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By Wilian da Silva Labiapari

Austenitic stainless steels are widely known for their good weldability, excellent mechanical properties for deep drawing and superior corrosion resistance in environments where most of the metals fail. Their uses include many applications subjected to a combination of mechanical and corrosive wear, such as pumps, valves and surgical implants. Although their corrosion resistance has been largely investigated, their resistance to mechanical wear is less studied. In particular, their performance under conditions involving combined corrosive and mechanical wear is not well understood. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the effect of the mechanical component on the electrochemical signal of an anodic polarization curve. A test rig was developed to investigate micro-abrasion-corrosion using a fixed ball configuration. Tests were carried out using stainless steel AISI 304 samples and 25.4 mm zirconia balls as counter bodies. The electrolyte was a 1N H2SO4 solution with SiO2 as abrasive dispersed at the concentration of 10 wt%. The results showed an increase in current density when the counter face roughness and the normal load applied during the tests are increased, evidencing a mechanical influence on the surface activity of this material in a corrosive environment.

Jul 31, 2018

By Kenneth Holmnerg

About 100 million terajoule is used annually worldwide to overcome friction and that is one fifth of all energy produced. The largest quantities of energy are used by industry (29%) and in transportation (27%). Based on our recent studies on energy use in passenger cars, trucks and buses, we concluded that it is possible to save as much as 17.5% of the energy use in road transports in the short term (5-9 years) by effective implementation of new tribological solutions. This equals to annual energy savings of 11.6 exajoules, fuel savings of 330 billion liters and reduction in CO2 emission by 860 million tonnes. In a paper mill, 15-25% of the energy used is spent to overcome friction. The electrical energy used by a paper machine is distributed as 32% to overcome friction, 36% for the paper production and mass transportation, and 32% is other losses. In paper machines, 11% of the total energy used to overcome friction can be saved by the implementation of new tribological technologies. This would result in electrical energy savings worldwide of 130,000 terajoule, economic cost savings of 2 billion euros and CO2 emission reduction of 11 million tonnes annually. An overview of the total energy saving potential by improved tribology in transportation and industry is presented.

Jul 31, 2018

By Mark Gilliam

Control of true steel level in the tundish during casting is desired in order to maintain the correct pressure head and thus provide a stable flow to the mold. Also the control of tundish draining prevents slag carryover and can increase yield at each end of cast sequence. At Steel of West Virginia (part of the SDI Group), it was understood that to be able to measure the true steel running level and control the drain level at the end of casting would be a great benefit during production at their three strand billet caster. This paper sets out to show how an evaluation process was started to find the best method to determine steel level in the tundish and to prevent the steel level dropping low enough to allow slag to enter the mold. Also how the decision was taken and a real time molten steel measurement system was installed and by utilizing the resulting data in the process, how slag in the mold was removed as an issue, how lost production was reduced and how consistent steel level has provided constant casting speeds and improved stream integrity, all leading to realized quality improvements. Other areas discussed within the paper will be the training of operational staff, the difficulties to be overcome when first installing new equipment and how these teething problems were cured by close co-operation between the steel plant and the equipment suppliers. In conclusion the paper will discuss the production improvements achieved, production cost savings at the plant and how the generated data was integrated into the plants process control system.

Aug 16, 2017

By Baoliang Xiao, Hui Pan, Yajun Hui, Kun Liu

The microstructure, properties, strengthening mechanism and work hardening mechanism of 600MPa grade high ductility hot-rolled sheet steel for automotive square tube were investigated by utilizing optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The results show that the microstructures of low C-low Mn-Nb and Ti microalloyed steel (Steel A) and high C-high Mn-Nb microalloyed steel (Steel B) are composed of ferrite and a small amount of pearlite. Compared with steel B, the size of ferrite and pearlite of steel A is finer, while the size of the second phase precipitates is larger. The mechanical properties of the two tested steels are similar before tube forming, except that the yield ratio of steel A is higher. Steel A has/exhibits significant work hardening after tube forming; the yield strength and tensile strength increase by 45 MPa and 26 MPa, respectively, while the elongation decrease by 6.0 percent. The yield strength and tensile strength of steel B increase by 22 MPa and 10 MPa, respectively, and the elongation decrease by 4.0 percent. The grain refinement strengthening is the dominant strengthening mechanism, accounting for 52.9 to 61.8 percent of the total yield strength; the solid solution strengthening is the second strengthening mechanism, accounting for 17.2 to 25.3 percent, while the precipitation strengthening and dislocation strengthening contribute little to the yield strength. The dislocation strengthening increase by 82 MPa of steel A after tube forming, which is higher than that of steel B. Therefore, steel B has a low work hardening rate that is more suitable for manufacturing automotive square tube for secondary tube forming.

