The current trend of rolling high-strength materials requires higher torque capabilities at the drivetrain in metallurgical plants and stainless steel technical services, and products provider SMS group’s drive technology meets this demand.

“SMS group drive technology features rolling mill drivetrains, converter tilt drives, as well as shear and coiler drives. These features in the drive technology are paramount to power upgrades to improve the reliability of existing plants,” says SMS group key accounts manager Samuel Gounden.

He explains that it all starts with a systematic investigation of the drivetrains and by applying the company’s rolling process know-how, allowing SMS group to identify measures to improve a client’s equipment.

SMS group MD Pieter Bezuidenhout notes that central to the corporate branding of SMS group is production of core components and pre-assembly in its own workshops.

Optimised work flow processes and efficient production solutions ensure shorter lead times, so clients can get top quality, reliable, and high-performance products.

Gounden explains that most gears in the metallurgical industry run with quenched and tempered output gears. However, gears made from this type of steel come with a significantly lower wear resistance than the much harder case-hardened variety.

SMS group’s fatigue-resistant output gears make all the difference. “The SMS group case-hardening process for large gear wheels boosts the torque capacity of new as well as existing gearboxes,” he explains.

Case-hardening refers to the process of hardening the outer layer of a metal object while allowing the metal underneath to remain soft. It then forms a thin layer of harder metal on the surface.

Moreover, SMS group calculates and improves tooth and flank profiles individually to ensure that equal pressure is distributed over the entire load flank. As a result, the maximum contact pressure is about 30% lower than that of standard teeth, he says.

Further, SMS group plant and machinery are available for the production of spiral pipes by the conventional one-stage process as well as the two-stage process which is also called offline-process.

Gounden notes that, in the first stage, the pipe is formed and continually tack-welded at high speed. In the second stage, the pipe is finish-welded, using South African welding technology. “The advantages of this are higher productivity and improved quality to meet the requirements of modern and robust pipeline tubes.”

Meanwhile, SMS group is now a complete supplier of processing plant and equipment in the field of steel and aluminum from the production stage in the rolling mill through strip processing and up to further processing in the body pressing shop, he says. “Reliable and rigid construction of SMS group’s electrostatic oiling machine technology for processing plants guarantees constant high-quality results for the steel and aluminium industry.”