Take the ingots to the primary mill. Roll them into blooms. Deliver the blooms to the Bar and Billet mill. Load each bloom into the re-heating furnace. The furnace heats each bloom to about 1250°C. The bloom is now ready to pass through the mills. The bloom goes through each mill many times until it is its correct size. There are three mills. The Roughing mill and the Intermediate mill do most of the work, and the Finishing mill completes the job.
The Big Squeeze
A: Furnace for reheating the blooms
B: A bloom ready for to go through the Roughing mill
C: Roughing mill: the steel bloom passes backwards and forwards through the rolls of this mill
D: Rolls reduce and shape the steel bloom
E: A bloom after it has been through the Roughing mill
F: The Mill Roller – he is responsible for the operation of all three mills.
G: One of the mill drivers – they operate each mill’s controls
How long do you think it takes to roll 100 tons of steel?
About 45 minutes, but it takes hours to get the steel ready to be rolled.
