July 2006 — Société des Aciéries de Montereau (SAM) in Montereau, France, recently completed the modernization of its high-performance wire rod mill with the commissioning of a new Flexible Reduction and Sizing (FRS^®) block supplied by SMS Meer.

The wire rod mill modernization was carried out in two phases. Commissioning of the three new water cooling lines was carried out following the annual summer closure in August 2005, while the FRS block and pinch roll unit were commissioned after a short one-week standstill period in early 2006. SAM is now able to operate with higher rolling speeds and significantly increased mill availability, thanks to shortened changeover times.

The heart of the equipment supplied for the modernization was a four-stand sizing block in FRS design. On the FRS block, wire rod diameters from 5.5- to 16.0-mm smooth round and 6R to 16R rebars can be rolled with a maximum rolling speed of 110 meters per second.

SMS Meer’s scope of supply also included three new cooling lines: a stationary water cooling section upline of the block, a cooling line between the existing wire rod block and the new FRS block, and a third water cooling section downline of the new FRS block. In order to enable production of the whole size range without changing the cooling pipes or equalizing zones, the second and third water cooling sections are designed for shifting between two rolling lines. SMS Meer also supplied a Controlled Cooling Technology (CCT^®) system that serves for optimization, simple presetting and online control of the new water cooling lines.

A new pinch roll unit ensures the reliable transport through the loop laying head onto the loop cooling conveyor.

This FRS block is the seventh wire rod block Riva Acciaio SpA has ordered in succession from SMS Meer since 1999.

Société des Aciéries de Montereau is part of the Riva Acciaio SpA Group of Milan, Italy.

SMS Meer GmbH forms part of the Tube, Long Product and Forging Technology Business Area of the SMS group. 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 the Business Areas of Metallurgical Plant and Rolling Mill Technology, Tube, Long Product and Forging Technology and Plastics Technology. In the year 2004 some 9,500 employees worldwide generated a turnover of about EUR 2.20 billion.