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By Carolina Gomes Dias Ribeiro

The modern composite materials, especially those reinforced with synthetic fibers such as glass and carbon, have been used since last century to attend the demands required by most technological fields, from home appliances to aerospace. Natural fibers composites with biodegradable polymer matrices are considered environmentally friendly materials and currently accepted as possible substitutes for synthetic composites. These green composites can be safely discarded or composted at the end of their life without harm to the environment. Another alternative for synthetic composites is to apply natural lignocellulosic fibers as reinforcement of conventional polymer matrices and already used in the automobile industry. In addition to the environmental and societal advantages of the green composites, the lignocellulosic fiber reinforced conventional polymer composite also has economical and technical advantages. In the case of a fiber collected as a waste, the price of the composite can be considerably lower than “fiberglass”. Furthermore, with high strength lignocellulosic fibers such as sisal, ramie and malva the specific strength of a composite may approach that of “fiberglass”. Therefore the objective of the present work is to investigate the mechanical behavior of polymer matrix composites reinforced with high volumes of natural malva fibers subjected to tensile stresses.

Aug 16, 2017

By Delio Amorim

Industry 4.0 concepts is the new biggest challenge on the industry nowadays and every company in every industry in every part of the globe is looking to implement this somehow on their factories and machines. To do that on the newest long rolling mills, that brings already onboard state-of-the-art technologies, is for sure a challenge of machinery builder industry, but how to become the long rolling mills built on 70’s, 80’s or 90’s part of this innovation process and connected to the new trends? This is the main mission here, to show some examples of applications that goes in this direction.

Oct 1, 2019

By Matteo Tomba

Today’s steel market is characterised by high competitiveness and tight profit margins; therefore, the operational costs of rolling mills must be as low as possible, while ensuring a final product of the highest quality standards. PERT SRL is an engineering company with a long-term experience in the international steel market, specialised in the design and supply of highly innovative and bespoke solutions for siderurgical and environmental plants. Because of its strong commitment to deliver excellent products and services, and its ability to innovate and adapt to the fastchanging market requirements, PERT has studied a new generation of BI-SUPPORT rolling stands, designed to be used in rolling mill plants for the production of rebars, rounds and sections in special quality bars (SBQ) steel grade, wire rod, light and medium section, suitable also for special steel plants. This paper will provide a deep insight into the key technical and economic features that have revolutionised the rolling technology for long products, such as the absence of spindles and piping on board, the considerably reduced number of spare parts required, a ring gap regulation system, and the compact dimensions, which lead to significant savings in investments and production costs; at the same time, the BI-SUPPORT stands guarantee excellent standards to the final product, an increase in plant productivity and a general improvement in the plant management.

Aug 16, 2017

By Piotr Kula

Vacuum carburising with pre-nitriding (PreNitLPC® technology) involves feeding ammonia during the charge heating stage before carburising. The purpose is to restrict the growth of grain in the surface layer of the carburised steel. The article presents the influence of nitrogen on restricting austenite grain growth during vacuum carburising and on mechanical properties (fatigue strength, impact resistance) of layers that underwent such treatment in comparison with traditional carburising methods.

Aug 16, 2017

By HaiWen Luo, Bin Hu

A ultra-high strength medium Mn steel with good ductility was designed and manufactured via the combination of warm rolling and V alloying, which produced not only the extensive precipitation of fine VC particles in both ferrite and austenite but also the bimodal size distribution of retained austenite (RA) grains. A substantial increase of yield strength up to 650 MPa was achieved due to the addition of V without deteriorating ductility. The coarse RA grains firstly transformed to martensite during yielding at the much higher stress threshold, followed by a significant work hardening due to dislocations multiplication, twinning-induced-plasticity (TWIP) and transformation-induced-plasticity (TRIP) in the ultrafine RA grains. The best combination of strength and ductility included 1.5 GPa ultimate tensile strength and 28% total elongation. This was achieved due to the sustainable TRIP and TWIP effects in the later straining stage resulting from the ultrafine austenite grains, the latter were reversely transformed from the recrystallized ferrite grains.

