A new line of continuous strip casting from aluminum and its alloys has been launched at the Ural Foil plant.
RUSAL's project in Mikhailovsk, Sverdlovsk region, has become the largest in the Russian foil industry in recent decades: the company has invested about $20 million in it.
Photo: RUSAL.
The project made it possible to increase the foundry capacity of the enterprise by about one and a half times. When reaching full capacity, the plant will produce about 18 thousand tons of aluminum strip per year. The company will also update its product line.
The line includes a gas melting furnace with an electromagnetic melt mixer with a capacity of 25 tons. The production line also includes a gas dispenser mixer with a capacity of 20 tons and a two-roll continuous casting machine. This way the surface quality of the workpiece will be higher.
The new line will fully meet the needs of Ural Foil in cast billets for a long time, even taking into account the prospective growth in production volumes and the development of new types of products, said Alexey Agafonov, director of the Foil unit at RUSAL.
"We have applied a variety of modern solutions in the project aimed at improving product efficiency and quality. For example, using gas instead of electricity to melt metal, which will reduce energy costs by 10%. The latest billet continuous casting machine will eliminate the use of water-graphite slurry for roller lubrication, which will improve the surface quality of the billet and save on consumables."Photo: RUSAL.
For Mikhailovsk, with a population of 8,000, such a large–scale project is confidence in the secure future of the territory, which is very important for the government of the Sverdlovsk Region, said Denis Pasler, the head of the region. We are grateful to the company for creating modern import–substituting industries and new jobs in small towns, both in traditional specialties for the city, for example, foundry workers, and in high-tech ones, automated control system engineers, the governor added.
The foil and packaging materials based on it are produced by four RUSAL enterprises – Sayanal, Ural Foil, Armenal, and Sayanskaya Foil. They produce foil with a thickness of 5 to 240 microns, flexible packaging based on it, aluminum tape and foil for household and technical purposes.