Hot-dip galvanizing line no. 3 in series production

Since the kick-off nearly two years ago when the first coil was produced, a lot has happened at Salzgitter Flachstahl's 3rd hot-dip galvanizing line. The product mix that can be turned out in terms of thickness, width and steel grade has been successively expanded during commissioning and the output has been steadily increased. Many optimizations were made in close cooperation with suppliers and many milestones were achieved together with our customers.
Following the delivery of more than 450,000 tons of galvanized material, all series materials have been produced on the new hot-dip galvanizing line.

Accompanying the planning and construction of the plant, the projects relating to the approval of the materials were already underway. The established material concepts of the two existing hot-dip galvanizing lines were analysed individually and subjected to extensive tests in laboratory trials. As the structural differences between the plant units can impact on the production process and therefore also on the material, it was necessary to compensate for this by optimizing the annealing cycles.

The paramount objective in this context was to neither adapt the established and known chemical analysis, nor to change the mechanical-technological properties of the end product. In order to achieve this, continuous adaptations had to be tested in the laboratory.

Subsequently, the laboratory tests were then scaled up and verified on the large-scale facility involving different grades, dimensions and process speeds in order to carry out tests on the process limits and achieve further optimizations. Only on this foundation was the material announced for shipments to our customers.
At the same time, clients were informed about the new hot-dip galvanizing facilities by way of several channels. In addition to regular meetings with technical customer advisors, we staged a major customer event with more than 200 participants, a webinar with more than 300 customer representatives and a large number of partnership meetings to gain a shared understanding of the challenges and timescales of the approval process.

On the home stretch towards the final material approval for all our customers, the technical customer advisors were already working with Salzgitter Mannesmann Research on new material concepts and steel grades. The latter are now possible thanks to the high performing heating and cooling capacities of the new hot-dip galvanizing furnace 3 and will cover an interesting range of applications for customers in the field of ultra-high-strength materials. Further optimizations of the portfolio, the materials and systems, and the further expansion of our high quality standards in partnership with suppliers and customers outline the tasks for the coming years.

Further impressions and information can be found in the current film on hot-dip galvanizing line no. 3.