Oct 1, 2019

By D. A. Aranda-Regino, C. Gómez-de-la-Garza, J. Ramírez-Cuellar, L. A. Leduc-Lezama

The Pickling Line Tandem Cold Mill (PLTCM) at Ternium’s Pesqueria plant with a 5 stands, 6 high configuration started in 2013. At the time of the start up the work roll specification and grinding practices were stablished following a low risk policy to be able to sustain any start-up associated accident. Once a stable operation has been achieved both these policies are being modified to improve productivity and reduce costs. The specified hardness of the rolls has been increased and efforts are being made to optimize the grinding according to the rolling campaign length and materials. The fatigue damage in work rolls, after rolling and its removal by grinding was followed by hardness measurements made at the end of the rolling campaign and after grinding. Softening of the rolls after rolling was found mainly in final stands to be related to the averaged stress experienced during the campaign, the original roll hardness was recovered after grinding. Hardness evolution was also followed after each grinding step finding that the total amount of grinding could be reduced. The grinding practice was modified accordingly for the first stands and the yield of work rolls in them has improved.

Oct 1, 2019

By Foluke Salgado de Assis

Natural fibers are attracting the interest of engineering sectors owing to specific advantages such as lightweight and lower cost as well as for their inherent condition of being renewable, biodegradable, recyclable and environmental correct material with respect to CO2 emission. The banana fiber is nowadays recognized by its mechanical properties. It is known that with the increase of fibers volume fraction the composite significant increases its tensile strength. This was obtained with amounts up to 30% in volume of banana fiber. However no higher volume of fibers was able to be molded in a composite plate until now. Thus the present work aims to study higher volumes of fiber in terms of the influence on the tensile strength of specimens prepared under 5 tons of pressure. The fibers were previously washed and dried in an oven at 60ºC, after that poured together with the epoxy resin and catalyst mixture in the metal molds bone-shaped, and pressured to ensure specimens quality. The tensile strength increased significantly with higher amounts of banana fiber incorporated in the epoxy matrix. This better performance can be directly related to the fracture obstacle imposed by the fibers as well as the type of cracks resulting from the fiber/matrix interaction.

Aug 16, 2017

By Nathanael Wagner Sales Morais

Os aços maraging tem grande importância tecnológica devido sua aplicação nas industrias aeroespacial e nuclear. Uma das aplicações para esse material é a fabricação de cilindros de alta resistência pelo processo de estampagem profunda, logo o conhecimento da textura cristalográfica torna-se fundamental. Este trabalho investigou o efeito da laminação à frio seguida por um recozimento sobre a microestrutura, textura e anisotropia plástica no aço maraging 350. A anisotropia foi medida pelo cálculo dos coeficientes de Lankford e dos coeficientes de anisotropia normal (Rm) e planar (?R). Os resultados mostraram o aumento na deformação a frio gera um aumento na intensidade da fibra acompanhada de um aumento no valor de Rm. As análises metalográficas mostram que maiores reduções induzem à um precipitação intermetálica após o recozimento.

Aug 8, 2018

By J. N. Stevens, M. Tulwin, P. J. Lawlor

All metals producers are on an unending search for a competitive advantage. They need to produce in the most cost effective way. Sometimes a new mill might be considered but in this paper we present examples of how this might not always be necessary. A detailed investigation by an equipment vendor who can consider the mill and or plant as a complete entity: mechanics, automation and process control can often find solutions that are both lower cost and can be implemented in shorter time frames.

Oct 1, 2019

By Nestor Cezar Heck

Aim of the present work is to continue the theoretical evaluation of the slags of the fundamental system CaO-SiO2-CrOx-MgO (Ca-O-Cr-Si-Mg quinary system) at the temperature of 1,873 [K], with the help of a computational thermodynamic tool. Driving force for this and the previous research works is the understanding of chromium losses from the molten bath into the slag. Especially motivating is the presence of solid phases in the slag, since they may prevent refractory degradation and help in the production of foaming slags. Nevertheless, Cr-bearing solid phases can lead to Cr losses, being therefore detrimental. Determination of the states of thermodynamic equilibrium for this system using a slag with fixed composition as a start material were made using MgO amount as variable. Results show the impact of the MgO content on the equilibrium phases (molten metal, liquid slag, solids) and their composition for this system.

Jul 30, 2018

By José Fagundes Jr., Juliano Braz Possatti, Bruno Câmara Vieira, Gabriel Godinho Alves, Bruno Bastos da Silva Murad, Cristina Maria de Oliveira Roque

Driven by market trends, increasing environmental accountability, government regulations and fostered by the Company’s strategic plan, ArcelorMittal Tubarão has developed new steel products to deliver better solutions to fit each customer’s needs. This often translates in higher strength, more complex and dimensionally challenging (thinner and wider) steels to attend a broad array of goals, such as reduction of vehicles fuel consumption and carbon emissions, increase in fatigue performance of heat treated parts, higher load capacity per net weight in vessels or wagons and lower supplying lead time as ArcelorMittal Tubarão establishes itself as a domestic option for so far imported grades. Based on the annual Product Development Plan, a structured workflow involves technical discussions from an operational point of view about safety issues, metallurgical project, steel grade family definitions, offline simulations prior to field trials, deformation resistance and process parameters adjustments and scheduling strategy. As a result of the increasing synergy between the areas, the share of new materials developed in recent years has been sustainably increased up to 15% in 2018, adding value to the final product without impact on hot rolled coil output and with a low cobble index.

