TECHNICAL VISIT


MIDLANDS BRANCH TECHNICAL VISIT TO BRmSH STEEL SCUNTHORPE WORKS


BLF President, Adrian Parsons, joined an excellent turnout of 25 Midlands Branch members, who journeyed out of their region to visit one of British Steel's World-Class steel making plants at Scunthorpe in North Lincolnshire. They spent the day finding out how steel is produced and how lubricants are used in the manufacturing processes that ensure cost efficient production of high specification iron and steel. The plant is part of British Steel's Sections, Plates and Commercial Steels business. Two British Steel guides, Keith and Brian showed Federation members around the plant. It was good to see many new faces amongst our party and I noted that many were from member companies who specialise in the iron & steel sector. This is just what we have been trying to achieve - to involve wider participation from


member companies, especially the younger employees. Technical visits are designed to provide the membership with both an interesting educational content and perhaps business opportunities. This visit was considered as essential for many of our member companies. During our trip around the plant we saw lots of drummed lubricants from BLF members companies, both oils and greases. The visit included a technical presentation session followed by two visits around the site, one in the morning followed by another during the afternoon. The site is vast and covers some 1,700 acres, so moving around by motorised transport was essential. The process of making steel starts with the production of iron via blast furnaces, of which Scunthorpe, has four. The site visit started at a vast material marshalling store, this is where the blast furnaces' raw materials are assembled. These are iron ore, limestone, and recycled waste product. Both coal and iron ore arrive by rail from the docks, limestone by road from a local quarry and slag by the in-house rail network. These materials were being


mechanically laid out in 300,000 tonne structured mounds each hundreds of metres long. They have room for four or five of these on site. This mixture is then collected up by another machine and transported by conveyor to furnaces to be sintered, ready for use to charge the blast furnaces. Once liquid iron has been formed within the blast furnaces, it is drawn off into special rail cars- torpedoes- and moved to the separate steel making facility. During the morning the party also saw first hand the manufacturing of coke from coal, another raw material, and how slag is recycled to ensure every last part of its unused iron content is captured and doesn't become waste. Steel is produced by two main processes, either in an Electric Arc Furnace or a Basic Oxygen Furnace. This issue's cover photograph, kindly provided by Gordon Davison, Manager of British Steel Scunthorpe's Photographic Services shows hot metal charging into a basic oxygen furnace. Secondary steel making to further refine the material is also employed; ingot casting and the Continuous Casting Process follow this. Waste gases from the steel making process wherever possible are reused; a good example is carbon monoxide, which is drawn off during steel making into special tankage for reuse as a fuel. The afternoon session included standing on a catwalk about 50 feet above the Continuous Casting Process machines watching glowing continuous billets emerging from the mouth of these fantastic man made constructions, whilst hot air wafted up and over you . We also watched the continuous billets being cut into standard lengths (whilst still in motion) by a complicated spectacular oxy-flame lance system. The scale of these plants is enormous and, especially to newcomers, quite awe-inspiring. The party then went on to visit one of the rolling mills. We saw preheated billets being squeezed and shaped under enormous pressures into various sections. The glowing steel billets rushing past us at high speed through different sized rollers- lubricated by our member' s products- until the final correct shape had been formed. They were then transported to a cooling area, before the final cutting and checking processes. The mill was almost a mile long, and totally controlled by computer. Over lunch the opportunity was taken for Midlands Branch to hold its AGM and this being the end of the normal two-year cycle of office for officials, elections were held. I can report that Pat Murphy; Amoa Division of Catomance pic was duly elected as the incoming Chairman of Midland Branch. I am sure that all the party will remember this visit, it really was one to tell your friends and colleagues about.


Rod Parker


II


ISSUE 35 • DECEMBER 1998


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