The Chinese Lianzhong Steel Corp. (LISCO) has placed an order for two new 20-high reversing cold rolling mills with SMS Demag AG, Germany.

Scope of supply comprises design and manufacture of the mechanical and electrical equipment as well as supervision of erection and commissioning. The order will be executed by a consortium led by SMS Demag AG.

The new rolling mills will process hot rolled 300 and 400 series stainless steel strip (annealed and pickled). The mills will be capable of producing surface qualities in classes 2B and 3D.

One of the two new stands will be a MonoBlock stand MB 21BB-63”, which will roll strips up to 1600 mm wide from a maximum incoming thickness of 6 mm. The other new stand, a SplitBlock stand SB 22-52”, will roll strips up to 1300 mm wide from a maximum incoming thickness of 6 mm. The final thickness to be achieved on these stands will be 0.3 mm and 0.15 mm, respectively.

A total of 16,000 kW main drive power will be installed on the wide MB mill stand and 12,700 kW on the SB mill stand for a maximum rolling speed of 700 meters per minute.

The two new installations constitute the core equipment of LISCO’s expansion project and will produce a large share of the company’s annual stainless steel strip.

SMS Demag AG 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.