Oct 1, 2019

By Cameron Soltys, Hamid Ghorbani, Maher Al-Dojayli

Cooling staves in blast furnaces are used to minimize the process heat loads on steel shell and refractory system. Copper staves are exposed to significant fluctuating thermal loads which may lead to premature stave failures due to cracks, water leakage, bending, abrasion and resultant wear. In this paper, an assessment methodology is presented to evaluate the effect of thermal cycling on copper staves including bending, fatigue and thermal ratcheting. This approach incorporates temperature-dependent copper properties including creep and plasticity to more accurately capture inelastic deformations, damage and fatigue in staves under transient and cyclic thermal loading conditions. Root cause failure assessment and improvements to copper stave design can be assessed using the presented methodology.

Oct 1, 2019

By John Malcolm Gray

Interest in X-80 linepipe steels emerged in the early 1980’s and it was first used in 1985 by Ruhr Gas [1]. The early steels were extensions of conventional Nb-V or Nb-Mo microalloyed X-70 steels but other alloying concepts emerged based on Nb-Mo-B alloying (NKSTAF [2] and ULCB [3]). The latter had acicular ferrite/bainitic microstructures and carbon contents below 0.05 percent. In parallel renewed interest developed in ultra low carbon (0.02 percent) higher niobium steels which had first been studied in 1962 [4]. Such steels exhibited excellent notch toughness when processed with high finish rolling temperatures (>950°C) which made them suitable for processing on weak, older rolling mills. With time such steels, designated “High Temperature Processed”, or HTP steels, were further optimized and produced in modern, very strong rolling mills due to their superior economy compared with traditional vanadium and molybdenum containing steels. The chronology of the HTP development is presented in the present paper. Full scale demonstration heats of a 0.06 percent carbon 0.10 percent niobium steel were produced by Bofors Steel Plant in 1972 and were converted from slabs to plates by nine different steel mills [5-7]. Commercial application in API Grade X-70 first occurred in Canada in 1974 [8,9] but the concept was only used sporadically after that until 1998 when it was applied for the API Grade X-70 Sour Service Cantarell Project [10] in Mexico. Soon thereafter, the El Paso Cheyenne Plains Project used a 0.05%C 0.095%Nb 0.27%Cr variant of the HTP steel [10-12]. Nowadays the HTP concept is being utilized for construction of approximately 6000 km of 48” OD x 18.4 mm X-80 per year in China. The metallurgical principles and history of the development are presented in details in this paper.

Aug 7, 2018

By Johann-Paul Stemplinger

For lubrication of open gear drives applied in rotary furnaces, often gear greases are used as well as for lubrication of gear boxes in difficult sealing conditions. The selection of the gear grease influences strongly the wear behavior. Investigations with flow greases NLGI 00 were made in a back-to-back test rig determining the weight loss due to wear acc. to the standardised procedure ISO 14635 part 3. Different influences like base oil viscosity, thickener type and additional solid lubricant type were analysed. Only the type and amount of solid lubricant shows a significant influence on the weight loss due to wear. Finally, a linear wear coefficient clT according to the calculation method of the wear amount according to Plewe is derived and can be used to transfer the test results to any gears in practice.

Jul 31, 2018

By Luiz Henrique Accorsi Gans

First, this works carries an experimental evaluation for austempered ductile iron (ADI) as a gear material. And second, in order to provide a better understanding of the microstructural effect on the stress state of subsurface regions, a finite element method approach was considered using the submodeling tool in ANSYS 11.0. For this, ADI gears were produced from continuous cast iron bars, heat and thermochemical treated and tested in FZG test rig. The results were compared to those of carburized steel AISI 8620 and induction hardened steel AISI 4140 gears. The wear experiments were performed at the temperature of 90ºC with two torque stages: 135 N.m (running-in) and 302 N.m (steady-state). The time for pitting and spalling on the gears surfaces were measured using image analysis. The results showed a very good potential of using ADI for manufacturing gears, replacing induction hardened steels. Also, the ADI gear with smaller nodules showed higher life for pitting. In contact fatigue tests with severe load, the carburized AISI 8620 steel proved more adequate than the austempered ductile iron, showing that the mechanical properties are critical in the resistance to damage in gear contact. The austempered ductile iron with smaller nodule size showed to be very competitive with wear resistance similar to AISI 4140 steel induction hardened. With ANSYS, it was verified that the nodule size affects the gears life independently of the mechanical properties of the matrix. The results showed that the nodules indicate the presence of a concentration stress, but their size doesn’t affect the contact fatigue life as much as the total amount of nodules, regardless of the ductile iron microstructure. The size and number of nodules affects both the nucleation and the propagation stage of cracks. ADIs with higher amount of nodules have a greater wear resistance. Also, compared to the Hertz contact theory (isotropic material), the presence of graphite nodules indicates a non-isotropic material and made the maximum shear stress point moves toward the surface.

