COMMENT :
Aluminium as alternative material has bright prospect in India
Prospects for the aluminium industry seem to be bright as aluminium is being used increasingly in energy efficient vehicles. For instance, the space shuttle, the hummer vehicle, and the Ferrari 360 Modena all are made of high performance aluminium. Material automakers are increasingly choosing to improve fuel economy, reduc emission and enhance vehicle performance.
NEWS CORNER
Siemens Supplies Turnkey Continuous Annealing Line to Tianjin Tiantie Metallurgical Group Production of High-grade Cold Rolled
Strip for the Automotive Industry
Siemens VAI Metals Technologies has received an order from Tianjin Tiantie Metallurgical Group Steel Plate Ltd. Co. (TTMG) in China to provide the turnkey process equipment for a new continuous annealing line. The business is worth an amount well into the two-digit million euro range. The annealing line forms part of a cold rolling mill for the production of high-grade strip for the automotive industry, and is scheduled to commence operation in August 2010.
New Order Received from China's Aluminum Industry: Siemens to Supply three Process Control Systems for Henan Yongshun Aluminium Company Ltd
Siemens Metals Technologies has received an order from the Chinese Henan Youngshun Aluminium Co. Ltd., to supply three new process control systems with the associated flatness measurement and coolant sprays technology. The value of these orders exceeds two million Euros. These projects are scheduled for completion by December 2009.
London Metal Exchange upgrades LMEselect Exchange records record October volumes
The London Metal Exchange (LME) has today upgraded its electronic trading platform LMEselect. The upgrade, which became effective from 01:00 London time this morning, will provide a more robust system that offers operational efficiencies.
RAW MATERIALS
Coal as a fuel set to remain strong globally
In recent times the energy market is characterized by high and volatile prices reflecting tight balance of demand and supply. Despite a 2.4 pc decline in the last year, the growth in primary energy consumption remains above the 10-year average for the 5th consecutive year, supported by a strong world economic growth, notwithstanding the uncertainties in the financial market * .
SPECIAL COVERAGE
Base metals finding it hard to stay afloat in the hard times
The base metals market, which has been in continued bullrun for nearly four years, seems to have succumbed to the financial crisis that has hit nearly all the economies, developed as well as developing, across the globe. The prices have tumbled below the cost of production, especially in the second half of this year, signaling major demand-supply imbalance in the market. As per data available from various sources, the demand for the base metals, such as zinc, lead, nickel, tin, copper and aluminum, primarily supported by strong global growth, rapidly increasing income and industrial production in large economies, has fallen off significantly in the second half of 2008 on fears that the world is sliding into long recession. To stay afloat in the hard times the producers have already started curtailing output and canceling large investment plans.
TECHNOLOGY/PROCESS REVIEW
Danieli Fröhling new high-performance slitting line to Qinghai Ping An Aluminium, P.R. of China
Danieli Frohling (DF) is maintaining the technology leadership in the aluminum market. With its state-ofthe- art equipment DF puts its customers into the position to remain current with the constantly increasing demands of the aluminum market. Once again, its excellent reputation for reliability, low operating costs, and the highest standards for close tolerances and surface quality of the finished aluminum strips were the foundation for the new order placed by Qinghai Ping An Aluminium High Precision Machining Industrial Co., Ltd. on April 29 this year.
Stressometer Flatness Control Innovations for Sustainable Cold Rolling
The Stressometer flatness control system from ABB has been used in the aluminium industry for more than 40 years. The first system was a joint development between ABB and Alcan and the system was installed in Alcans cold rolling mill in Kingston, Canada in 1967. This also happened to be the world’s first flatness system for a rolling mill. The idea was to control the transversal stress distribution in the strip and thus improving the strip flatness. The assumption was that a controlled stress distribution in the strip would lead to improvements in the strip quality and the mill productivity. The hypothesis turned out to be correct. The strip quality as well as mill productivity improved thanks to higher yield, less strip breaks and shorter pass times.
Wireless Technology & Best Practices to Reduce Project Costs
The benefits of wireless seem obvious – “no wires”. Despite this, fewer than 1% of installed measurements in process plants and mills are wireless. Fortunately, real and perceived obstacles to wireless deployment are being overcome with improved technology, most recently the “self-organizing network”.
