Visit to JSL Stainless Ltd., Hisar (16April 2011)
– A Brief Review
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The Indian Institute of Metals – Delhi Chapter regularly organizes visits to eminent industries in
and around NCR, for benefit of its members. In this series, a team of IIM DC members visited
JSL Stainless Ltd., Hisar on 16April 2011, on invitation of IIM Hisar Chapter. The visiting
members went around state of art facilities of JSL Stainless and had extensive deliberations with
the office bearers of IIM Hisar Chapter. |
JSL Stainless Ltd. is globally recognized
producer of stainless steels flat products
in Austenitic, Ferritic, Martensitic and
Duplex grades. The product range
comprises different grades of stainless
steels including Slabs & Blooms, Hot
Rolled Coils, Plates, Cold Rolled Coils
and Special products like Razor Blade
Steel, Precision Strip and Coin blanks.
Its market share in India is ~ 45%.
With the commissioning of its
forthcoming integrated Orissa project at
Jajpur, JSL Stainless will achieve a
capacity of 2.5 MTPA, further
consolidating its position as the largest
producer in the country with wide
product mix covering austenitic, Ferritic, |
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Martensitic, dual phase and super-dual
phase quality steels catering to critical requirements of defense, nuclear energy, automobile
sector in domestic markets and exports. |
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PLANT FACILITIES |
Steel Making |
The two Steel Melt Shops, SMS I & SMS II, comprise Ultra High Power - Electric Arc Furnaces,
Argon Secondary Metallurgy Converter and LRF (Ladle Refining Furnace). SMS I is equipped with
a continuous slab caster while SMS II is equipped with twin strand bloom caster. In addition,
SMS I is also equipped with VOD (Vacuum Oxygen Decarburisation) unit to produce steel with
low inclusion and gas content. The present installed capacity of both SMSs put together is
550,000 MT per year. The Slabs are subjected to surface conditioning in a slab grinding section.
The Slabs are then Hot Rolled into HR Coils in Steckel Mill, which are then used to produce HRAP
No.1 Coils and Plates. HR coils are transferred to Cold Rolling Unit, to produce CR Coils and
Sheets. The Blooms are hot rolled in Tandem Strip Mill to narrow coils and flat bars. |
In addition, special steels like razor blade steel is cast into ingots, which are subsequently forged
to slabs & rolled in tandem strip mill. |
Process |
The production of stainless steel begins with melting of ferrous scrap and ferroalloys in UHP
Electric Arc Furnace, followed by secondary refining in AOD/VOD units. The liquid steel thus
obtained, is cast into slabs in a continuous slab caster with Auto Mould Level Control (AMLC)
System. JSL Stainless Ltd. produces stainless steel in 200, 300 & 400 series. On-going efforts of
a dedicated R&D Team, along with Operations & Quality Assurance departments are constantly
innovating in fields of cost reduction, product development and addition of niche products viz.
Duplex Stainless Steel, Controlled expansion alloys like INVAR-36, Special Finish Cold Rolled
Stainless Steel and Stainless Steels for critical applications. |
Hot Rolling |
Hot rolling comprises Hot Steckel Mill and Tandem Strip mill. The hot steckel mill comprises slab
reheating walking beam furnace, 4 Hi reversing roughing mill, 4 Hi reversing Steckel Mill
equipped with Hot Coilers on both sides and a down coiler. Slabs are rolled to hot rolled coils and
plates. The mill is equipped with level-2 automaton system consisting of automatic hydraulic gap
setting, roll bending system, automatic pass scheduling & mill setup, automatic sequencing, mill
supervisory system and automatic gauge control. The mill is capable of rolling plates and coils
up to 1250 mm width weighing up to 18MT. |
The Tandem Strip mill comprises reheating furnace, 2-Hi roughing stand, five finishing stands
and down coiler to hot roll stainless steel blooms into flat bars and narrow coils. |
The present rolling capacity of both the mills put together is 720,000 TPA.
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HR coils are cut to length, annealed and pickled to produce plates in HRAP No. 1 finish. For
thickness 10.0mm and above, plates are directly produced from steckel mill, which are annealed
and pickled to produce HRAP No. 1 finish plates. |
Cold Rolling |
The cold rolling mill complex comprises four units - CRD I, CRD II, CRD III & CRD IV. CRD I,
CRD III & CRD IV comprise a combination of 20 Hi Sendzimer mills, annealing and pickling lines
and various sophisticated associated equipment & processing lines to produce Cold Rolled Coils &
Sheets with quality surface finishes, precise dimensional control and good flatness control in
wider coils (>600mm width). The facilities at JSL Stainless Hisar are equipped to produce and
supply material in 2D, 2B, No.3, No.4 and BA surface finishes. CRD II is engaged in production
of precision strips in thinner sizes (0.05mm to 0.50mm thick) e.g. Razor Blade, other ferritic and
Martensitic stainless steel. |
The present installed capacity of cold rolled products is 1,50,000 TPA. |
Coil buildup line is used to attach leader ends in hot rolled coils for increasing the overall yield of
coils. It is also equipped with edge trimming to improve production for further operations |
The Skin pass mill is designed and installed in dust proof housing. It is used to give cold rolled
pass by polished groundwork roll on 2D finish dull material to convert to 2B bright surface finish.