Jul 31, 2018

By Patrik Bloemer

Reliable and accurate furnace bath level data during the melting process is invaluable for good decision making and furnace optimization, while obtaining such information rapidly and safely on a regular basis is of paramount importance. This paper shows how a melting process problem was identified as a concern, how a solution was sought and how a real-time measurement system was tested by simple modification to an existing temperature sampling manipulator. Also how, with furnace power on or off, taking reliable hot heel, fill and running levels could be used to assist melting control, aid decision making and improve safety.

Jul 30, 2018

By Pedro Cunha Alves, Wagner Viana Bielefeldt, Vinicius Cardoso da Rocha, Augusto Lachini Pereira, Julio Aníbal Morales Pereira

The capacity of steelmaking slags (CaO-SiO2-Al2O3-MgO) on inclusion removal from liquid steel was investigated through experimental conditions. Laboratory experiments with slag and steel samples (with inclusion population known) were performed using a vertical electric resistance furnace at 1600 ºC. After the melting experiments, slag and steel samples were separated and analyzed regarding their chemical composition and inclusion population evolution. The capacity of slags on inclusion removal was evaluated based on the thermodynamics (solid and liquid phases proportion, phase composition and effective viscosity of slags) calculated using the FactSageTM 7.2. Results indicated that changes in the composition of slags (regarding CaO/SiO2 e Al2O3) presented effects on the steel cleanliness. The total inclusion density decreased in all steel samples and the removal of inclusions by slags shows a tendency to improve as their viscosity decreases (< 0.23 Pa.s).

Oct 1, 2019

By Antonio Favia, Carsten Sowa, Spencer Diehl, Maria Carolina Campos, Christian Green, Marco Tulio, Olaf Schulz

Casting fluxes are one of the key factors to guarantee a good performance of the continuous casting process. Fluxes are added over the liquid steel in the mold, where carbon in the flux reacts with any air present, to form a reducing atmosphere of CO (g) to protect molten steel from oxidation. Then the oxide components form the sintered layer and they melt to form a liquid flux pool. Liquid slag from the pool infiltrates into the mold/strand channel and lubricates the newly-formed, steel shell. It was very common in the past that the addition of casting flux in the mold was made manually by the continuous casting strand operator, where the addition uniformity would mainly depend on the attention of the Operator in process and the addition standard would change from one operator to another, may causing variability on the continuous casting quality parameters. This paper presents improvement of continuous casting parameters such as, stability of flux thickness and reduction of dust in the continuous casting process, with the use of flux distribution mechanism in two continuous casting machines from two different steel plants.

Oct 1, 2019

By Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional - CSN

Balan&ccedil;o Energ&eacute;tico Global 2013

Jul 31, 2018

By Anderson Pereira

SORM 3plus (SORM = Superfast Optical Roughness Measurement) is a system enabling online measurement of roughness parameters during continuous strip processing. Increased requirements for new materials and more complex components call for ever increasing process safety. The roughness parameters are important quality features of uncoated and surface refined strips. The traditional method of measurement involves using a mechanical stylus based instrument. For this purpose the operator must stop the production line or samples are taken from the end of the coil and measurements are made offline in the lab. SORM 3plus, however, is a non-contact, online surface roughness measurement system that can be used for metallic and many non-metallic surfaces at strip speeds of up to 2400 m/min. The surface roughness data are stored in the system computer, displayed to the operator and if needed are fed into a higher-level network. The operator is alerted, if the limited values preset by him are exceeded or if any changes within the line will put at risk the production process. SORM 3plus calculates the roughness parameters as defined in the standards, such as the arithmetic average roughness (Ra) and the peak count (RPc).

Oct 8, 2019

By Gajraj Rathore

With the advent of modern HRM ( Hot rolling mills) with capacities beyond 5 Million tons with corresponding enriched CRM (Cold Rolling Mill) capacities, the throughput per hour exceeds invariably beyond 50 coils per hour making it possible to manage, track, handle, transport, store and dispatch inevitably with an automation system supplemented by corresponding software and hardware. This is true with respect to the production of Cold rolled Annealed, Galvanized, Continuously Annealed, Galvalume, CRGO, CRNGO and Colour coated coils which need total care in handling, tracking and dispatch. Understanding the above needs precisely JSW, Vijayanagar, India, has rightly gone in for a total automatic Yard management system and ASRS wherein the coils are handled as much as possible automatically in cradles without any damage insuring the receipt of coils to the customer as was produced. This CRM 2 has been commissioned and is operating with maximum automation with least manpower and max productivity with assured quality and safety. Pesmel OY Finland had the opportunity to Design, Supply and Commission this system which is first in the country and this technical paper analyses the above project as a case study enlisting the sound technical aspects as well as emphasis on the techno economics with assured ROI (Return on investment) and enhanced efficiency.

