime yield, superior shape and a strip uniformity that has been difficult to achieve consistently with typical water quench lines.
“The new HyCAL Corp. line will provide 97% prime yield, a significant improvement compared to water quenched lines. Steel from the HyCAL Corp. hydrogen line will be dead flat and will not require post-anneal processing to correct shape problems that are associated with water quenched lines,” HyCAL said.
The line was developed and built by Austria’s EBNER, a leading manufacturer of heat treatment equipment.
“EBNER pioneered the use of hydrogen in batch annealing and is changing the game again with hydrogen quenching for continuous annealing,” HyCAL said. “No one else in the world has this technology and in North America, HyCAL Corp. will be the first to offer hydrogen continuous annealing for steel on a toll-processing basis.”
HyCAL, formerly Ferrolux-Gibraltar, is located in Gibraltar, Mich., USA, and is a unit of Ohio-based toll processor Ferragon Corp.
HyCAL said it is installing the line to serve producers and distributors that haven’t invested in continuous annealing technology, but want to sell high strength steels into “products-in-motion” markets, such as automotive.
“The new CA line provides customers the unique benefit of being able to test the size of specific markets, determine the best products and find the heat treat process that is most suitable for them—without the risk of investing in equipment,” it said.
The company said the new line will offer an improved prime yield, superior shape and a strip uniformity that has been difficult to achieve consistently with typical water quench lines.
“The new HyCAL Corp. line will provide 97% prime yield, a significant improvement compared to water quenched lines. Steel from the HyCAL Corp. hydrogen line will be dead flat and will not require post-anneal processing to correct shape problems that are associated with water quenched lines,” HyCAL said.
The line was developed and built by Austria’s EBNER, a leading manufacturer of heat treatment equipment.
“EBNER pioneered the use of hydrogen in batch annealing and is changing the game again with hydrogen quenching for continuous annealing,” HyCAL said. “No one else in the world has this technology and in North America, HyCAL Corp. will be the first to offer hydrogen continuous annealing for steel on a toll-processing basis.”
HyCAL, formerly Ferrolux-Gibraltar, is located in Gibraltar, Mich., USA, and is a unit of Ohio-based toll processor Ferragon Corp.
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