Primetals Technologies has recently completed an installation at Baoshan Iron and Steel in Shanghai, China, for a new combination mill featuring both a wire rod mill outlet and bar-in-coil line to produce 600,000 tons per year of wire rod and bar products.

A press release said that the installation is Baoshan’s first greenfield long-rolling investment since the original mill installation in 1998. The new mill is designed to increase rolling mill capacity and expand the size range so the wire rod mill outlet can handle 7.5-mm to 29-mm rod and the bar-in-coil line can handle 8-mm to 50-mm bar.

To reduce downtime, Primetals Technologies used four eDrive mini-finishing mills with 250 mm ultra-heavy-duty roll housings for integrated single-family rolling from a standardized mill train. The eDrive, one of the company’s newest long-rolling solutions, is designed to increase load-carrying capacity, reduce long-term costs and enable low-temperature thermomechanical rolling, using quick-change roll units.

The project included equipment supply, engineering, and site supervision services as an open consortium between Baowu Steel Group and Primetals Technologies. The full list of equipment included four eDrive mini-finishing mills, guide optics, a pinch roll and laying head, the latest high-speed pouring reels, as well as a mechatronics package comprising the mechanical software necessary for this key equipment.

“The Primetals Technologies high-speed rod mill eDrive and bar-in-coil technology has been well received and the progress of the project has been highly praised by all parties,” the release said.

Baoshan Iron and Steel is a subsidiary of state-owned Baowu Steel Group that is located in Shanghai. It owns four plants located in Shanghai, Nanjing, Zhanjiang and Wuhan. The steel service company specializes in stainless steel and carbon steel alloys, including wire rod products, since the late 1990s.