EP1318876A1

EP1318876A1 - Method and installation for producing metal strips and sheets

Info

Publication number: EP1318876A1
Application number: EP01965207A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Jürgen Seidel; Günter KNEPPE; Joachim Hafer
Original assignee: SMS Demag AG
Current assignee: SMS Siemag AG
Priority date: 2000-09-22
Filing date: 2001-08-23
Publication date: 2003-06-18
Anticipated expiration: 2021-08-23
Also published as: US20040025320A1; UA74596C2; JP2004508933A; TW561080B; KR100807310B1; ZA200301559B; CA2423097C; DE50104324D1; KR20030038759A; CA2423097A1; CN1222371C; CN1466495A; ES2228943T3; EP1318876B1; ATE280642T1; AU2001285899A1; US7143499B2; RU2271256C2; DE10047044A1; WO2002024355A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for producing metal strips and sheets involving the following method steps: pouring a strand, which is provided in the form ( 1 ) of thin slabs and which is comprised of carbon steel or special steel, into a casting machine ( 4 ) and rolling the cast product away from the casting heat. The aim of the invention is to utilize free capacities of existing installations, that is, installations not operating at full capacity, with which primary carbon steels are produced, in order to supplement other types of steel or to supplement cast products produced in another manner. To this end, the invention provides that, together with these first cast products ( 1 ), at least second cast products ( 2 ), which are produced in a second process route (II) from special steel if the first thin slabs are cast from carbon steel or are produced from carbon steel if the first thin slabs are cast from special steel, are rolled within a joint rolling program.

Description

Process and plant for producing steel strips and sheets

The invention relates to a method for producing strips and sheets of steel with the process steps of casting a strand in thin slab format from a carbon steel or a stainless steel in a casting machine, guiding the cast products through a compensating furnace to achieve a uniform temperature, rolling the cast products in a rolling train, Cooling of the rolled product on an outfeed roller table and winding of the rolled product on a winding device. In addition, the invention relates to a plant for performing the method.

In this context, thin slabs are understood to mean cast products with a thickness between 30-130, in particular between 40-60 mm. EP 0 808 672 A1 discloses a method and a plant for producing stainless steel or carbon steel sheet from thin slabs produced by continuous casting. Here, a thin slab strand of 40-100 mm thickness, either cast from a stainless steel melt or from a carbon steel melt, is divided into sections, the individual thin slabs are conveyed through a heating line and then rolled continuously.

In Stahl und Eisen 115 (1995) No. 9 pp. 89-99, results of various types of steel are described on the basis of their processing by the generic method, which is also known as "CSP" technology, which also includes the direct use of stainless steels, how to include the material group of a stainless steel with C <= 0.10% and Cr> = 13% and how the material group of a stainless steel with C <= 0.10% and Cr> = 17%.

The present invention is based on the object of further developing a generic method and a generic system. none that the production of strips and sheets made of stainless steel becomes more economical.

According to the method, this object is achieved in that, together with the first cast products produced in a first process route, at least in a second process route, second cast products made of stainless steel, when the first cast products are cast from carbon steel, or from carbon steel, when the first cast products are cast from stainless steel are rolled within a common rolling program. The core of the invention is accordingly to integrate products of both steel types in a common rolling mill on a generic plant and to roll them within a common rolling program. The term rolling program is generally understood to mean the predetermined sequence of slabs to be rolled in the period between two roll changes.

According to the invention, an optimal utilization of a plant is achieved, which would not be fully utilized if only stainless steel sheets were produced, which are produced in small quantities compared to carbon steels. In addition, the greater variability of a plant on which carbon steels are produced is increased by additional rolling of stainless steels. In principle, the invention is not limited to a rolling program for cast products from the two types of steel; It is also conceivable to roll additional types of steel in a rolling program, but carbon steels and stainless steels are always rolled together. The suggestion of rolling in a joint rolling program makes it possible to process two very different types of steel, regardless of the throughput of a line or the amount of steel produced.

