Arcelor decided to implement the automation of the machines of coke ovens in order to facilitate the working conditions and to reduce the exposure of the operators to the emissions of smokes, to improve the reliability of the installations and to improve the productivity of the ovens. The work has been achieved over a period of five years and included the upgrading of the machines to grant them reliability that allows their automation, the automation of the machines (coke car, coke guides, charging car and pushing car) and the supervision in a control room of four machines and the data transmission. This project required the development of tools for positioning the machines and for the identification of the ovens. At the same time, particular attention was paid to improving safety of the accesses. As from January 2005, the automation of the machines has been achieved for both coke plants. Further improvements are already considered, concerning in particular the coke wharf and the monitoring of the coke line by infrared camera.

In this paper, VOEST-ALPINE Industrieanlagenbau (VAI) presents some of the company's technological developments concerning the whole iron and steel production chain: COREX®, FINMET® and MIDREXTM for production of hot metal, the ULTIMATE electric furnace for steelmaking, DIAMOLD (high speed casting mould), DYNAFLEX (oscillator), the compact withdrawal unit for the continuous casting of billets, as well as rolling stands with highly modern design (“Red ring" cassette-type compact rolling stands) and innovative systems for the rolling of long products (PRS, EBROS).

Within the framework of the capacity increase of the Arcelor Dunkirk steel plant up to 6.7 Mt per year, a project of casting speed increase has been carried out, in order to keep a similar average casting time with the new ladle tonnage of 270 t as with the previous one of 250 t. Two axes have been studied: increase of the maximum casting speed (applied for standard Al-killed steel grades); increase of the targeted casting speed for steel grades with high requirements in terms of segregation and internal cracks. This increase was based on the progress achieved in the slab internal soundness control (control of caster geometry and secondary cooling), as well as on an analysis of customer specifications to adapt casting speed to the requirements linked with final product applications.

Since its construction in 1979, the Steckel mill of the Brazilian steel producer Acesita has been modernized in successive steps in cooperation with VOEST-ALPINE Industrieanlagenbau (VAI). This continuous cooperation between the equipment supplier and the steel producer serves as an outstanding example of a life-cycle partnership.

Increasing demands on cold strip quality place a growing requirement on good flatness. Traditional flatness measurement systems are contact based systems, which can cause scratching of the strip surface, and require extensive maintenance work. The SI-FLAT method developed by Siemens uses a contactless measuring principle. It minimizes the risk of scratches and reduces operating and maintenance costs. The system is less sensitive to tension variations and mechanical misalignments, and provides best resolution at the strip edges because of narrow sensor stacking and integrated strip edge detection. SI-FLAT is proven for steel, stainless steel, non-ferrous material and aluminium.

On the galvanizing line in Desvres, Arcelor has implemented an innovative low temperature preheating cycle for the hot rolled strips. This made it possible to increase the line output without any major process modification but for the preheating that is carried out at a temperature on the order of 500°C. The arrangement of the direct fired preheating has been adapted accordingly, with new burners and the last zone is set at a higher temperature, to limit the oxidation of the strip.

No. 8 CGL of TKS-CS was the first continuous production line where a laser welder was installed to weld full-hard material. The presentation describes the requirements for welder and weld in such a line. Decision criteria and welding tests are reported. Differences between laser welding in a CGL and in the automotive industry are shown. Results of 2.5 years of practical experience are summarized.

The latest developments of laser cutting machines have facilitated the implementation of tubular assemblies. High capacity machines allow to consider a new assembly method by pre-cutting chords of lattice beams. Research was undertaken to study the implementation and technical aspects of this new type of assembly in order to validate it. Many advantages of the technique, a reduction of the manufacturing costs in particular, have aroused the interest of the stakeholders in the construction sector. Applications that will take full advantage of this new technique are expected in the near future.

Several investigations and developments have been made for automotive fuel tanks considering the demanding environmental situation. At Nippon Steel, hot dip tin-zinc coated steel sheet has been developed as alternative material for terne sheet for automotive fuel tanks. Tin-8wt%zinc was selected in view of its corrosion resistance, which is strongly influenced by the morphology of the zinc phase. Tin-zinc coated steel sheet has been widely used by Japanese automotive manufacturers because of its well-balanced characteristics.