Automotive sector to drive aluminium growth, says metallurgist

Metallurgical plant and rolling mill technology provider SMS Group has identified the automotive industry as a crucial target market for the company where its aluminium rolling technology can be applied, says SMS Group technical services South Africa executive VP Michael Schäfer.

In its 2015 newsletter, published in May 2015 , SMS Group GmbH - SMS Group South Africa’s parent company – noted the high investment from aluminium producers in preparation for increased aluminium demand. The company also highlighted that it was developing new rolling mills and heat-treatment facilities, with existing mills increasingly being modernised to meet the demand of the automotive industry.

Schäfer explains that the automotive sector is one of the fastest-growing sectors in terms of aluminium flat-rolled products, with an expected global growth of 20% a year to 2020. He notes that the US aluminium market, in particular, is booming, especially considering that the body of the new Ford F-150 pick-up truck - one of the country’s best-selling models - is being manufactured totally out of aluminium. This results in a weight reduction of 320 kg for every vehicle.

Ford has reaffirmed its target to build 850 000 of the F-150s every year, stimulating demand for 350 000 t/y of aluminium strip.

SMS Group supplies equipment to aluminium-rolling and -processing companies, such as Alcoa, Novelis and Aleris, which supply automotive original-equipment manufacturers such as Ford with aluminium sheets, notes Schäfer. Equipment supplied by SMS Group includes electrodischarge texturing (EDT) technology and various aluminium hot and cold rolling mills.

Schäfer highlights the isotropic strip surface texture of an automotive sheet as one of the special characteristics of the component. The coarse surface texture provides benefits during the downstream pressing and painting processes, he notes, adding that SMS Group provides an EDT technology package to control the sophisticated rolling process to apply the coarse texture to the strip.

Most rolling mills supplied by SMS Group feature continuously variable crown (CVC) technology and extended bending system technology. These two technologies ensure that a multitude of rolling conditions can be met.

Typically, a control system analyses the flatness roll measurements, calculates the tension distribution across the strip width and provides correction values for flatness actuators, like roll bending and the CVC shifting of roll spot cooling. Schäfer says a consistent flatness is required to feed the material into downstream processing lines and that CVC technology is also applied for steel strips used in auto body construction.

SMS Group has years of experience in building steel rolling mills for automotive sheets. The company has, therefore, been able to transfer its experience from steel rolling to aluminium rolling.