SMS said the line, to be installed at Nucor’s Gallatin sheet mill in Ghent, Ky., USA, will be designed to coat sheet in thicknesses of up to 6.35 mm and in widths of up to 1,854 mm. It also will have the capacity to coat 180 tons per hour, or about 500,000 tons annually. 

Nucor announced the project in May, saying that the new equipment will allow it to sell material into segments of the automotive market that it currently does not serve. The mill’s galvanized hot band could wind up in frames, control arms, supports and brackets, chief executive John Ferriola said during the company’s quarterly earning call on Thursday.  

SMS said the U-shaped line will include a turbulence pickling system, a high-power inductive heating system, an FOEN air-knife system and a Drever after-pot cooling system. A skinpass mill, a tension leveler and a horizontal roll coater system also will be installed.

SMS said the line will be capable of producing galvannealed strip. And, it said, the line’s U-shape allows for a  quick and easy bypass of the coating section in order to use the line as a continuous pickling line. 

Start-up is scheduled for 2019.