EuroWire March 2019

Focus on Germany

First impressions count

The rst impression always remains the most important one. Looking at the best cable in the world, the rst detectable thing on it is the printing, more especially the quality of the printing. This is the best visiting card of the cable manufacturer and it immediately re ects its reliability and excellence. This is also a signi cant sales argument. However, achieving this printing quality is not only the consequence of a pure printing process and operators’ skills, but the result of a global working environment, combining numerous parameters, sometimes underestimated in the production process of cables. From the conception of a new extrusion line, the location of the marking unit should be carefully considered. Depending on the insulating material, this marking unit can be integrated after the extrusion head or after a cooling bath. If the insulating materials are PE or XLPE, for instance, using the surface heat of the cable is an advantage to improve the ink adhesion. In that case, the marking unit should be integrated as close as possible to the extrusion head, but after a short cooling bath, to reach a surface temperature of 80-100°C. For printing on PVC material, there is no special need for the hot cable surface to improve the ink adhesion: printing on PVC is quite easy and can also be achieved o -line, at room temperature, at a rewinding station, for example. In any case, if the printing occurs after a cooling bath, which often happens in on-line printing processes, the cable surface has to be perfectly dry. If any thin water lm appears on the surface of the cable before the printing, the ink will simply not stick on the cable surface, even on PVC.

A range of marking systems from siba

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extrusion line. The latest generations of marking systems bene t from a cooling circuit integrated in the ink tank of each pump unit. To facilitate the work of the operators, it is recommended to connect the marking unit to a viscosity control device (Vi200 or Vi210), to constantly control the optimal ink viscosity, by automatic adjunction of solvent. The viscosity value will be pre-set from the beginning and will be automatically maintained during the whole printing process, without any e ort or particular attention from the operators. Despite all the technical improvements o ered by the new generations of marking systems and ancillaries, skills of the operators remain the main factor to quality printing. siba GmbH – Germany Website : www.sibaweb.de

For a new line installation, it is recommended to plan enough room to integrate the appropriate marking units (Si20 or compact Si10) in order to bene t from these advantages. Even if printing on hot materials (PE, XLPE), this o ers the advantage to improve the ink adhesion. The printing process is a delicate issue that requires more attention from the operators and adapted settings of the marking unit. The main problems appear when the cables are too hot, as they may remain stuck on the printing wheels and may be deformed. With the high printing temperature, the ink also dries faster and the solvent evaporates quicker. The global warm-up of the printing station increases the wear grade of both wheels and scrapers. To avoid these inconveniences, the tank of the ink pump unit should be connected to the whole cooling circuit of the

Newmill with export aims Mukand Sumi Special Steel Ltd (MSSSL), a joint venture between Mukand Ltd, India, and Sumitomo Corporation, Japan, has placed an order with SMS group for a special bar quality rolling mill for the production of bar and rod. The new mill will adjoin Mukand’s existing steel making facilities near Hospet in Karnataka. MSSSL plans to export products from the unit. In its rst stage the mill will have an annual capacity of 400,000 tons, but capacity will increase to 600,000 tons per year in the second stage. The mill will comprise a walking-beam reheating furnace with a capacity of 75 tons per hour in the rst stage, and 110 tons per hour in the second stage, 18 housingless two-high

stands in H/V arrangement, a precision sizing mill (PSM®), shears, cooling lines, cooling bed with nishing facilities, a wire rod line with a ten-stand wire rod block, laying head, loop cooling conveyor (LCC®), coil handling equipment and a coil compactor. The centre of the mill is a three-roll PSM with hydraulic roll adjustment under load. All nished sizes in diameters between 17mm and 65mm can be produced at a maximum speed of 14m per second. Wire rod in 5.5mm to 22mm diameters will be produced on the wire rod block at a maximum speed of 90m per second. Commissioning of the new mill is scheduled for the second quarter of 2020. SMS group – Germany Website : www.sms-group.com

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March 2019