The mill is designed to meet requirements in 600 to 1600mm width coils in 0.40 to 3.00mm
thickness. |
Slitting lines are used to side trim the coils and cater the market requirements in smaller width
coils with a thickness from 0.45mm to 6MM. |
The Strip Grinding line is used to produce No.3, No.4 and some special finishes requiring
grinding which is used for decorative purposes in architectural applications, restaurant
equipment, dairy equipment, lifts, elevators etc. |
The flying shearing line with Voss Levelers is used to produce sheets with good flatness, which is
the first and foremost requirement of customers. |
The annealing and pickling line is used to anneal and pickle Hot Rolled stainless and Cold Rolled
stainless steel coils. The continuous annealing & pickling line is equipped with a neutral
electrolyte tank for pickling by Ruthner process, using sodium sulphate for the neutral
electrolyte, scanacon system for acid recovery and removal of metal content. |
The bright annealing (BA) line at JSL is one of its kinds in India. The annealing in BA line is done
in controlled atmosphere of cracked ammonia to avoid any oxidation of metal which ensures a
bright finish called as BA finish. |
Razor and Surgical Blade Steel |
JSL Stainless Ltd. is an exclusive producer of stainless razor blade steel in India. The
microstructure of their strips is designed to optimize / facilitate hardening, sharpening & honing
operations at customers end and to develop ideal characteristics for intended end applications.
These are achieved with stringent quality checks utilizing modern and sophisticated testing
equipment such as Metallurgical microscope with advanced Image Analyzer, digital microhardness
tester, microprocessor controlled Tensile testing machine and Scanning Electron
Microscope. Persistent R & D activity had led to improvements in quality of product enabling JSL,
not only to cater to the Indian razor blade steel requirements but also to export a substantial
quantity on a regular basis. The current capacity for precision strip production is 12,000 TPA. |
Coin Blanks |
JSL Stainless Ltd. has been supplying AISI 430 grade ferritic stainless steel coils & blanks to
India Govt. Mint & Foreign mints for making coins on regular basis. To diversify its product
range, coin blanking and associated processing facilities of world-class quality have been
installed and commissioned. |
Facilities are available for supplying Ferritic Stainless Steel rs.5, rs.2 and rs.1 coin blanks. The
present installed capacity for coin blanking is 10,000 MTPY. |
The cold rolled and bright-annealed coils are processed at coin blanking lines. This comprise a
blanking press, deburring machine, edge rimming machine, annealing furnace and polishing
machines. Subsequently the coin blanks are inspected on Inspection Conveyors, then counted by
counting machine and packed in drums for dispatch. |
The punched out strips of AISI SS430 are by-products during production of coin blanks. These
are aesthetically pleasing and elegant and have a vide variety of applications such as cable
trays, kitchen racks, Paper Baskets etc.
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Cupro-Nickel Complex |
In order to expand the business for coin blanks, an independent production line has been
installed to produce high value copper-base non-ferrous alloys importantly cupro-nickels. The
production facility includes induction melting, continuous horizontal strip casting, cold rolling,
annealing, pickling and slitting. The installed melting and casting capacity is 6000T per annum.
Apart from Cupro-Nickels, the unit can produce Aluminum-Bronze, Phosphorus Bronze, NickelSilver
and Tin bearing copper for various engineering and jewellery applications. AluminumBronze
along with Cupro-Nickel is used to manufacture duplex coins. At present JSL Stainless
Ltd. is supplying the newly introduced Aluminum bronze with high value Copper based nonferrous
alloys
-
Cupro
Nickel
duplex
coin
blanks
of
denomination
of
rs.10
to
Govt.
of
India,
Mint. |
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES |
The R&D division at JSL Stainless Ltd., Hisar plays a pivotal role in retaining and consolidating
company's leadership role in stainless steel business by continuous up-gradation of quality,
processes & services and innovating development strategies to come up with new products. |
Major tasks |
- Developments of high value products to serve niche markets
- Quality up-gradation of existing products enabling global acceptance
- Cost reduction by process development, optimization and refinement to improve
competitive edge
- Technology enhancement to increase production with quality
- Market segment improvement by interacting & sharing knowledge with customers and
assisting them in trouble shooting operation
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In addition to the above, R&D Division closely interacts with reputed national and international
laboratories/scientific institution/universities to avail expert services for critical investigations. |
INTERACTION WITH IIM HISAR CHAPTER OFFICE BEARERS |
Detailed discussions were held with
the office bearers of IIM Hisar
Chapter. Mr.J.Sood, AVP
(Operations) CRD, JSL Stainless
Ltd. and Chairman IIM Hisar
Chapter welcomed regular
interactions with IIM Delhi Chapter
The issue of joint development of a
one or half day workshop on
“Stainless Steel Applications &
Business Opportunities”, to
disseminate basic knowledge of
Stainless steels amongst business
persons and students of
engineering colleges, was
discussed in detail. This may cover introduction to various
manufacturing processes applicable
to stainless steels, information about availability of plant and machinery, consultancy & support services etc. |
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With the same theme as above, during MMMM-2012 Exhibition scheduled in Sept. 2012 in
Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, we can jointly plan an exclusive section/hall as “The Stainless
Show”, where visitors should be able to get all information on the subject under one roof. Here
business sessions for select visitors to clarify all queries could also be planned. |
This would call for advance planning of the event with adequate publicity in industrial clusters
across the country, involving local industry associations/ business forums and engineering
institutions. |
Office bearers of IIM Hisar Chapter agreed the proposal, in principle. It was indicated that the
Marketing Development Group of JSL Stainless Ltd., based at N.Delhi, would be associated in
this venture. |
The visit to JSL Stainless Ltd. Hisar ended with thanks to JSL Stainless Ltd. and IIM Hisar
Chapter for facilitating this visit. |