Fives, a manufacturer and industrial engineering group, has just signed off on an annealing and pickling line for hot-rolled stainless steel strips (HAPL) for steelmaker SWSS (South West Stainless Steel).
The annealing and pickling line has an annual capacity of 700,000 metric tons of hot-rolled stainless steel strips. With a capacity of 128 tons/hour, the furnace can heat stainless steel strips (from 2 to 6mm thick and from 900 to 1,350mm wide – Austenitics series 200 and 300) to 1,150 °C at process speeds of 80m/min. It combines a water cooling section with a soft cooling section to secure the cooling control and excellent strip flatness. The technologies in this section optimize and reduce the furnace’s energy consumption.
Fives also supplied the terminal equipment necessary for the smooth continuous strip running all along the line and specifically the mechanical equipment such as, pay-off reel, tension reel, shear, strip accumulators, scale breaker, as well as, the strip centering systems. These equipment stem from Fives’ substantial mechanical know-how and will contribute to the line’s performance in the long run.
The contract to supply the line was signed in October 2011 and the project was done over the span of 17 months, from signing the contract to the first coil. The line reached its 500t annealed and pickled coil in the second week of production. Currently, it is producing more than 2,700 coils per month.