TECHNOLOGY FOCUS
Properties and Applications of Titanium - 6% Aluminium - 4% Vanadium Alloy
TiAlV alloy is an alpha+beta alloy, containing 6% aluminium and 4% vanadium. This titanium alloy has good tensile properties at room temperature,
annealed material having a typical tensile strength of 1000-1100 MPa, and a useful creep resistance up to 300°C of about 570 MPa for 0-1% total plastic strain in 100 hours. Heat treatment will give a guaranteed minimum tensile of 1100 MPa for such applications as springs, bolts or other fasteners.
METAL FOCUS
Indian aluminium producing companies post net profit for Q2 FY09
The Indian aluminium companies, Hindalco and Nalco, have registered an increase in net profit for Q2 FY2008-09 in spite of rising input costs, declining price trend at LME, and falling global demand for the metal.
Indian non-ferrous metals to add to inflation woe
A recent Barclays Capital Research report has said that the global copper cathode market would remain tight because of a severe shortage in concentrates — the main raw material for making copper. Current global inventories account for less than three weeks worth of world consumption, the report added. The bleak outlook on the concentrate front has also prompted the government to mull revival of a closed mine of the staterun Hindustan Copper, in Rajasthan.
ALUMINIUM EXTRUSION
Extrusion Product Development – Recent trend in India
The largest product segment for Aluminium Extrusion is Building and Construction, about 12% of the market. This is also the segment with the highest growth rate of 10.5%. Various innovative architectural systems have come up in the recent years. In the premium segment the architectural systems used in Europe has created a niche market. Various other systems are developed by leading architectural firms and have been used extensively in high-rise buildings and prestigious projects. Many of the Indian firms in the construction field have tie-ups with foreign collaborators and the technology and design gets transferred. This has led to manufacture of extrusions with intricate and complex shapes. The dimensional accuracy and surface finish requirement is also stringent so as to adhere to the high standards required by these systems.
Danieli Breda extrusion technology to Abtec, UAE
Danieli Breda signed another important contract in UAE with ABTEC (Al Buraq Trading & Enterprises Company Ltd), a company owned by Bukhatir Group. Bukhatir Group will invest Dh100 million to build a plant in the Industrial City of Abu Dhabi.The new press, a 28-MN short-stroke back-loading type, will be installed first, while a second one is foreseen in the short term, for a total capacity of 20,000 tpy. The region's ongoing construction boom has boosted the aluminium extrusion industry (The demand is expected to reach 450,000 t in 2008, with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, and Kuwait accounting for most of the increase), especially for windows and doors production. New buildings are growing day by day, and aluminium extruded profiles are a must for the local weather conditions, especially where air conditioning and windows perfect sealing is required.The Danieli Breda know-how played an important role in this contract award, which also foresees continued support to ABTEC in its growth.
COMPANY PROFILE
Cognex Appoints Thomas F. Nash as President of its Surface Inspection Systems Division Tom Nash
Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ: CGNX), the world’s leading supplier of machine vision systems, announced the appointment of Tom Nash to the position
of President of the Surface Inspection Systems Division (SISD). Mr. Nash reports to Dr. Robert J. Shillman, Chairman and CEO of Cognex.
Nalco announces 60% dividend payout of Rs387 crore Current status and an overview of the Navaratna
In the 27th AGM, the shareholders of Nalco approved the Accounts for 2007-08 with a sales turnover of Rs5,576 crore, net profit of Rs1,632 crore and an export earning of Rs2,135 crore. They also approved a dividend payout of 60% amounting to Rs387 crore (including 45% interim dividend paid in February, 2008) on the paid-up equity share capital of Rs644 crore. During the year, Nalco achieved 104.48% capacity utilization of its Angul smelter with a production of 360,457 tonnes of aluminium cast metal against 358,734 tonnes in the previous year.
Bhoruka Aluminium Ability to deliver quality products with cutting edge technology
Bhoruka Aluminium is an ISO 9002 company, established in 1979, which deals in a wide range of aluminium products that caters to customers all throughout the globe. Aluminium is the metal of the future and we are striving to become the undisputed leader in Aluminium Extrusion with the help of latest technology and world-class quality that is at our disposal. We are offering products that meet stringent quality norms at the most competitive price. Our products are being used everywhere from constructions to consumer durables, transport to textiles, and irrigation to electrifi cation.
Unilux Bringing Quality To Light
Introduced to the metals industry 38 years ago, Unilux inspection lighting systems have become the backbone of the inspection process and the leading instrument in quality control programs.
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