In a press release Friday, ArcelorMittal USA plate announced the commissioning of its $60 million state-of-the-art Heat Treat Line at its 160" plate mill in Burns Harbor, Indiana. The new line, which was built over the past nine months, can produce a full range of heat treat plate with a reduced cycle time for ArcelorMittal's customers in the machinery, mining, construction and steel service center industries.
"The market has become increasingly competitive in quality, cycle time and delivery performance," said John Mengel, Chief Operating Officer, ArcelorMittal USA Plate Operations. "We invested in our existing operations, which were built in 1966, in order to meet current and future market demand for on-time quality deliveries."
The cornerstone of this investment is a new, high-capacity leveler, the largest and most sophisticated leveler of its kind in the world. The leveler is designed to handle plate thicknesses from 3/8" to 4" with yield strengths up to 200ksi. Plates are blasted and painted with a "0" VOC fabrication friendly primer. The new line will deliver the stated quality and delivery goals, along with a 10 percent reduction in fuel consumption per ton shipped.
The 160" Plate Mill Heat Treat Line will produce the following three product groups:
- Normalized Plate--provides improved toughness, fracture resistance in structures and puncture resistance in vessels
- Quench Plate (martensite)--for use in abrasion-resistant applications
- Quench and Tempered Plate (tempered martensite)--tailored to meet customer specifications for high-strength applications