SMS Siemag received an order from Slovenian steelmaker Acroni for a heat-treatment line designed for plates with thicknesses ranging from 3-100 mm (0.12-4 inches). The range of materials includes high-strength carbon steels, stainless and tool steels, and a range of special grades. The line will include the newly developed MultiFlex-Quench®, which offers a high degree of flexibility and high cooling efficiencies in the heat treatment of heavy plate. SMS Siemag will supply a roller-hearth furnace for hardening and normalizing, a quench of the MultiFlex design and a roller-hearth furnace for tempering. Commissioning is scheduled for 2016.

The hardening furnace will be equipped with two chambers in which the plates will be annealed in a nitrogen-based inert-gas atmosphere. Heating to up to 1100°C (2012°F) will be carried out indirectly using radiant heating tubes. Acroni, a company of the Slovenian Steel Group (SIJ), is a highly specialized niche supplier focusing on plates and strips made of stainless grades, tool steels, abrasion-resistant steels and HSLA grades. This new heat-treatment line will enable the company to further expand its product portfolio.