Oct 1, 2019

By Tiago Bristt Gonoring

Neste trabalho foi avaliado o efeito da adição de metano e argônio sobre a redução a plasma de pós de hematita de alta pureza (com %Fe2O3> 99,00 e tamanho de partículas

Aug 8, 2018

By Thinnie Hahn dos Santos

O aço API 5L X60 é empregado na fabricação de dutos submarinos para a produção de óleo e gás. Com a ajuda de métodos de inspeção e estudos de mecânica da fratura é possível avaliar a severidade dos defeitos existentes, prever a falha dos componentes e tomar as devidas providências para evitar acidentes que podem levar a danos ambientais, perda de vidas e prejuízos financeiros. Com foco na redução do efeito do histórico de carregamento, avalia-se uma técnica alternativa de pré-trincamento por fadiga para a obtenção das curvas de crescimento de trinca por fadiga. Esta técnica permite a nucleação de trincas em carregamento cíclico compressivo, isentas de tensões residuais compressivas, que mascaram os resultados na determinação do limiar de propagação de trincas. Neste trabalho, foram utilizados corpos de prova do tipo C(T) para a nucleação das pré-trincas de fadiga. Foi avaliada a influência das características do carregamento, como o nível da força aplicada e a razão de carregamento no comprimento de saturação das trincas produzidas, a fim de se obter avanços no estabelecimento dessa metodologia. Com um carregamento mais intenso, o comprimento de saturação de trinca foi maior. Além disso, a diferença de comprimento entre o centro e as superfícies do corpo de prova se torna mais acentuada. O comprimento de saturação de trinca é menor que o raio da zona plástica e maior que a região máxima governada por tensões residuais trativas. Para carregamentos menos severos, a trinca cresce de maneira mais uniforme e alcança comprimentos de saturação de trinca menores. A razão de carregamento não interfere significativamente no comprimento de saturação de trinca.

Oct 30, 2017

By Giuseppe Pintaude

The use of two-dimensional shape parameters to characterize abrasive particles is a possible approach to express their angularity. Nonetheless, in sliding abrasion, especially in pin abrasion testing, coated papers structure plays an important role and even its damage during the wear process should not be neglected. This manuscript discuss the limitations of two-dimensional shape descriptors in distinguishing wear caused by relatively hard particles, indicating that the wear data obtained in sliding abrasion tests are unable to distinguish different types of coated papers used when only the two-dimensional particle projection is considered for shape characterization.

Jul 31, 2018

By Giuseppe Pintaude

This study aims to evaluate the effect of specimen preparation on the dry sliding wear behavior of CA-6 NM stainless steel. Two different surface finishing manufacturing processes were applied: lapping and metallographic polishing. The wear tests were conducted in reciprocating ball-on-flat system, performed for two loads: 5 or 8 N. For all test conditions, hardmetal ball was employed as counterbody. The surfaces were evaluated using 3D interferometry technique to determine their surface roughness, including texture analysis regarding isotropy. Surface characterization results indicated the presence of texturing and preferential orientation, since the parameter Str was smaller than 0.5 for samples of both the studied conditions. Two distinct levels of isotropy evaluated through Str parameter were achieved: 0.13 for lapping and 0.3 for metallographic polishing process. It is clear from wear tests that the variation of average surface roughness is the key point for tribological behavior of CA-6 NM stainless steel.

