Zhongwang USA LLC announced on August 29, 2016 that it has reached an agreement on the acquisition of Aleris. The acquisition amount is US $ 2.33 billion, including US $ 1.11 billion in cash equity transfers and US $ 1.22 billion. Net debt is negative. This is the first time that China Aluminum Industry has acquired a relatively large and well-known aluminum processing enterprise in the world. After the acquisition, the name of Aleris Aluminum will remain unchanged, and its personnel will remain unchanged, and various production and commercial activities will continue as usual. The acquisition is a milestone in the history of China's aluminum processing industry.
Aleris Aluminium is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. It is a comprehensive aluminum processing company with a production capacity of 780kt / a for processed materials, a production capacity of 1500kt / a for recycled aluminum, and approximately 7,000 employees. Among them, there are 8 aluminum flat-rolling companies with a production capacity of about 650kt / a and about 4,200 employees. There is one company in China-Aili Zhenjiang Aluminum Co., Ltd .; 5 aluminum extrusion companies with a production capacity of 130kt / a. About 1500 employees, 10 sets of 16MN ~ 90MN extruder, there is a company in China-Aili (Tianjin) Aluminum Co., Ltd., specializing in the production of industrial aluminum, there are 2 extruder, including 1 50MN, The total production capacity is 14kt / a; there are 28 recycled aluminum enterprises, the production capacity is 1500kt / a, and about 1,300 employees.
The product positioning of Aleris Aluminum is mainly high-end aviation-grade aluminum and automotive body sheet (ABS). Its production plants are located in Lewisport, Kentucky, Koblenz, Germany, Dufel, Belgium, and Tianjin, China. City and Zhenjiang City are currently building ABS production lines at the Lewisport Plant and Zhenjiang Plant, each with a production capacity of 100kt / a.
Zhongzhong Group Chairman Liu Zhongtian said, "The main purpose of this acquisition is to expand the international market and realize business complementarity … Zhongwang will fully support and cooperate with the Aeri management team to implement their existing development strategies and provide them with more abundant Market resources and more flexible funding and operations. "
Zhongwang U.S.A. is an investment company led by Liu Zhongtian. After the acquisition of Airi, China Zhongwang and American Airi can complement each other, which is of strategic significance for the development of Zhongwang Group. Zhongwang Group's move is really good and appropriate. At that time, China's aluminum products could enter the international market more smoothly, and Aili's advanced management experience and strip production technology could make Zhongwang Tianjin Aluminum Company better become a large international high-end sheet metal production company.
Koblenz rolling mill
Aleris Aluminum's flat-rolled aluminum products factory in Koblenz, Germany is one of the company's main companies and one of the world's major aerospace aircraft sheet and hot-rolled flat-rolled products companies. Li (Zhenjiang) Aluminum Co., Ltd. built the plant as a blueprint. The first phase is now in production. After the second phase is fully put into operation in 2018, it will be the main aerospace plate and passenger car in China and the world. Body sheet (ABS) manufacturer. The current production capacity of the Koblenz rolling mill is 165 kt / a, with about 1,300 employees and a labor productivity of about 127 t / (person · year). The average age of employees is over 20 years. The plant was established in 1964 and changed hands many times in the middle. It was acquired by Aleris Aluminum in February 2006, and in August 10a, it joined the new owner, China Zhongwang Group.
The most distinctive hot rolling mill
On January 10, 2008, the 4064mm hot-rolling mill put into operation at the Koblenz rolling mill was the most distinctive among the 87 hot-rolling mills ≥2000mm held in the world in 2016. Although it is not the largest in the world, it has created hot-rolling The three firsts of the machine: the largest opening degree, up to 800mm, China Aili (Zhenjiang) Aluminum Co., Ltd. is also so large, it can swallow ultra-thick aluminum alloy ingots with a thickness greater than 760mm; it is the highest rolling force , Which is 16% larger than the 5588mm hot rolling mill of Alcoa Davenport Works of Alcoa, which is a veritable powerhouse; it is the world ’s first Symmetric rolling (snake-rolling) is a four-high irreversible aluminum ingot rolling mill that is serpentine rolled. The so-called asymmetric rolling is that the center lines of its two work rolls are not in the same vertical plane, but are staggered by 25mm from each other, so the force applied to the rolled product is asymmetric. The asymmetric rolling technology and equipment were developed in cooperation with the Koblenz rolling mill and the Corus Group's Ijmuiden Research Center in the Netherlands. The rolling mill is manufactured by SMS Siemag.
Asymmetric rolling technology and rolling mill have many advantages. The commissioning of the asymmetric rolling mill in the Koblenz rolling mill is a milestone in the world's aluminum ingot hot rolling technology and the design and manufacture of hot rolling mills. After more than 8 years of production, it has been shown that its main advantages and characteristics can be summarized as:
This is a new technology. The deformation speeds of the upper and lower parts of the rolling stock are no longer the same. The huge lateral pressure exerted by the rolls on the rolling stock can cause large shear stresses in the rolling stock and cause the metal to undergo quasi pressure-strain. The material structure is quite different from conventional rolling. Due to the dislocation of the upper and lower rolls, the metal in the dislocation range is subjected to shearing force, undergoes severe deformation, the grains are smaller, the structure is more uniform, and the fatigue strength, impact toughness and fracture toughness of the material are improved.
The upper and lower rolls are staggered. The biting process, which was originally determined by the relationship between the friction coefficient and the tangent value of the biting angle, is no longer the only factor. The biting is easier and it is easier to roll thick plates.
