ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe invests € 40 million in the modernization of the Duisburg hot strip mill

The plant in Duisburg-Beeckerwerth, which is considered to be one of the most efficient in Europe, first went into operation 50 years ago in June 1964. Since then, more than 200 million tons of hot strip have been produced there – roughly equivalent to the amount of material that would be needed to build 27,400 Eiffel Towers. Now ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe is investing ¬ 40 million in modernization measures to ensure it can continue to meet the constantly rising demands on steel. Part of this major investment will go into expanding the capacity of the cooling section.

This will offer benefits in particular for high-strength cut-to-length plate with minimum yield strengths of more than 700 MPa in the PERFORM® series sold by the Heavy Plate unit. This product is usually cut from hot-rolled coils in thicknesses up to 12 mm; however, in certain size ranges thicker and wider plates can be manufactured from milder grades by means of four-high rolling. The lower carbon and microalloying element content, outstanding cleanness and special rolling process of the PERFORM® steels result in an excellent property profile with very good cold-formability, weldability and toughness.

This investment will also benefit the development of wear-resistant XAR® MS steels. Key to the manufacture of this direct hardened wear-resistant plate are high cooling rates, which will be possible to achieve with the new accelerated cooling system in the future.