350,000 tons per year of galvanized steel strip for the Chinese construction and home appliances industries

Ruifeng (Shandong Ruifeng Stainless Steel Co.), China, has selected SMS group (www.sms-group.com) to supply a continuous hot-dip galvanizing line for steel strip, which is to be erected in Binzhou in the Chinese province of Shandong and is scheduled to start production in the second half of 2019. The new galvanizing line will enable Ruifeng to anneal and galvanize 350,000 tons annually of cold strip that is produced on the company’s own pickling line/tandem mill. To protect it against corrosion the strip will be coated with a layer of zinc or aluminum-zinc. The material will mainly be used for applications in the construction industry and to produce home appliances.

The line is to be completely supplied by SMS group. All mechanical and process-technological components, including furnace and air-knife system, as well as all electrical and automation systems are part of SMS group’s package, too. Also included in the scope of supply is the supervision of erection and commissioning.

The strips to be processed in the line will first run through a cleaning section including electrolytic cleaning segment. Subsequent heat treatment will be accomplished in a horizontal Drever furnace with direct-fired zone and radiant-tube zone. In addition, a DUMA-BANDZINK BASICJet air-knife system for the homogeneous and precise thickness setting of the zinc layer will be integrated to meet even extremely high surface quality demands.

To be able to coat the strips with both aluminum-zinc or zinc, it is planned to install a change system with two zinc pots. For post-treatment, the line will be equipped with a skin-pass stand, a tension leveler and two vertical roll coaters, as well as an oiling machine in the exit section.

The hot-dip galvanizing line will be designed to process strips up to 1,350 millimeters wide and between 0.30 and 2.0 millimeters thick. The maximum strip speed during the galvanizing process will be 180 meters per minute, whereas in the entry and exit sections maximum speed may reach up to 240 meters per minute. The product range will comprise commercial grades and deep-drawing grades, among others.

The new line will enable Ruifeng to coat 350,000 tons per year of cold strip for the construction and home appliances industries. The layer to be applied will be aluminum-zinc or zinc.