Primetals Technologies Wins Order from Shougang Qian’an to Supply 6-stand Hyper UC-mill for Electrical Steel

In late January, Primetals Technologies, a Metal-Expo regular exhibitor, received the order to supply a 6-stand tandem cold mill (TCM) for a new plant of Shougang Qian’an Electric Vehicle Electrical Steel Co., Ltd. (Shougang Qian’an) in Qian’an City, Hebei Province, China. The TCM is designed as a Hyper Universal Crown Control Mill (Hyper UC-mill). Hyper UC-mills employ smaller diameter work rolls, thus reducing rolling loads. This allows for the production of harder and thinner materials with improved product quality. All six stands of the Hyper UC-mill are equipped with a work roll shift function, marking its first application to this mill type, to enable precise edge profile control of high-grade electrical steels. In addition, the mill concept saves investment and maintenance costs. The mill will enable Shougang Qian’an to meet the growing demand for electrical steels spurred by increasing requirements for end uses in e.g. vehicle electrification and AHSS-grades. Start-up is expected for mid-2022.

Primetals Technologies is responsible for engineering and supply of the mill as well as for supervision of erection and commissioning. The mill type is a well-suited solution to cold-roll such harder and thinner materials with high quality and high productivity by utilizing smaller work rolls driven by a work roll drive system. It will produce electrical steel grades, AHSS grades, tin grades etc. in thickness between 0.18 and 2.5 mm with widths ranging from 750 to 1,320 mm.

Shougang Qian’an is part of the Shougang Group Co., Ltd. In 2018, the group produced 27.4 million metric tons of steel. Previous projects with this customer included the supply of four 20hi-HZ-mills for the production of high permeability grain-oriented (HGO) and a PL-TCM for the production of non grain-oriented (NGO) steel grades.

The Hyper UC-mill was recently developed by Primetals Technologies to achieve high performances of strip gauge and flatness control for High Strength Steel (HSS) rolling. This technology is also applicable for rolling high grades of non grain-oriented silicon steel and thin products. The technology is based on an optimized roll diameter combination (work, intermediate, and back-up rolls) to employ smaller diameter work rolls for achieving the maximum reduction ratio, and a work roll driven system to achieve high flatness controllability.

HYPER UC-MILL is a registered trademark of Primetals Technologies in certain countries.