NKK-CAL Process Goes into Operation At Austrian Mill
New CAL at VASL's cold rolling mil
A newly built continuous annealing line (CAL) went into operation in early May at the cold rolling mill of Voest-Alpine Stahl Linz GmbH (VASL) of Austria. The facility incorporates NKK-CAL technology licensed by NKK. VASL is one of Europe's integrated blast furnace steelmakers specializing in steel sheet production, with an annual crude steel capacity of 3 million tons. The company decided to install the NKK-CAL Process to modernize its cold rolling mill and upgrade product quality. The facility was supplied jointly by Kvaerner Metal, VAI, SELAS S.A. and Cegelec AEG, with NKK providing technical and operational know-how. The 600,000 tons-per-year facility is capable of producing steel sheet 0.4-1.6mm thick and 600-1,640mm wide at a maximum speed of 300m per minute. The NKK-CAL Process ensures a highly stable operation while allowing easy response to heat cycles for the production of steel sheet with excellent anti-aging properties. The NKK-CAL Process is one of NKK's most significant achievements. Incorporating a conventional batch-type five-step annealing process into a single line, the process offers superb advantages in terms of construction costs and installation space while assuring economical production of various grades of high quality cold-rolled steel sheet. To date, eighteen NKK-CAL Processes have been successfully introduced at various steel mills around the world. |
