Page 12 - MetalForming March 2016

Tech Update
HyCal’s New Continuous Anneal Line a Boon to AHSS, UHSS Production
HyCal’s line reportedly will provide 97- percent prime yield. Steel coming off of the line will be dead flat and will not require post- anneal processing. The timeline: foundations complete, March 2016; equipment onsite, May 2016; installation, October 2016; and initial coil trials, December 2016. Coil width will cover the range from 24 to 48 in., in steel thickness from 0.02 to 0.09 in. Processing capacity: 120,000 tons/yr. www.hycalcorp.com
HyCal Corp., Gibral-
tar, MI, a division of
Ferragon Corp., has
begun installing a first-
of-its-kind continuous
anneal line. The line,
developed and built
by Austria-based Ebner
(with U.S. offices in
Wadsworth, OH), will
use an optimized
blend of hydrogen, rather than water, for strip cooling to produce ultra- and advanced- high-strength (UHSS and AHSS) steel grades. It will be North America’s first 100-percent hydrogen continuous annealing line for UHSS and AHSS, and will produce dual-phase, TRIP, martensitic and other grades from 580- to 1700-MPa yield strength.
Network I/O Weldblocks
The process of hydrogen annealing provides significantly improved prime yield, superior shape and uniform properties across the strip that have proven difficult to achieve consistently with typical water-quench lines. Key to the performance of the new line, expect- ed to begin running in late 2016, is use of an optimized blend of hydrogen—rather than water—for cooling. Water quenching causes steam pockets and off-flat errors (called “pota- to chipping”) that can reduce yields and require post-anneal shape correction.
Balluff, Florence, KY has introduced a new family of network I/O blocks optimized for extremely noisy electrical environ- ments, such as those created by welding. These new Balluff Weldblocks are con- structed with fiberglass-reinforced com- posite (polypropylene sulfide) that inher- ently resists weld spatter while effectively
YOU CAN GET THE BEST VALUE, PERFORMANCE, DELIVERY AND SERVICE...ALL FROM HEIM!
TM
With Maxi-Stamper® presses on your floor, you also realize these benefits...
HEIM delivers what we promise...a solid machine that performs to your requirements, backed by support that’s second to none.
HEIM can engineer a single-point, two-point, four-point or customized Maxi-Stamper® press to meet your needs...whether you need a single press or a complete turnkey system.
...all made in America with our family pride, standing right behind every machine.
SEE HEIM IN ACTION
LET THE HEIM TEAM HELP 1-800-927-9393 www.theheimgroup.com Chicago, Illinois www.metalformingmagazine.com
Our Maxi-Stamper® presses represent the leading edge in design and engineering for applications in the 90 to 1000 ton range.
10 MetalForming/March 2016
H