Page 16 - MetalForming September 2011

Materials & Coatings
Coil-Processing Lines Headed to Belgium, Australia
Red Bud Industries, Red Bud, IL, has sold coil-processing systems to Holvoet NV (plants in Kortrijk and Gent, Belgium) and to Midway Metals, Yatala, Queens- land, Australia. Holvoet purchased its third Red Bud line, this one a multiblanking line for coils to 0.138 by 72 in. The line com- bines the slit-to-width and cut-to-length processes into one operation to produce custom blanks directly from a master coil. For Midway Metals, Red Bud installed a precision blanking line for material to 0.393 in. thick, with stretcher-leveling to allow the Greenfield site to serve the laser-cutting and fabrication markets. It can process stainless-steel coils to 79 in. wide, 53,000 lb. with part length to 355 in. and length tolerances of ±0.005 in.
Red Bud also has published a new brochure introducing the Eco Picked Sur-
face (EPS) process
as an environ-
mentally friendly
direct replacement
for acid pickling.
Comparatively,
EPS lines con-
sume less floor
space and are less expensive to operate. The process uses a slurry mixture of water and steel grit propelled onto the strip in a uniform stream to remove sur- face scale. The EPS process can reduce common mill imperfections such as roll marks, pitting and silicon streaks. And, according to Red Bud, EPS-processed steel resists rusting longer than does pickled steel, and it can be shipped dry to customers, eliminating the need to oil the material. The brochure goes on to explain the benefits of the EPS process when welding, stamping and rollforming. Red Bud Industries: 618/282-3801; www.redbudindustries.com
American and Iron Steel Institute Adds New Member
ThyssenKrupp Steel USA, Calvert, AL, has joined the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), Washington, D.C., and its CEO, Christoph Lackinger, joined the AISI board of directors. ThyssenKrupp’s Alabama plant launched in 2007. In July 2010, its hot-strip mill began oper- ations; a cold-rolling mill started up in September 2010; and this winter its hot-dipped galvanizing lines were sched- uled to begin production. The plant has an annual rated capacity of 4.7 million tons of carbon-steel coiled product.
Worthington Steel Expanding Monterrey Joint-Venture Plant
Worthington Industries, Inc., Colum-
14 MetalForming/September 2011
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