The term stainless steel is basically defined in EN 10 020. A distinction is made between unalloyed and alloyed stainless steels. The stainless steels according to the invention are, for example, roller bearing steels,

Tool steels, heat-resistant steels and high-grade structural steels. In particular are below This term is used to describe higher-alloy steels with alloy elements and quantities that stabilize the austenite structure at lower temperatures, including in particular the high-alloy austenitic CrNi steels.

In order to avoid loss of quality in the finished product, the rolling mill is adapted to the material to be processed during the rolling program. This preferably means that the rolling train is already being prepared for the subsequent material to be processed in the rolling program while the previous one is still being processed. This means in particular that the negative effects due to the stainless steel rolling on the surfaces of the work rolls, which usually have an effect on rough surfaces and which have a disruptive effect on the subsequent rolling of the carbon steels, have already been eliminated in operation or online. The negative effects resulting from the carbon steel rolling in the form of a larger amount of loose scale, which would press into the surface of the subsequent stainless steel product, are removed analogously in operation or online when the carbon steels are rolled. In this way, the rolling mill is optimally prepared for the subsequent rolled product.

As an alternative or in addition, the preparation of the rolling train for the respective subsequent strip also takes place during the rolling break between the rolling process of two strips.

It is preferably proposed that within the common rolling program, the first cast products in thin slab format or groups of these and the second cast products or groups of second cast products are rolled alternately. The term change allows an irregular or regular change between slabs of one and the other type of steel. A uniform change, as preferably proposed in claim 5, and thus a uniform sequence of the relatively softer carbon steel grades with harder stainless steel grades creates a lower average Load on the drives of the work rolls, whereby a high load is immediately compensated for by a lower load.

The second cast products rolled together with the thin slabs of the first process route in a rolling program can either be thin slabs themselves or so-called conventionally cast slabs that run into the common rolling mill after pre-rolling. In the case of thin slabs, which are cast and cut in a second, parallel, process route to the first process route, these are preferably fed via a possibly second equalizing furnace and a ferry into a common equalizing furnace and then into the rolling mill. In the case of conventionally produced slabs, i.e. Cast products with casting thicknesses of up to 250 mm are pre-rolled on a conventional hot wide strip mill in the reversing stand. The then cooled slabs are reheated from the cold state in a slab furnace after being transported to the installation in which the first process route takes place, and are integrated via a ferry into the compensation furnace of the first process route or the rolling mill in the sequence specified according to the rolling program. In principle, it is also conceivable that a pre-rolled slab is transported directly without cooling, so that it can then be integrated into the common rolling program. Homogenization of the temperature before integration is useful.

This invention is not limited to the described possibilities for the incorporation of thin slabs or conventionally continuously cast pre-rolled slabs; the incorporation of any cast product, for example produced by strip casting, is conceivable, although the preliminary products produced in this way already have small initial thicknesses.

According to the device, it is proposed to use a generic system with an integration unit for introducing at least second cast products

Stainless steel, when the first cast products from the first process line made of carbon lenstahlstahl are cast, or to insert at least second cast products made of carbon steel, if the cast products from the first process line are cast from stainless steel, to equip and with a rolling mill for a combined rolling program for cast products made of carbon steel and stainless steel and preferably with means for preparing the rolling mill for the subsequent rolled product of the other steel grade.

According to a preferred embodiment for the means for preparing the rolling train, a grinding and / or polishing device for the work rolls of at least one roll stand is provided for this purpose, which counteracts a rough roll surface during the rolling of the stainless steel products and / or during the pause between rolls. These are preferably arranged on all inlet stands, for example in the form of grinding devices which press against a work roll, on all roll stands of the rolling train. At the same time, the rolling mill has a rinsing device which works in particular or to a greater extent during the rolling of the carbon steel products and / or in the subsequent rolling break and frees the rolling mill from the loose scale of the carbon steels. In claims 15 and 16 further devices are proposed, which are provided alone or additionally in the rolling mill in order to obtain good surface qualities despite the rolling of two types of steel with different rolling properties and negative effects on the rolling mill and thus on the surface properties of the subsequent products. Alternatively or additionally, the use of particularly wear-resistant rollers is provided. In particular, rolls are proposed which have been produced by powder metallurgy using the HIP process, as well as rolls made from high-speed steels.

