HYUNDAI-POSCO Louisiana Steel LLC (HPLS), a joint venture comprising Hyundai Steel, POSCO, Hyundai Motor Company, and Kia, has commissioned SMS group to supply all the rolling mills for a new greenfield plant in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, US: the order covers a hot strip mill (HSM) and a pickling line tandem cold mill (PL\/TCM), including an acid regeneration plant (ARP) and AMOVA logistics solutions. Equipped with state-of-the-art automation and process control systems, the rolling mills are designed for the production of premium automotive grades. The digital-ready automation systems allow for the seamless integration of additional functions and easy expansion with future digital solutions. HPLS\u2019s new steel plant is scheduled to go live in 2029 and will boast a total capacity of 2.8 million tons of steel products.<\/p>\n
High-performance hot strip mill<\/p>\n
The high-performance hot strip mill processes incoming slabs into high-quality coils. A sturdy four-high roughing mill with a slab sizing press and a vertical edger is fitted with the camera-based X-Pact\u00ae Sense system for ski-up control. Cost-efficient and precise temperature control is guaranteed by HIBOX\u00ae heat insulation hoods and the latest generation of ELOTHERM inductive edge heaters. The seven-stand finishing mill is fitted with SMS\u2019s iconic CVC\u00ae plus technology (Continuous Variable Crown), a laminar cooling with edge masking unit, and a double downcoiler section.<\/p>\n
The X-Pact\u00ae Integrated Process Model (IPM), a comprehensive automation and process control package, optimizes mill performance and delivers significant savings. It includes the X-Pact\u00ae Profile, Contour and Flatness process model (PCFC), which meets all the requirements for manufacturing advanced, high-end products with an exceptionally wide range of properties and dimensions, ranging from 1.2 to 25.4 millimeters thick and up to 1,900 millimeters wide. The desired mechanical properties of the hot strips are achieved with the aid of the X-Pact\u00ae Microstructure Property Model (MPM) and the MPM Optimizer. Precise strip steering for a stable rolling process throughout the entire line is ensured by the X-Pact\u00ae Centerline Control system.<\/p>\n
SMS\u2019s integrated mechanical, electrical, and automation solutions guarantee outstanding mill performance with fewer operating crew members working from a central X-Pact\u00ae One Pulpit.<\/p>\n
SMS delivers AMOVA logistics solutions for the safe transport of coils on pallets as well as a strip inspection line. Its integrated transport management system (TMS) organizes coil transportation from the hot rolling mill right through to the cold rolling mill.<\/p>\n
The result is an annual output of almost 2.8 million tons of hot-rolled steel, with an expandable design that allows for future increases in production capacity.<\/p>\n
Pickling line\/tandem cold mill<\/p>\n
The compact layout of the pickling line\/tandem cold mill combines SMS\u2019s turbulence pickling technology with a five-stand CVC\u00ae six-high tandem cold rolling mill. A particular feature is the integrated acid regeneration plant with fluidized-bed technology, which every hour can recover up to 9,000 liters of the hydrochloric acid used in the pickling process, thus ensuring ecological and cost-effective acid recycling with minimal wastewater emissions.<\/p>\n
The coupling of the pickling process and the rolling process enables a continuous production flow without the need for intermediate material storage. This means that an annual output of almost two million tons of high-quality cold strip can be achieved. In addition, the line can be operated in pickling mode alone, producing pickled and oiled hot-rolled coils at an annual capacity of 112,000 tons. The broad product portfolio that includes strip widths of up to 1,850 millimeters and cold-rolled thicknesses from 0.40 to 3.50 millimeters is geared toward sophisticated automotive steel grades.<\/p>\n
The line comprises two main sections: the turbulence pickling section and the cold rolling mill. The high-performance pickling section includes an X-Roll\u00ae laser welder and a turret-type side trimmer. The pickling process, designed for efficient scale removal, is dynamically controlled by the X-Pact\u00ae Turbulence Pickling Model, which increases productivity while at the same time reducing energy and acid consumption.<\/p>\n
The cold rolling mill consists of five mill stands and a fully continuous exit section with a carousel reel and an inline \u201cRotary Inspect” surface inspection station. To produce strips within tight flatness and thickness tolerances, SMS will equip all six-high mill stands with its renowned CVC\u00ae plus technology. The configuration is particularly relevant for the production of third-generation advanced high-strength steels (AHSS), which require precise roll gap control at high rolling forces.<\/p>\n
Integrated X-Pact\u00ae level 1 and level 2 control systems minimize off-gauge strip lengths and thickness deviations while enhancing rolling stability. One of the technological highlights is the X\u2011Pact\u00ae Hot Start Assistant, which ensures a fully automatic restart after a stop, with the strip remaining in the rolling mill. Optimal rolling mill settings provide for a safe restart with good strip flatness and a rapid attainment of the target strip thickness.<\/p>\n
After cold rolling, the coils are transported to the downstream processing area by an AMOVA high-speed car (HSC) system controlled by the integrated transport management system.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith this order, SMS group underscores its leading position as an expert and preferred supplier of integrated solutions for large rolling mills in North America. The new investment in Louisiana secures the local supply of high-quality automotive steel sheet to the US plants for major automakers, including Hyundai Motor Group,\u201d said Steffen Krausa, Sales Director, SMS group.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HYUNDAI-POSCO Louisiana Steel LLC (HPLS), a joint venture comprising Hyundai Steel, POSCO, Hyundai Motor Company, and Kia, has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[647,649,654,656,295,294,293,651,655,648,652,653,650],"class_list":["post-15200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hyundai","tag-construction-news","tag-engineering-news","tag-global-construction-projects","tag-global-investment","tag-hyundai","tag-hyundai-group","tag-hyundai-motor-group","tag-industry-insights","tag-infrastructure-export-deal","tag-infrastructure-updates","tag-latest-project-developments","tag-major-construction-news","tag-megaproject-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}