ThyssenKrupp Acciai Speciali in Terni, Italy, has placed an order with SMS Demag AG, Germany, for the supply of a seventh 20-roll cold rolling mill for the manufacture of stainless steel strip.

SMS Demag’s scope of supply includes a 20-roll monoblock-design mill stand, two reversing coilers (500 kN maximum strip tension) and an uncoiling station. The scope covers design, manufacture, installation and commissioning of the mechanical components, including auxiliary facilities such as the hydraulic, rolling oil, fire extinguishing and fume exhaust systems.

The 20-roll mill stand is designed for a maximum roll force of 7,850 kN and a maximum rolling speed of 800 meters/minute. The mill will produce AISI 400 (ferritic) and AISI 300 (austenitic) stainless steel strip with high surface qualities.

The installed drive power amounts to a total of 12,600 kW. The mill rolls annealed and pickled hot strip with input gauges of up to 6.3 mm and strip widths ranging from 650 to 1,370 mm down to final gauges of up to 0.2 mm. The mill is rated for an annual capacity of approximately 100,000 tonnes.

SMS Demag has planned to conduct extensive pre-assembly in the SMS Demag shop in Hilchenbach to help shorten the commissioning and startup curves. The modular mill design will also help to ensure high product quality.

The first strip is scheduled to be rolled on the new mill as early as December 2006.

SMS Demag AG forms part of the Metallurgical Plant and Rolling Mill 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.