X-grade steel, also known as pipe strap grades, is a high-strength steel used in the most adverse conditions, such as the construction of large-scale pipelines. The hot strip mill II of thyssenkrupp Steel Europe AG Duisburg produces this type of steel.

Obviously, the manufacturing process of these large calibres poses some challenges. The same applies to the subsequent strapping of coils weighing up to 36 tonnes. At the beginning of the chain are steel blocks that are heated to over 1,000 degrees Celsius and formed into thin sheets in several consecutive rolling stands and then coiled.

Cooled a little, but still about 800 degrees Celsius hot, the coils are going to be strapped. The high temperatures, enormous dimensions and huge weight demand a lot from the strapping technology.

At this point the end of the flagpole is reached for conventional strapping heads and steel straps. Obvious solutions were quickly discarded: Strapping with several conventional steel straps would have been theoretically possible, but the high consumption and the time factor argued against it. A wider strap and more weld spots would have been conceivable as well, but the entire infrastructure would need modification.

In close cooperation, PWL KG and TITAN Umreifungstechnik developed an acceptable, fast, secure and cost-effective solution. While we developed the completely new SUPER MEGA strap with the dimension of 32 x 1.45 mm in Iserlohn, the experts from TITAN in Schwelm faced the challenge of building a suitable head that could process this strap - the VS32-L SM was born.

This integrated system solution consisting of heads and strap allows using the existing infrastructure in Duisburg as well as the strapping of all coils, regardless of the steel strap grade. All this happened without any loss of time and with increased availability of the system.

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