Glossary
AOD
Abbreviation for Argon Oxygen Decarburization.
AOD converter
Special converter for stainless, acid and heat-resistant steel, in which argon and oxygen are blown in to reduce the carbon content of the steel.
AOD procedure
A converter-refining procedure for reducing the carbon content of the molten metal by blowing in argon and oxygen.
Business Area
Designation for a specific area of business activity at the ThyssenKrupp Group.
Cold-rolled strip
A cold-reduced flat product produced by ThyssenKrupp Stainless in widths of up to 1600 mm and thicknesses ranging from 0.2 to approx. 6 mm. After passing through the rolling process, the cold strips are annealed and pickled, or else "bright annealed". This product is available in many different finishes, including ground, polished, patterned etc. The advantage of cold-rolled strip over hot-rolled strip lies in the greater precision that can be attained. See "Precision strip".
Cold rolling
Forming method employed after hot rolling or strip casting. Here, the rolling stock is reduced to a specified thickness by applying pressure between two rolls in the roll gap of the cold rolling stand. The difference between this procedure and hot rolling has to do with the temperature: Cold rolling is always conducted at a temperature lower than the recrystallization temperature, which means it requires subsequent annealing. Cold rolling of stainless, acid and heat-resistant steel is generally carried out on a reversing multi-roll stand with small work rolls that allow for high thickness reduction, even with grades that are difficult to form.
Continuous casting plant
Continuous process for producing slabs from molten steel. Here, the steel is cast through a tundish into a cooled mold that determines the dimensions (width, thickness) of the slabs. The cast strand exits the mold with the skin just hardened. During further cooling it is guided between rolls, turned horizontally and then cut to the desired slab length by cutting torches.
Converter
Refractory lined vessel for refining (converting) pig iron into steel.
eBusiness
Term for communications, transactions and the exchange of information between supplier and manufacturer (Business-to-Business) or between manufacturer and consumer (Business-to-Consumer) via the internet.
Hot-rolled sheet
Sheet cut from hot-rolled wide strip, usually with a thickness up to 15 (max. 20) mm.
Hot-rolled wide strip
Hot-rolled steel strip with a width of >600 mm that is rolled
directly from slabs in a semi- or completely continuous hot strip mill or – particulary in case of pure stainless products – in separate Steckel mills. Hot-rolled strips can be used for specific applications and especially as starting material for the cold-rolling process.
Hot rolling
Forming method, whereby rolling at high temperatures allows for a great reduction of thickness, meaning, for example, that the slab can be formed into a thin hot-rolled strip.
Inox
Designation for stainless in the Romance languages.
Hydroforming
Innovative forming method, whereby a liquid placed under high pressure is used to press the workpiece into a specified shape inside a closed die. This makes it possible to produce extremely complex shapes from tubular blanks.
Multi-processing line
A unit that allows several processing steps to be combined that would otherwise be carried out on separate units with conventional production technology.
Nickel-base alloys
A collective term for a series of alloys made of nickel and other metals (Cu, Cr, Fe, Mo) that stand out for their particularly high heat and/or corrosion resistance. Such alloys are available on the market under a variety of brand names.
Precision strip
Cold-rolled strip with an ideal thickness of between 0.01 and 0.4 mm and a maximum width of 650 mm and/or which fulfill special demands in terms of strength or edge quality, as well as displaying a high degree of dimensional accuracy.
Pre-product
The product of a prior process that is used as a starting material for the next process in the value chain.
Recycling
Reintegration of a material or component into the manufacturing cycle to produce a new end product. With recycling, scrap is turned into a raw material for the production of steel. Because of its 100-percent recyclability (involving no loss of quality), stainless steel is a particularly environmentally friendly material. Its recyclability is thus an important material property.
Sandwich sheet
Sheets of at least three layers, whereby the two outer layers generally consist of the same material. This is a newly developed product at ThyssenKrupp Stainless. It is made of two thin stainless-steel sheets with an intermediate plastic layer.
Sendzimir mill
Multi-roll mill (20 rolls at ThyssenKrupp Stainless) for cold rolling wide steel strips - named after its inventor, Professor Tadeusz Sendzimir. The two thin work rolls are held by numerous back-up rolls in a housing. The small diameter of the work rolls together with the back-up rolls makes it possible to achieve great thickness reductions and closer tolerances, even with materials that are difficult to form.
Slab
Compact block of crude steel (usually a product of the casting process in steel mills), which is used as a pre-product in hot-rolling mills to produce rolled hot strip or quarto plate.
Strip casting (also known as thin strip casting)
A technology employed at ThyssenKrupp that involves molten steel being cast between two rotating rolls and then hardened into a hot rolled strip. Elimination of the conventional hot-rolling stage saves an entire process step.
Supply chain management
Supply chain management analyzes the entire supply chain of a company with the aim of improving the flow of information and materials between internal and external suppliers, production areas, distributors and customers.
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