April 2006 —The Siemens Group Industrial Solutions and Services (I&S) recently received orders from the Korean steel producer Posco to upgrade and supply equipment for three of the company's pickling lines located in Pohang and Gwangyang, Korea. Upon completion of these projects, Posco will be able to pickle 6.5 million tonnes of steel in these lines. All three orders will be implemented by VAI Clecim, France. Contract prices were not disclosed.
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During hot rolling, scale (oxidized iron), forms on the strip surface. This scale must be completely removed prior to cold rolling.
Scale removal is accomplished with the use of a mechanical scale breaker and subsequent immersion of the strip in a hydrochloric acid bath in the pickling tanks.
After the strip emerges from the acid bath, residual acid is washed off the strip surface with demineralized water in a rinse tank. Finally, the strip surface is dried with hot air.
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At Posco’s Pohang steelworks, VAI Clecim will upgrade the pickling section of the No. 2 Coupled Pickling/Cold-Rolling Line (P2 C) with a double-entry section, new entry-strip accumulator, and a new process section with four pickling tanks. VAI Clecim will also supply an intermediate strip accumulator and an exit-strip accumulator.
At the Gwangyang steelworks, VAI Clecim will equip the original preparation station of the No. 3 Pickling Line (POL 3) with a new coil-supporting solution that reduces the risk of coil damage during uncoiling. For the same facility, VAI Clecim will install a 60-tonne scale breaker for the descaling of high-strength steels, a preparation station and two online shears at the No. 4 Coupled Pickling/Cold-Rolling Line (K4 C).
Posco’s objective for these projects is to increase the productivity of its pickling lines and to improve the quality of the pickling operations.
With a crude-steel output exceeding 30 million tonnes (2004) Posco (Pohang Iron and Steel Co. Ltd.) is one of the largest steel producers in the world. At its production sites in Pohang and Gwangyang, the company produces a wide range of carbon, stainless and electrical steel grades which are sold as coils, sheets, plates and wire rod that are used for a multitude of industrial applications. 75% of the company's steel production is consumed domestically, and the remaining 25% is exported primarily to China, Japan, other Southeast Asian countries and the USA.
The VAI group, a division of the Siemens Group Industrial Solutions and Services (I&S), is one of the world's leading engineering and plant-building companies for the iron and steel industry as well as for the flat-product-rolling sector of the aluminum industry. VAI, derived from the company Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau, Linz/Austria, provides a comprehensive range of supplies and services for all related technological processes and integrated automation solutions for the entire life-cycle of metallurgical plants. VAI Clecim is a VAI company.
The Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services Group (I&S) is the integrator of systems and solutions for industrial and infrastructure facilities and global service provider for the plant and projects business covering planning, installation, operation and the entire life cycle. I&S uses the electrical and technical products of other Siemens Groups in order to enhance productivity and improve competitiveness of companies in the sectors of metallurgy, water treatment, pulp and paper, oil and gas, marine engineering, open-cast mining, airport logistics, postal automation, intelligent traffic systems and industrial services. In fiscal 2005 (to September 30) I&S employed a total of 31,700 people worldwide and achieved total sales of EUR 5.390 billion.