Materials
Clean and flat
Servosteel has just
launched SCS, a new
processing system that
delivers clean and flat
hot rolled black coil
S
ervosteel, the UK’s largest strip steel
toll processor, has announced the offi-
cial launch of a new technology solu-
tion to clean and flatten hot rolled black steel
coil to a standard which, it says, ‘surpasses
any other method’. The process, known as
SCS, has been installed at Servosteel’s main
Above (from
need for any coating or covering with oil,
UK facility in Dudley, West Midlands at a
left): Jim
which is required for pickled coil. Samples
Spencer
total investment cost of £3.4 million.
(managing
from early stages of the SCS process devel-
The processing line has been acquired
director,
opment are now some three and a half years
from Red Bud Industries. Servosteel believes
Servosteel), old and still show no signs of rust.
that it is, at present, the only company in
Sir Digby
This is because the SCS brushing process
Jones, Mark
the world offering this service outside North
Anderson
removes the topmost layers of scale, leaving
America. As part of the investment, Servosteel
(finance
only a thin (about 7 microns) brushed layer
has acquired exclusive UK rights to the SCS director, of wustite scale. Wustite’s chemistry is differ-
technology for the next three years. The line
Servosteel)
ent from the top layers of scale - it has fewer
has the capacity to process 200,000 tonnes of oxygen atoms in a molecule, which leaves the
steel coil per year. treated coil with a rust inhibitive surface.
The launch was attended by over 150 of Exceptional flatness is also achieved by
Servosteel’s customers from across the UK the SCS roller levellers combined with the
and continental Europe and Sir Digby Jones, extreme tension generated by the recoiler,
the former Director General of the CBI, was even with very poorly shaped material with
the guest of honour. significant buckling or edge wave, thus ena-
bling the system to reclaim secondary coils.
A revolutionary technology SCS is also, the company explained, a very
The SCS process is very different from the environmentally friendly way of cleaning
traditional pickling process for cleaning steel steel coil; the water is recycled for re-use via
as it uses just water under high pressure and a sophisticated filtration system and the only
specially developed abrasive brushes rather byproduct is the remaining residue of metal-
than a hydrochloric acid bath. A unique lic scale, which is recycled with other steel
feature is that, after the cleaning process has scrap. There is no hazardous or toxic mate-
been completed, the steel will remain rust- rial or waste and so any health hazards and
free under normal conditions without the threats to the environment are eliminated.
36 May/June 2007 International Sheet Metal Review
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