TKA rolls first coil following hot mill expansion
The first coil has been rolled on Mino’s four stand hot tandem mill at the Texarkana Aluminum (TKA) site in Texas, USA.
The project started in 2023, when Mino was awarded the contract by TKA to design, supply, and commission the mill.
The mill was installed at the extension of the left roller table of the existing single-stand reversing hot mill.
This addition transforms the facility into a “1+4 Hot Rolling Line”, where the pre-existing mill works as a roughing stand and the new installation works as hot finishing stands.
The 1+4 configuration is designed to provide high output rates and precise quality in terms of thickness tolerance, strip crown, flatness, and the final temperature achieved in the outgoing hot rolled coils.
Furthermore, the short interpass time between thickness reductions prevents material recrystallisation, resulting in a crystallographic texture suitable for the demanding final applications.
Prior to delivery, the hot tandem mill was completely pre-assembled at Mino’s workshop in Alessandria, Italy.
This process included the installation of on-board piping, sensors, and cabling.
The hot tandem mill features the following technical specifications:
Work rolls barrel length: 79 inches (2000 mm).
Minimum gauge: 0.079 inch (2 mm) for soft alloys, 0.138 inch (3.5 mm) for hard alloys.
Rolling force per stand: 3,500 tons.
Installed power per stand: 5,000 kW.
Total installed power: 43,000 kW
Cooling system: fully independent, optimised for hot finishing rolling with a flow rate of 36,000 l/min.
Edge trimming: side trimmer and scrap chopper included.
Advanced process control: AGC system and profile measurement and control.
AC drives: medium voltage, synchronous motors.
The physical scale of the project involved:
Eight cast steel housings weighing 115 tons each.
Gearboxes for stands 1 and 2, weighing 130 tons and 100 tons, respectively.
A mechanical assembly weighing nearly 2,000 tons.
A total supply weight exceeding 3,000 tons, including hydraulics, cooling, electrics, and instrumentation.
Transporting the equipment required 200 containers and 80 cases, making the logistics from Italy to Texas a project in itself.
The gearboxes were designed by Mino’s technical specialists, and its components were fabricated by specialised suppliers in northern Italy.
All the parts were assembled, completed with lubrication systems, and rotation-tested in Mino’s gear-boxes testing station, located in the same Mino’s Alessandria workshop.
Through this new expansion, TKA can meet the growing demand for 1xxx, 3xxx and 5xxx coils of its customers, covering industrial sectors and applications such as common alloys, automotive, can-stock, foil-stock, transportation, and aerospace.
