Page 21 - ITA_Journal_3-2019

lithic design. The nozzle no longer consists of six parts. It is now one piece which does not require preassembly or adjustment of the nozzle prior to its installation in the plant. The new nozzles are already successfully in operation at BIRLA COPPER in India. They are less noisy than the previous ones and meet or even exceed all per- formance speci cations. As we have manufactured the nozzles from a high-strength, wear-resistant material, they can remain in service much longer than their pre- decessors.“
Applications along the process chain from the
meltshop to the rolling mill
Also the other projects implemented so far have provided
extremely promising results: A new roll cooling header for wire rod mills featuring a contour-adapted design with integrated nozzles has been performing excellently. By using Alumide, a blend of aluminum powder and polyamide powder, we have made the new component lighter and cheaper than the conventional solution. An example from BOF steel- making: We have been able to reduce the size of our SIS injectors used in steel melting by 60 percent. The injectors now come in one piece. In the past they consisted of eight individual parts. Tube welding plants made by SMS group will in future be able to produce tubes with diame- ters down to 14 inches or even less. Thanks to a hybrid design includ- ing additive and conventional manufacturing, the oil rings for the expanders can be made smaller – without compromising their perfor- mance capacity. And the Technical Service of SMS group bene ts from the lower weight and dramatically reduced delivery times of connecting frames for feeding systems in extrusion plants.
A development characterized by dramatic dynamism
The projects mentioned above show where Additive Manufacturing is heading. Norbert Gober strongly believes that the development will still pick up momentum in the near future: “There are several driving forces. At the universities, future design engineers can nowadays avail themselves of printers to print the parts they design and immedi- ately examine the result in the form of a real component. The growing demand for AM components will in turn spur the development in printer technology. We see several new printer technologies pop up every year. Maybe, another energy source will soon appear on the scene in addition to the laser. The young people coming from the universities will bring with them new ideas, concepts and methods that will change atti- tudes and strategies in the companies. Nothing is backwards oriented, everything is moving forward at full vigor. I believe that conventional manufacturing will become increasingly open to this trend and that there will be many more links between the two manufacturing methods. First hybrid machines combining LMD and milling are already available on the market. I am pleased to see that SMS group has already made great achievements in this challenging technological eld and that it is well positioned for the future.“
Technology Press Day: May 8, 2018, SMS group GmbH. Nina Uppen- kamp, Robert Banse, Sarah Hornickel - Manager Additive Manufacturing
Section through a SIS injector
Technical Papers
Hybrid design of the oil ring
SMS group GmbH
Ohlerkirchweg 66
41069 Mönchengladbach Germany
Tel.: +49 2161 350 0 Fax: +49 2161 350 1667
communications@sms-group. com
www.sms-group.com
ITAtube Journal No3/October 2019
21