Blooming-Slabbing Mill

a rolling mill for the reduction of heavy metal ingots into flat, semifinished slabs, which are then rolled into plate (in rolling mills) and also into semifinished bars called blooms. When slabs of great width are rolled in the blooming-slabbing mill, as compared to the blooming mill, the height at which the upper roll is set is increased up to 2,130 mm, and the length of the working portion of the roll is increased to 2,800–3,100 mm. Tilting devices are set up on both sides of the mill, as are more powerful shears (with a shearing force of up to 30 meganewtons, or 3,000 tons-force), which are equipped with an electric, instead of hydraulic, drive. In a blooming-slabbing mill, ingots with a mass of up to 30 tons are rolled into slabs up to 2,050 mm in width and 950 mm in thickness, with blooms coming from ingots with a mass of 10–12 tons. Blooming-slabbing mills are inferior to slabbing mills in production capacity as well as according to quality and technical-economic performance factors. Their use is practical only in those cases in which the plant is engaged in shaped and plate production and the production volume of plate is small.