Deutsche Edelstahlwerke has announced the opening of its secondary metallurgic centre in Witten, Germany, following three years of construction and a total cost of €50 million.
Martin Löwendick, chairman of the steelmaker’s board of management, said: “The special plant design enables quality improvement in all our product groups, such as ball bearing steel, duplex and super duplex grades for offshore applications, high-quality gear steel or plastic mould steel.” The site to can meet the individual requirements of customers, he noted.
AMB 2014
At the site, crude steel is treated to achieve the desired properties with the aid of added alloy components and various finishing treatments that improve quality. The new production line features a specially built, 35m-high hall with 2,800 square metres of floor space that houses all the secondary metallurgy units. The line features a new ladle furnace, a new alloy plant with 28 day-hoppers and automatic filling, a cleaning unit and a state-of-the-art vacuum treatment plant.
The company said the ladle furnace and vacuum plant are connected by a mobile tank wagon, which reduces ladle transport time from previously 20 minutes to roughly 90 seconds. “This makes the production process safer and much more energy efficient because the molten mass cannot cool off too much during this brief span,” it explained.
Another plus is an increase in occupational safety due to the reduction of transportation by crane and the automation of numerous operations at area with the open molten mass, the company added.
Source: etmm-online.com