Further details and advantages of the invention emerge from the subclaims and from the following description, in which the embodiments of the invention illustrated in the figures are explained in more detail. In addition to the combinations of features listed above, features alone or in other combinations are also essential to the invention. Show it: 1 schematically shows a plant for casting and rolling thin slabs with two casting strands and a common rolling train according to a first embodiment;

2 shows in diagram form the type and sequence of a rolling program;

3 schematically shows a plant for casting and rolling thin slabs with a casting strand for thin slabs and a process route for a conventionally cast product according to a second embodiment;

4 schematically shows a plant for casting and rolling thin slabs with two casting strands and a common rolling train according to a third embodiment;

1 shows a system with two casting strands or two casting products 1, 2, the first process route I comprising a rolling mill 3 with a casting machine 4 arranged upstream. The first casting machine 4 has a distributor 5 and a funnel-shaped thin slab casting mold (shown here schematically larger) for the casting of thin slabs 40-100 mm thick. In this example, the casting machine 4 itself is fed with stainless steel melt from pans 7, the steel melt being produced, for example, by means of a blast furnace converter route (denoted by 8) or by means of an electric steel furnace with downstream secondary metallurgy and being transported to the casting machine in the pans 7 (the transport step is labeled 9).

The cast product in the form of the cast strand is bent from the vertical into the horizontal via rollers 10a, b and, in this embodiment, is separated by means of a first cross-cutting shear 11. The individual thin slabs then run into a first compensation furnace 12, for example a roller hearth furnace or walking beam furnace, in order to achieve a uniform thin slab temperature. Then, after passing through a descaling device 13, the thin slabs are conveyed into the rolling mill in order to achieve the desired final dimension. The finishing mill 14 of the rolling mill here consists of six rolling stands (15a by way of example), each with two working (16a, b) and backup rolls (17a, b). This is followed by an outfeed roller table 18 with cooling devices 19 and a reel 20 for winding the strip into the coil.

The system according to FIG. 1 shows a second cast product as cast strand 2 made of carbon steel in a second, parallel process route II. This process route consists exclusively of the compensating furnace 21 from the same structural units as the process route I described above, which is therefore not discussed in detail. The first process route, as an integration unit for the thin slabs from the second process route II, comprises a ferry 22 which can be inserted transversely into a section 22a of the first compensation furnace 12 which can be moved to the other side.

According to the invention, a common rolling program is run in the rolling mill 3, an example of such a rolling program being shown in FIG. 2. The respective steel grade is plotted on the number of strips. In this example, after changing the work rolls, the rolling program begins with the rolling of a stainless steel cast product, followed by a cast product made of carbon steel etc. The sixth to eighth slabs are then made of carbon steel, the 12th to 16th as a group made of stainless steel. Figure 2 serves only as an example of a possible common rolling program.

The stainless steel rolling results in rougher roll surfaces that would have a disruptive effect on the subsequent rolling of carbon steel, such as, for example, by rolling in scale and rougher strip surfaces. The rolling mill therefore has grinding and / or polishing machines which are arranged on each of the roll stands. An example of such a device, which acts on the upper and lower work roll, is identified by 23. In addition, an edge heater 24 is provided is arranged in front of the descaling device 13. For example, it is an induction heater or gas-fired heater.

Devices for lubricating the roll gap to reduce the friction between the work rolls are also provided, shown here by way of example at 25. These are in particular only arranged on the inlet side of the roll stand. We also recommend the use of wear-resistant rollers, such as work rollers, which are manufactured using the powder metallurgical H1P (high-isostatic pressing) process or high-speed steel (HSS). It is also recommended to install a strip surface inspection device 26 behind the rolling mill just before the reel 20 and a camera to monitor the strip and roller roughness. With the help of this monitoring device, it is possible to monitor the product quality on-line or in operation and, depending on this, to determine the length of the rolling program - in the sense of the period of time, which consequently becomes longer with good quality. The surface inspection is preferably aligned with scale rolling and strip roughness.

