HICON/H₂ bell annealer for electrical steel strip (BAF)

HICON/H₂ bell annealers for electrical strip (BAF).

HICON/H₂ bell annealer facilities – the technology that revolutionized the heat treatment of steel strip coils.

Today, HICON/H₂ is internationally known as a synonym for excellence in quality, productivity and lowest production costs. But it is undoubtedly the exceptional quality of steel coils annealed in 100 % hydrogen which has made HICON/H₂ technology so successful.

Through intensive collaboration with partners in the industry, EBNER is able to tailor each HICON/H₂ bell annealer to each customer’s needs. New solutions, new products and the optimization of existing processes are all supported.

Thanks to continual technological advances by EBNER‘s R&D department, HICON/H₂ bell annealers achieve shortest possible annealing and cooling times while simultaneously keeping operating costs low. Customers in more than 45 countries worldwide are profiting from this technology and its value-for-money as they boost efficiency.

The facility can be implemented to comply with the standards required by the automotive industry, in accordance with CQI-9 (AIAG).

The following advantages are provided by the EBNER facility design:

• Lowest dewpoints and up to 100% hydrogen atmosphere ensure the least possible amount of surface oxidation and the best results during rolling/skin passing
• Shortest possible heating and cooling times, achieved through a combination of high convection (HICON) and the use of 100 % hydrogen (H2) atmosphere, ensure maximum productivity
• 100 % load-bearing surface for the coil at the bottom of the stack, paired with optimized convector plate designs, to protect the edges of the strip → this reduces the likelihood of strip breakage and scrap in downstream production steps
• Low energy consumption and low maintenance requirements due to refined design and high-quality manufacturing

Applications

Bell annealers are used to heat treat non-grain-oriented electrical strip, both hot-rolled and cold-rolled, at temperatures between 650 and 900 °C. These processes can be grouped as follows:

Hot-rolled strip

• Improvement of magnetic characteristics by controlling the texture (crystalline orientation)
• Material temperatures: 750 – 900 °C

Cold-rolled strip

• Recrystallization of the microstructure of non-final-annealed electrical strip for the subsequent skin pass → activation of the material for the final anneal at the end customer
• Material temperatures: 650 – 750 °C