ADITYA BIRLA, Hindalco Industries Ltd. from Mumbai, India, has placed an order with SMS group www.sms-group.com to supply a CONTIROD®*plant, of the type CR 3500.

The line for casting and rolling of wire rod in one process with a production capacity of 35 tons of copper wire rod per hour has the largest current plant capacity in India.

The future-oriented CONTIROD®* technology from SMS group is employed for the first time on the Indian subcontinent at ADITYA BIRLA in Dahej, in the State of Gujarat. The plant is to produce predominantly ETP (Electrolytic Tough Pitch) copper wire on the CONTIROD®* CR 3500 which serves as semi-finished product for producing electrical conductors. A newly developed technique enables a broad product range with wires of different diameters.

By using new, energy-efficient technologies (lambda control on shaft furnace, AC motors, deoxidation and cooling lines with separate media circuits) and high performance capability the CONTIROD®* CR 3500 sets a new standard in an environment which otherwise is characterized by significantly lower plant sizes. The supply package includes a shaft melting furnace, a twin-belt casting machine, a twelve-stage rolling mill with separate individual drives, a deoxidation and cooling line and a wire coil station, a strapping unit and a coil packaging plant.

The proven SMS group lambda control in combination with the further developed loading and distribution system for cathodes and recycled scrap is used on the shaft melting furnace. This technique minimizes natural gas consumption and increases the product quality. In an almost horizontal casting process the twin-belt caster produces a rectangular cast ingot with higher cross-sectional area.

This is an important prerequisite for a high and constant quality of the final products, particularly for the demanded large dimensions. The homogeneously cast ingot is formed to the required wire dimension in the rolling mill consisting of twelve individually driven stands.

The applied casting and rolling technique enables very good prerequisites for the downline drawing process – especially for the production of enameled wire and fine wires in an environment of continuously growing demands on drawing speed and technological features. In the cooling line the oxide layer on the wire surface is first reduced by a chemical reaction with a hydroalcoholic solution before it is cooled down to the desired target temperature in a second step with water without addition of alcohol. By delimiting the two process steps a significant reduction of the alcohol consumption is reached.

Commissioning is scheduled for the third quarter of 2017.