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ALUMINIUM RoLLINg I NDUSTRY
combined with the impressive increase in the
industrial use of aluminium even in highly
specialised applications, as well as recourse
to the know-how available from some members
of the Danieli Group such as Fröhling
and Wean / United, strongly suggested that
the group’s interests should be extended to
products for the production and processing of
aluminium. With this in view, Danieli has extended
its activities to the aluminium industry
and there are already
several product
lines involved
in the design and
commissioning of
plants for flat and
long aluminium
products, in particular
those that deal
with hot and cold
rolling, extrusion,
stretching, scrap
recycling, heat
treatment, finishing
lines, automation
and services.
Seven of the
group’s companies,
the Processing Divisions,
with their
lengthy experience
of aluminium, now
form the Danieli
Aluminium Division.
They are supported by the so-termed
Complementary Services for implementing
objectives related to all aspects of the material.
Accordingly the Danieli Aluminium Division
is now able, besides highly specialised individual
machines, also to supply and commission
complete production and processing
plants for the aluminium industry.
Each of the product presentations demonstrated
clearly how fully the individual members
of the Aluminium Division feel committed
to the Danieli philosophy. Franco Alzetta,
Danieli’s COO, expressed this by coining the
term ‘innovaction’, a condensation of the concept
‘innovation in actions’. Another of Danieli’s
principles, aimed at ensuring high quality
and reliable, on-time delivery, is expressed
by saying: “We don’t shop around, we build
all equipment in our own worldwide workshops.”
Besides the parent workshop in Buttrio
with its approx. 3,000 employees, this
refers to the similar but even larger operation
in Thailand and also to other production facilities
in China, Germany, India and Russia.
ALUMINIUM will be devoting parts of
the coming issues to individual and detailed
accounts of particularly interesting themes of
the Forum. The comments below are intended
to offer our readers in the first instance a review
of the two-day event. Their content aims
at a high level, going well beyond the scope of
usual product presentations. In fact, Danieli’s
Aluminium Technology Forum 2013 reflected
the group’s own expertise in the context of
the current opportunities and threats faced by
the worldwide aluminium industry.
6-high Diamond Mill for 2,300 mm wide automotive body sheet at Aleris in Belgium
To begin with, the company offered an insight
into its assessment of the current global
aluminium market. “The latest needs of the
market”, stated Giorgio Ximeris, manager of
the Danieli Flat Product Division, “have demonstrated
that aluminium is a material that
covers an increasingly wide spectrum of applications,
from the ‘historical’ ones such as
cans or packaging for food and drugs, to the
most innovative ones for the aeronautical and
automotive industries.”
Against that background much interest was
shown in the subject of ‘Aluminium Sheet in
Automotive Applications’. Jaguar Land Rover
described the development of the aluminium
body structure strategy of the new Range
Rover. With 74% of the complete body structure
being made from aluminium 5xxx and
6xxx sheet for improved strength, the weight
saving amounts to 300 kg in the aluminium
body and 120 kg of the power train, altogether
420 kg, resulting in a total weight now of only
2,160 kg. This is equivalent to an 8% fuel efficiency
with improved vehicle dynamic.
From the standpoint of a strip rolling mill
the company Amag in Austria described its
expansion project ‘Amag 2014’ (see ALU-
MINIUM 6/2012, p. 16ff), in the implementation
of which Danieli played a decisive role.
Going round the workshop, the Forum participants
could see for themselves the huge size
and machining precision of the hot rolling
mill and 80-MN plate stretcher currently
being assembled. The stretcher is designed to
handle 25,000 tonnes of plate alloys per year
in the thickness range of 25 to 152.4 mm (6
inch) and 2,300 mm
in width. The product
range covers
aluminium alloys of
all series from 2xxx,
5xxx, 6xxx and 7xxx
alloys.
As another customer
of the Danieli
Aluminium Division,
the Russian
company KUMZ
(Kamensk Uralsky
Metallurgical Works)
introduced itself. The
company is one of
the few which, besides
Al-Mg based
alloys, also produces
Al-Li alloys, mainly
for the aviation industry.
As part of an
investment totalling
USD780 million, in
2014 Danieli will deliver a 6-high cold rolling
and a 1+1 hot rolling mill. The double stand hot
rolling mill represents an innovative new combination
plate and hot strip mill with roughing
stand and finishing mill in twin coiler configuration.
It will produce 4,300 mm wide plate,
2,800 mm wide strip and 3,500 mm wide coldrolled
sheet.
Downstream of the hot mill there will be
the world’s widest 6-high cold rolling mill,
featuring Danieli’s Diamond design. This mill
represents the latest cutting-edge rolling solutions
for aluminium aerospace products.
Another highlight of Danieli’s product
range are its advanced high speed edge trimming
and slitting lines for aluminium strip,
manufactured by Danieli Fröhling.
Fröhling has been marketing these units
for decades and has acquired an outstanding
reputation for them. Since 2003 the company
has delivered 40 complete cutting machines
and in the past two years alone 15 slitting and
edge trimming lines. Fröhling was the first to
manufacture slitting lines with 120 cuts. The
machines built today operate at speeds up to
1,800 m/min. What started with a typical trim-
56 ALUMINIUM · 11/2013