HOT STRIP PRODUCTION - CHALLENGE FOR THE COMING CENTURY

Objective. For many steel producers and steel processors, the pressure to reduce costs has triggered efforts to replace cold-rolled strip wi th less expensive thin hot strip. This trend poses the question: what future applications will there be for conventional hot strip mills and CSP lines, and how is their technology to be configured in future? Su mmary. The torques and roll forces of conventional, high-duty hot stri p mills are not used to full effect for cold reduction when mild low-c arbon steels are rolled. Such mills are also unsuited to rolling very thin-gauge strips. CSP lines are opening up new possibilities in this respect, permitting the production of hot strip in thicknesses less th an 1.0 mm. Control of the profile, contour and flatness in combination with extensive automation, ensures compliance with the closest strip tolerances. Semi-endless and endless rolling allows the high rolling s peeds required to produce very thin hut strips.