Deutsche Edelstahlwerke GmbH placed an order with SMS group for a heat-treatment line to be installed at its site in Witten, Germany. The equipment will enable bar steel in the size range up to 250 mm diameter to be heat treated directly in the rolling line. The separate heat-treatment process that was previously required can then be eliminated, saving a large proportion of the heating energy.  SMS, which will commission the line at the end of 2016, will supply a temperature-equalization furnace constructed as a walking-beam furnace.

The new heat-treatment line will be integrated into the material flow of the existing rolling mill. Here individual bars can be transported on a roller table to a temperature-equalization furnace. Depending on the quality demands, this process is employed during the production of RSH steel (stainless, acid and heat-resistant), high-grade structural steel or tool steel. After heating, the bars are cooled selectively to the desired temperature on a cooling section so that the envisaged properties are precisely achieved.

A level-2 system that calculates the thermal profile of the bars ensures the efficient operation of the temperature-equalization furnace. Each zone temperature setpoint is monitored by the level-2 system to ensure proper heating.