The loose scale that is formed during the rolling of carbon steels, which could be pressed into the surface of a subsequently rolled stainless steel strip, is removed in the strip side guides by means of a flushing device (designated 27 by way of example). This preferably works in such a way that the wipers (not shown) of the flushing device are temporarily pivoted away and during this time the flushing medium is applied to the roller surface and between the stands at high pressure by means of appropriate high-pressure nozzles (not shown) in order to flush out any scale or grinding particles ,

Furthermore, the strip quality can of course also be improved by the use and controlled control of profile actuators for shifting work rolls and setting a roll bend. It is proposed the sequence of the entry of a first thin slab, a group of first thin slabs, ie from the first process route I, a second cast product or a group of second cast products into the rolling mill and the duration of the common rolling program, ie the period between the change of the To determine work rolls, computer-based on a process model. On the basis of this process model, the use and the period of the grinding and polishing devices or the rinsing devices for removing the scale of the carbon steels and the other devices which are intended to improve the strip surface are also controlled. Such a control unit is designated schematically at 28. In addition, the permissible jumps in the width of the cast products to be rolled in succession can be taken into account in this rolling program in accordance with mixed rolling. Overall, such a process model enables the rolling quality to be optimized as a function of the desired product quality.

3 corresponds to the first process route I shown in FIG. 1. In contrast to FIG. 1, the second casting products (2) integrated into process route I are cast using a conventional casting machine 30 with thicknesses of up to 250 mm and, after cooling and reheating in an oven 31 in a roughing mill 32, to a thickness as far as necessary rolled down that they can be integrated into the common rolling mill of process route I. The conventional process of continuous casting and roughing is only shown schematically here. The individual slabs are transported in the cold or possibly still warm state to a slab furnace 21 in the vicinity of the first process route I, where they are heated or homogenized to corresponding rolling temperatures and introduced into the compensating furnace 12 by a ferry 22.

FIG. 4 schematically shows a third embodiment of the plant with which a common rolling program is carried out. In this embodiment, the integration unit is a ferry 220 which carries both the cross-divided first and the second cast products (100, 200) from the two equalizing furnaces (120, 210) and thus process routes I and II come into a common rolling mill 300.

Overall, by means of the method according to the invention of processing stainless steels and carbon steels in a common rolling program using surface-improving measures, stainless steels can be produced more economically than according to the prior art, because free capacities of existing plants can be used or not used. heavy-duty systems, which are primarily used to manufacture carbon steels, can be supplemented with other types of steel or other cast products.

Claims

Method and system for producing strips and sheets made of steel Patent claims:

1. Process for producing strips and sheets made of steel with the process steps

Casting a strand in thin slab format from a carbon steel or a stainless steel in a casting machine (4), passing the casting products (1) through an equalization furnace (12) to achieve a uniform temperature, rolling the casting products (1) in a rolling train (3),

Cooling of the rolled product on an outlet roller table (18) and winding on a winding device (20), characterized in that together with these first cast products (1) at least second cast products

(2), which are produced in a further second process route (II) from stainless steel if the first casting products are cast from carbon steel, or from carbon steel if the first casting products are cast from stainless steel, are rolled within a common rolling program.

Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the rolling train is adapted to the material to be processed during the rolling program.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that the adjustment is carried out in such a way that the rolling train is already prepared for the subsequent material to be processed while the previous one is still being processed.

4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the adjustment takes place in such a way that the rolling train is prepared for the subsequent material in the rolling break between the rolling process of two strips of different material.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that within the common rolling program the first cast product or groups of first cast products and the second cast products or groups of second cast products are rolled alternately.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that within the common rolling program the first cast products and the second cast products or a group of these are rolled in approximately regular alternation.

7. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 6, characterized in that the rolling train is freed of scale during and/or after the rolling process of the carbon steel products and the surface of the product to be processed or rolled and that during and/or after During the rolling process of products made of stainless steel, the roll surface roughness that occurs is reduced.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the second casting products are also thin slabs which are cast in a second process route (II) parallel to the first process route (I) and then cut into thin slabs and which are in the common The first thin slabs are rolled in the common rolling train in the order corresponding to the rolling program.

9. The method according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that in the first process route (I) the first thin slabs are cast in the thin slab casting machine (4) and are guided into the equalizing furnace (12), that in the second process route (II) the second casting products (2) are cast using a continuous casting machine (2) in thicknesses of up to 250 mm, then rolled down to thicknesses which approximately correspond to the thicknesses of the thin slab casting products (1), and in the common rolling program are rolled with the first thin slabs in the appropriate order in the common rolling train (3).

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that the pre-rolled slabs are optionally reheated in a slab furnace (21) after transport to the plant in which the first process route takes place or immediately after pre-rolling in a pre-rolling stand (32) via a Ferry (22) is guided into the equalization furnace (12) or directly into the common rolling mill (3).

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the order of entry of a first cast product, a group of first cast products, a second cast product or pre-rolled product or a group of second cast products or pre-rolled products into the rolling train and the The duration of the common rolling program and the period of use of the means (23, 24, 25, 26, 27) that adapt the rolling process to the material to be processed can be determined and set.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 1 1, characterized in that the duration of the rolling program during operation is determined depending on the strip surface quality, which is determined by means of a strip surface inspection device (26).

13. Plant for carrying out the method according to one of claims 1 to 12 with a process line (I), comprising a casting machine (4) for casting a strand in thin slab format from a carbon steel or a stainless steel, a device (12) for heating and /or balancing the temperature of the cast products, a rolling train (3) with at least one roll stand (15a) to achieve the desired final dimension, at least one exit roller table (18) for cooling the rolled product and at least one winding device (20), characterized by at least one integration unit ( 22, 22a, 220) for introducing at least second casting products (2) made of stainless steel if the first casting products (1) are cast of carbon steel, or for introducing second casting products (2) made of carbon steel if the first Cast products (1) are cast from stainless steel, in a common process line and through a rolling train (3, 300) with a combined rolling program for the first cast products (1) and for the second cast products (2).

14. Plant according to claim 13, characterized in that this plant comprises means (23, 24, 25, 26, 27) for preparing the rolling train for the subsequent cast product of the other type of steel.

15. Plant according to claim 14, characterized in that the means for preparing the rolling train for products made of carbon steel comprise a grinding and / or polishing device (23) for the work rolls of at least one roll stand (15a).

16. Plant according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that the means for preparing the rolling train for products made of stainless steel include at least one rinsing device (27) for removing the scale from the strip surface and the work roll surfaces.

17. Plant according to claim 16, characterized in that the flushing device has scrapers and nozzles for applying

Has flushing medium with high pressure, which are used alternately.

18. Plant according to one of claims 14 to 17, characterized in that the means for preparing the rolling train for products from coal carbon steel or stainless steel include a device (25) for lubricating the roll gap and that the lubricating medium for roll gap lubrication is different for carbon steel and stainless steel.

19. Plant according to one of claims 14 to 18, characterized in that the means for preparing the rolling train for carbon steel products comprise at least one strip edge heating device (24) which is located in front of the first rolling stand (15a) or between the front rolling stands of the rolling train are arranged.

20. Plant according to one of claims 14 to 19, characterized in that the work rolls of the roll stand have high sealing strengths through the use of powder metallurgy according to the HIP

Rollers manufactured using this method or by using rollers made of high-speed steel.

21. Plant according to one of claims 14 to 20, characterized in that it comprises a control unit (28) for controlling the integration unit (22, 22a, 220) between the two process routes (l, ll) to adjust the order of entry of the cast products (1,2) in the common rolling train (3) and for controlling the means (23, 24, 25, 26, 27) for preparing the rolling train for the respective product of the other steel type.