Jul 31, 2018

By Pierre Montmitonnet, Yukio Shigaki, Jonatas Mezêncio Silva

A precise roll stack deformation model of a flat rolling mill is crucial for strip profile assessment as it depends strongly on the roll’s deformation. The need for more and more advanced products with stringent both geometrical and mechanical tolerances (e.g., Advanced High Strength Steels – AHSS), with thinner and harder steel strips, demands more advanced simulation models. The present paper addresses assumptions made in Finite Element Method (FEM)-based roll stack models on some important, yet barely discussed features: What is the impact on precision of the simplifications such as symmetry and anti-symmetry? Should roll neck boundary conditions in bearings be considered as fixed or simply supported? In this paper a hybrid model developed by the authors for a general flat rolling mill is used to assess those questions. This model runs much faster (100x in some cases) than a whole-FEM-modeled 6-high rolling mill with the elastoplastic strip deformation, thanks to its simplifications adopted. This model assumes a steady state rolling condition, and the roll stack is modeled with tridimensional finite elements, and the loads are calculated via a slab method adopting a plane strain state for the strip deformation (especially true for thin strips). An industrial 6-high cold rolling mill is modeled and results on the application of symmetries and different boundary conditions on the roll’s necks are presented. It is concluded that the application of symmetries and anti-symmetries for the 6-high rolling mill is possible for thin strips. And the way the necks are modeled does not impact on the final strip shape, though it influences the magnitude of the roll’s displacement. The coupling of the strip with the work roll applied assuming a symmetry plane of the arc of contact has little influence on the strip shape.

Oct 1, 2019

By Andrea Donadon

This article introduces the Danieli Total Asset Management System, which involves 360 degrees service methods and equipment. Danieli Condition Monitoring System and Danieli Torque Monitoring System are fundamental to evaluate the conditions of the working components in heavy duty transmissions. The first one monitors the vibrations and the lubrication fluid conditions with the purpose to identify the presence of malfunctions, by detecting any variation of the signals from the standard values. The second one monitors the transmitted torque for each spindle and gearbox, with the aim of detecting any anomaly in torque distribution and magnitude, and evaluating the residual life of the mechanical parts, on the base of a dedicated fatigue damage algorithm. All these features are useful in avoiding serious damages to machines, facilities and people, but allow also planning the maintenance and overhaul activities with efficiency, in order to achieve the best plant availability and reliability. The data analysis is made by the IntelliCMS software, which interfaces with plant and Danieli operators and includes the possibility to cooperate by remote connections, simplifying service activities and support. All these features allow providing new full service programs, where the client is totally supported in maintenance, overhauls and substitutions. This is the best way to ensure the most efficient, high quality and reliable after sales assistance.

Aug 16, 2017

By Mariano de Córdova

In this paper, the coke oven life prolongation technology is reviewed from different points of view: blend design; battery heating; operational control; refractory maintenance. A summary of major inspections in critical areas, for the evaluation of the battery conservation situation is presented. A discussion on tools for the diagnostics of the degree of damage is carried out.

Aug 16, 2017

By Jean Viana Bahia, Antônio Adel dos Santos, Vicente Tadeu Lopes Buono

During cold rolling of Cr-Mo alloyed DP steel, considerable oscillation of thickness may occur. The literature points out that such occurrence is due to non-uniform cooling of the coil after the hot rolling process. Since the austenite transformation in this steel continues after coiling, the microstructure and, consequently, mechanical properties are very susceptible to natural variations in cooling rates associated with distinct positions of the coil. The influence of coil cooling conditions on thickness oscillation during cold rolling was evaluated in this work by using both industrial experiments and dilatometer tests. It was verified that an industrial coil presented large variation of mechanical properties associated with its heterogeneous microstructure. Consequently, thickness oscillation occurred during cold rolling. Dilatometer tests simulating hot run-out table and coil cooling showed that the austenite transformation is very slow under small cooling rates that occur after coiling. Thus, the slow transformation rate makes the coil very susceptible to environmental conditions around it during its natural cooling and is responsible for variation in mechanical properties of the coil. To ensure the formation of a more homogeneous microstructure in the whole coil, it is necessary either to make use of technologies that improves the cooling uniformity or to adjust the steel alloy design. The latter alternative has been done with relative success by using conceptions with lower amounts of Cr and Mo.

Oct 1, 2019

By Ramon Fraga Resende

O distribuidor é o último equipamento revestido de refratários em contato com aço líquido e que pode afetar a qualidade do produto. Nesse equipamento, a massa de trabalho é responsável por proteger o revestimento de segurança e evitar a contaminação do aço. Apesar das preocupações em relação ao “pick up” de hidrogênio e consumo de gás, as massas “spray” tem sido uma tecnologia dominante para o revestimento de distribuidor na América do Sul. Nos últimos 20 anos, outras tecnologias entraram no mercado com o objetivo de reduzir a necessidade de água e de gás e aumentar a disponibilidade de distribuidor. Embora essas tecnologias apresentem algumas vantagens, quase 80% das usinas siderúrgicas da América do Sul ainda usam massas “spray”. Isso se deve principalmente aos benefícios como flexibilidade, baixo custo, baixo consumo e alto isolamento térmico. Este trabalho tem o objetivo de discutir as principais vantagens e desvantagens das massas disponíveis no mercado.

Oct 30, 2017