SMS to provide merchant bar mill to Nucor Steel Kankakee

SMS group will install a 500,000-tons-per-year merchant bar mill at Nucor Steel Kankakee Inc., Bourbonnais, Ill. Production is scheduled to begin in 2019.

The mill will be designed to produce a variety of merchant bar products to complement the existing product portfolio, equal and unequal angles from 3 to 7 in., channels from 3 to 10 in., flats up to 12 in., rounds up to 3-5/8 in., and rebar from No. 14 to No. 18. The roll pass design will allow the mill to use starting billet sizes from 6.25 in. square to 5.5 by 11.5 in.

The merchant bar mill will comprise 16 stands, including five dual-drive convertible stands, each equipped with a quick-changing device. It also will have three shears along the mill, with provisions for automatic sampling collection and an automatic sampling area at the cooling bed.

Other features include a multiline straightening machine with automatic bar positioning and feeding device and automatic roll changing system, a 700-ton cold shear, two cold saws, an 80-ft. automatic magnetic stacker with four independent 20-ft. sections, a MEERgauge® profile gauge with surface defect detection capability, and quick-changing equipment.