SMS Demag AG, Germany, has successfully commissioned the new stainless steel meltshop of the Chinese SBGC Shanghai No. 1 Iron & Steel Co. Ltd., P.R. China. Consortium leader SMS Demag was in charge of project planning and construction of the stainless steel production line as well of as a continuous caster.

The stainless steel production line comprises a hot-metal treatment facility, 120-tonne AC Electric Arc Furnace (EAF), 120/135-tonne AOD-L converter for refining, stainless steel VOD vacuum degasser, and single-strand slab caster. Annual slab production of these facilities will be 720,000 tonnes and comprise a wide range of ferritic and austenitic steel grades produced by the duplex or triplex process, depending on the grade and charge materials.

Charge materials for the new meltshop can include hot metal, stainless steel scrap, and liquid FeCr alloys, offering a high degree of flexibility in the process sequences and ensuring low production costs. To monitor and control the production process, an automation system is integrated which controls the metallurgical process models for the electric arc furnace, converter and degasser. The optimized process control reduces costs, boosts production and safeguards quality standards.

The new single-strand slab caster is designed to be identical with the existing single-strand carbon steel caster, which will be beneficial in terms of maintenance and spare-parts handling. The continuous casters will produce slabs with a thickness of up to 200 mm and widths ranging from 750 to 1,600 mm. All three continuous casters are vertical-bending type machines and feature plant and process control and automation systems. They include, for example, the compact-type resonance mold with a lifting module for optimized oscillation to improve the surface finish of the strand and dynamic soft reduction, a process designed to minimize segregation in the strand.

The new facilities will produce steel grades including AISE 304, AISE 304 L, AISE 316 and AISE 316 L (austenitic steel grades) as well as AISE 409, AISE 410, AISE 420 and AISE 430 (ferritic steel grades).

SMS Demag AG forms part of the Metallurgical Plant and Rolling Mill Technology Business Area of the SMS group, which is 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 2003 around 9,500 employees worldwide generated a turnover of around EUR 2.20 billon.