EoW September 2009

Steel wire, cable & rod

Straightening and cutting steel wire The main features of Delisi’s straightening and cutting machines for steel wire are fast set-up, easy change of diameter, high-speed production, and flexibility to respond to customer requirements. Delisi machines can be supplied with a spinner for the rapid change of diameter or with a roll straightening unit. The machine can be made ready to work a new diameter very quickly and easily. The operator chooses the necessary groove for the required wire diameter on the feeding rolls and puts the pre-regulated set of straightening jaws in the spinner. The maximum feed speed is 200m per minute and the same machine can be set up both for ribbed or smooth wires. Customers can select mechanical cut or flying shear cut, and the size of rod collection bed needed, with an electronic positioner or programmer. The rod collection bed can be provided with the picker at one or three lines of tiltable arms. This system is advantageous when the programmed rods finish and tiltable arms rise-up to hold the new size of wire to be worked. The machine continues working while the operator empties the container underneath. Delisi Srl – Italy Fax : +39 0882 333236

Induction reheating of bars and billets

The use of induction heating in the rolling process of special steels meets two fundamental needs: fast production changes fromoneproducttoanother,and control of the bar temperature during the rolling phases. The first point envisages the installation of an overheating furnace with powers of a few MW, with a primary fuel furnace operating at a constant output temperature. The induction system is designed to raise the tem- perature of the bar by 150˚ to 200°C, equal to the entire

Induction heating equipment from ATE of Italy ▲ ▲

temperature range required for the first rolling phase (roughing) of steel. The second point requires the use of an induction furnace, generally with a lower power, located immediately before the intermediate rolling section and capable of heating the bar in a differentiated manner both lengthways and crosswise. This creates an even temperature throughout the material, an essential condition for the correct rolling of special steels.

Heating of steel bars for subsequent hot rolling

Dimensions bar/billet ! 90 ÷140mm E 90÷150mm

Speed of passage

Temperature rise

Application

Power

Frequency

Overheating furnace Intermediate heating furnace

0.15÷0.3 m/s

120÷200°C

2÷4 MW 0.4÷1 kHz

E 75÷105mm 0.2÷0.6 m/s

80÷150°C

1.5÷2.5 MW 1÷2 kHz

Beside these two main aspects, induction heating applied to the rolling of steels offers other advantages: Reduction of surface decarburisation • Lower fuel consumption in the primary furnace • Drastic reduction of maintenance of the refractory lining of the main furnace • ATE has supplied several induction furnace installations to rolling mills for special steels (heating of bars with diameters from 75mm to 140mm) with power from 1.6 MW to 4 MW. ATE Applicazioni TermoElettroniche Srl – Italy Fax : +39 0444 406434 Email : info@ate.it Website : www.ate.it The ultimate cladding line?

Email : delisi@delisisrl.com Website : www.delisisrl.com

Once the first drum of wire has been completed and the Smart Software has learnt the optimum process conditions, the operator can run off subsequent drums with the Auto Start function. The Auto Start function does not just follow the operator’s actions on the learning run but it optimises them to bring the line up to speed in the shortest possible time so that waste is minimised. BWE Ltd – UK

For the first drum of a production run, the operator starts up in the normal way. After reaching thermal equilibrium at full running speed, the Smart Software indicates that it is ready to take over. The operator can now engage Load Sensing Mode to complete the run. At the end of the run, the operator shuts down using the Auto Stop function. This allows cladding to continue much closer to the end of a drum of steel wire than previously possible and makes start up on the next drum easier because the shutdown is always ‘clean’.

Smart AS Wire is BWE’s system for producing aluminium clad steel wire with improved efficiency and reduced waste. Volumetric control has been used for many years to regulate the ratio of aluminium to steel wire. Smart AS Wire introduced a new mode of operation called Load Sensing, which supervises and continuously adjusts the volumetric ratio so that perfect cladding conditions are maintained while flash (aluminium leakage) is minimised. To avoid the need for the operator to enter complex set-up information, the system is self-learning.

Fax : +44 1233 630670 Email : mail@bwe.co.uk Website : www.conform.com

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EuroWire – September 2009