Aug 16, 2017

By Michel Fillon

Hydrostatic assistance is a commonly used method to improve limited load carrying ability of tilting-pad thrust bearings during transient states of operation of the vertical shaft hydro-generators. Despite of special hydraulic equipment (as pumps, valves etc.), it also requires manufacturing of special recesses/pockets at the pad sliding surfaces, into which oil is injected under high pressure. It allows to lift the rotor before start-up of the machine and form a hydrostatic film between the pads and the collar. There is a quite wide variety of geometry of recesses (shape, depth, size) met in practical large bearing applications. The presence of a hydrostatic pocket (usually located in the sliding surface above the pivot area, where thin film, high oil pressure and temperature are observed) affects bearing performance under hydrodynamic operation. In theoretical researches, there is an almost common practice not to include hydrostatic recess in THD or TEHD analysis. This is probably due to the problems with obtaining solution for oil film geometry with pocket, with pocket depths order of magnitude larger than gap thickness. In this paper, an attempt was taken to study the effect of the lifting pocket on THD performance of a large tilting-pad thrust bearing of ltaipu power plant. Bearing performance was evaluated including recess shape for several cases of its depth. The results show, that hydrostatic recess changes calculated bearing properties quite significantly, especially in the vicinity of the pocket.

Jul 31, 2018

By Saul Garcia Hernandez

The research work objective is to study a new ladle shroud internal design to reduce the slag emulsification in the tundish during ladle transient periods. A 3D mathematical model of the tundish was created to solve the fundamental equations, a turbulence model, and a multiphase model. The results show that using a conventional ladle shroud, the fluid is delivered with an excessive amount of kinetic energy being dissipated inside the tundish bath, generating strong mixing flow patterns and entrapping a massive amount of slag. In the other hand, the proposed ladle shroud dissipates the kinetic energy before the fluid enters the tundish promoting less intense mixing patterns; thus, the amount of slag emulsification is reduced significantly. Consequently, if the internal design of the ladle shroud is able to dissipate the kinetic energy before the fluid enters the tundish, it shall be possible to reduce considerable the slag emulsification and the slag opening area.

Aug 17, 2017

By Ronaldo Câmara Cozza

Iron aluminide alloy; Ball-cratering wear testing; Rolling abrasion; Wear volume; Coefficient of friction

Jul 31, 2018

By Steven G. Jansto

Nearly one third of the globally produced structural flat and long structural products are in the 0.11 to 0.16% carbon range. By definition, numerous steelmakers globally define this approximate carbon range as peritectic in their melting grade family within their organization. The metallurgical consequence is the result of numerous global structural specifications which allow carbon to wide carbon ranges resulting in quality issues. For example, such specifications as ASTM A588 set no minimum carbon and a 0.15 to 0.19%C maximum depending on the specific grade designated within the specification. This peritectic region is specifically challenging in production compared to less than 0.10%C because of solidification issues and a higher propensity for slab or billet cracking during continuous casting. During hot rolling, rejects and/or deviates are increased as well. The relative steelmaking operational cost of production is compared between peritectic and non-peritectic carbon compositions for a given specification.

Aug 17, 2017

By Andrea Codutti, Gianni Tiussi, Andrea Tonnicchi, Morris Codarin

Essar Algoma Steel, Canada, awarded Danieli Transimissions a strategic order for the upgrade of the main drive spindles belonging to the most loaded stands of the Hot Strip Mill, F1-F2, F5 and F6. Featuring special heavy duty design and advanced torque monitoring system, these spindles replace existing competitors’ grease lubricated design with the efficient continuous oil lubricated solution to withstand the tough working conditions, increase life expectations and provide room for a product mix extension. The first couple of spindles have been installed in September 2017 by the expert Service team and are showing already good and reliable performance. Progressively all the others are being installed.

Oct 1, 2019

By Uwe König

Traditionally quality control of iron ore sinter, its raw materials and raw mixtures has relied on time-consuming wet chemistry. The mineralogical composition that defines the properties is often not monitored. XRD analysis in combination with Rietveld quantification and statistical data evaluation using Partial Least-Square Regression (PLSR) has been successfully established to determine the mineralogical composition and process parameters such as the FeO (Fe2+) content and basicity of iron sinter within an analysis time of less than 8 minutes per sample. Both methods take the full XRD pattern into account and can be simultaneously applied on the same measurement. In addition the Rietveld method was used to quantify the phase content of raw mixtures to monitor the composition of blending beds.

Aug 16, 2017