A larger pass deformation rate can be used, and rolling a thick ingot can increase productivity on the one hand, and more importantly improve the performance of the material, especially the anisotropy of the material can be reduced, and plates with a thickness greater than 250 mm can be produced. In the past, the aircraft manufacturing industry used forgings for parts with a thickness of ≥250mm, but now it can be processed with sheet metal, which is not only more efficient, but also more economical and flexible. And when the shape of the part changes, the production of forgings must be replaced by a mold and a new blank is forged. For thick plate processing, only the CNC machine tool (CNC) level needs to be reset.
Aluminum alloy sheets and strips produced from this hot-rolled strip have high toughness, wide damage tolerance, higher damage resistance, comparable to composite materials, and can be used to make upper and lower skins of aircraft wings. Easily damaged, which can reduce maintenance workload and maintenance costs. Because the hot-rolled sheet has a large amount of deformation, uniform deformation, and shear force participation, the number of pores and cracks in the material is greatly reduced, and the size is greatly reduced, which improves the surface quality of the product after machining and makes it easier to form.
Strong R & D and innovation capabilities
Although the Koblenz rolling mill has been acquired several times, its tradition of R & D and innovation has remained unchanged and has continued to this day. The product's strategic positioning is high technology, high precision and high added value.
In the world's medium-sized aluminum flat-rolling companies today, it is always invincible, thanks to the focus on independent innovation and new products, new processes and new technologies. The factory has 3 thick plate pre-stretching machines, the largest is 80MN, and the maximum cross-sectional size of the stretchable thick plates is 220mm × 1600mm. For thick plates that exceed the drawing machine capacity, the factory has a 300MN cold forging press. Compression reduces the residual stress of the sheet. The factory's water-immersed multi-channel full-format ultrasonic thick plate flaw detection line can perform automatic, high-precision flaw detection without blind spots. There are 2 flaw detection lines and 5 scanning bridges, which can detect thick plates at the same time. For the thick plates after artificial aging, the eddy current conductivity detection is also performed, in order to identify the heat treatment status and the uniformity of the detection process.
The three leading products of the factory are: aerospace and transportation plate and strip, tool and die thick plate, and heat exchange composite plate and strip. Aerospace plate and strip is one of the world's top four (Alcoa, Kennedy Aluminum, Kaiser Aluminum, Aleris Aluminum), and it is also one of the world's top four in heat exchange composite plate and strip (other The three are one of Sapa Aluminum, Kenlian Aluminum, Hydro Aluminum). The new heat exchange strip alloy developed by the plant has high strength, which can reduce the thickness of the heat transfer foil and / or the heat exchanger works at higher pressure, so the heat exchanger can be made more compact and further reduce the quality. .
4 kinds of special alloys
After about 20 years of R & D and innovation, the Koblenz Rolling Mill has successfully developed new alloys that are very suitable for the production process of the plant. One is a thick plate alloy for aerospace aircraft and ships, and the other three are for manufacturing. Heavy plate alloy for tooling.
Alustar warship alloy, it is a high-strength aluminum alloy that cannot be strengthened by heat treatment. It is an Al-Mg series alloy. It has strong corrosion resistance to seawater. The tensile strength Rm after welding is higher than that of the same series. Traditional high-strength alloys are about 20% larger. They have unique advantages in manufacturing hydrofoil boats, high-speed ferries, and patrol boats. They are of great significance for reducing hull mass, increasing load, and improving stability.
The aerospace aluminum plate produced by the Koblenz rolling mill accounts for about 40% of Airbus's use, and the annual supply exceeds 40kt. The produced thick plates are used to process "integral structure" of aircraft, which can not only significantly reduce the quality of components, reduce manufacturing costs, but also improve the reliability and safety of aircraft. The so-called integrated structure is a complex component that can be assembled by using several or even dozens of parts through riveting, welding, and fastening. Now only one hot-rolled thick plate is processed into one by cutting and milling processes. Integral structural components. The production of integrated structures is a high-precision technology. First, it is necessary to cast hard alloy large slabs with qualified metallurgical structure and low internal stress. After homogenization and preheating, it is hot rolled into thick plates or cold rolled strips. Heat treatment can strengthen the alloy. Must undergo solution treatment, pre-stretching, aging and ultrasonic inspection. Pre-stretching is very important, on the one hand, to achieve the required flatness of the thick plate, and on the other hand, to reduce the residual stress generated by the solution treatment of the thick plate to a certain value, so that the subsequent cutting process will not cause a large undesired Deformation.
With the changes in the structure of molds and tools, the application of aluminum alloy thick plates in the mold manufacturing industry has made great progress. Although the price of aluminum alloy molds is currently more expensive than steel, due to its easy processing and short delivery time, aluminum alloys Thick plate has certain competitiveness in tool and die materials and is a promising material. To this end, the Koblenz rolling mill has developed a series of aluminum alloys for tools and molds with a maximum thickness of 900 mm;
HOKOTOL high-strength aluminum alloy with a maximum thickness of 400mm, excellent polishing performance, strong abrasion resistance, and highly consistent mechanical properties throughout the thickness of the plate;
WEDURAL universal mold aluminum alloy with a maximum thickness of 700mm, excellent weldability, medium and high mechanical properties, high wear resistance, and uniform mechanical properties throughout the thickness;
GIANTAL traditional mold aluminum alloy with a maximum thickness of 900mm, good weldability, high mechanical properties, excellent dimensional stability, and excellent machinability.