September 2000

STEEL WORKS: Success for Piper in Export

2 new Continous Casting Lines equipped

 

DANIELI of B¨²ttrio in Italy has awarded  Piper with the orders for equipping 2 new continuous casting lines. These two orders were completed and delivered in November and December 2000, respectively.

144 double acting hydraulic nuts, M 72 x 4, are dedicated for the continuous caster Beeckerwerth 2 at Thyssen Krupp Steel's Duisburg site. A further 88 hydraulic nuts of the same basic design, with a thread M 90 x 4, will be delivered for the new twin slab caster at SIDMAR NV of Gent in Belgium.

 

The individual segments of such continuous slab casting lines guide the strand within the casting bow and, after changing, are clamped to the bow frame by the hydraulic nuts. During operation, these hydraulic nuts are exposed to very high stress factors, such as high temperatures, temperature changes and highly aggressive environmental conditions. They must not suffer from any premature loss of the hydraulic pressure.

 

For many years, TKS (Thyssen Krupp Steel) have undertaken studies on the service life of hydraulic nuts by different suppliers for this type of application. The conclusions were that only hydraulic nuts, developed and manufactured by  Piper, gave the highest and reliable endurance.

 

This was the result of a thorough investigation into the causes for failure and their elimination. As well as continually striving to improve our already high quality standard, the results of the investigations have enabled SCHAAF to implement measures that make our products the most efficient and reliable in the world today. Indeed, much of the knowledge gained in this area of application has been transferred to our standard product range where the working environment is less aggressive.

 

We are proud to announce that now, apart from Thyssen Krupp Steel, Bruckhausen and Beeckerwerth 1 works, also SIDMAR can profit from the results of our continuous research and development that will result in the large reduction of their down-time. The same applies to other end-users, like Stahlwerke Bremen, who are profiting from the success of our developments.

 

Both continuous casting lines are in the phase of erection and will be commissioned in the near future.