ThyssenKrupp Acciai Speciali Terni SpA (TKAST), Italy, has placed an order with SMS Demag Innse SpA, Italy, for an inline skinpass mill and associated equipment. The mill will be installed at the exit side of the existing cold strip anneal and pickle line.

SMS Demag’s scope of supply comprises design, supervision of erection and commissioning of the mechanical equipment, including bridles and creep looper, ancillary equipment and hydraulic systems.

The four-high inline skinpass mill will handle annealed and pickled cold strip with incoming gauges from 0.3 to 3.0 mm and strip widths ranging between 800 and 1570 mm. The mill will be equipped with hydraulic positioning system, automatic passline adjustment system, and work-roll bending system. The mill will also feature roll cleaning devices and a quick-changing unit for work rolls. The mill will be capable of a maximum rolling force of 10,000 kN at a rolling speed of maximum 140 meters per minute, which allows strip elongations of up to two percent.

The mill will be used for processing special steel in AISI 400 (ferritic) and AISI 300 (austenitic) grades. The mill will also help to improve strip flatness and surface finish after the strip has run through the processing section of the annealing and pickling line.

Commissioning of the mill section is scheduled for March 2005.

SMS Demag Innse SpA forms part of the Metallurgical Plant and Rolling Mill Technology Business Area of the SMS group. The SMS group 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 9500 employees worldwide generated a turnover of around EUR 2.20 billion.