The Differdange, Luxembourg heavy sections mill holds the biggest roughing stand I have seen so far. The plant rolls the world’s largest beams (so called Jumbo Beams) with a weigth of up to 27 tons each.
The melt shop contains one of the last and the largest twin shell furnaces.
Further images now at Stahlseite.
Steel making in Differdange, Luxembourg started in 1900 on ground of the Société Anonyme des Hauts-Fourneaux de Differdange with three blast furnaces and a Thomas (Bessemer) steel plant.
From 1901 on the world famous wide-flange H-beams rolled directly from an ingot, invented by Henry Grey, were produced in Differdange. Seven years before the Bethlehem steel company installed a Grey mill in Pennsylvania.
In 1903 Differdange became part of German Entrepreneur Hugo Stinnes’ Deutsch-Luxemburgische Bergwerks- und Hütten-AG.
In 1920 the Hauts-Fourneaux et Aciéries de Differdange, St. Ingbert, Rumelange (HADIR) took over the site.
A narrow strip mill and a tube mill were installed in the 1950ies. A new converter steel mill and two new blast furnaces went into production in the 1960ies.
HADIR was absorbed by ARBED from Luxemburg in 1967.
A BOF shop was built in 1972.
The last blast furnaces was closed down in 1980.
In 1994 the new 150 ton twin shell DC-electric arc furnace started operation.
By 2002 ARBED merged with the French USINOR and the Spanish ACERALIA to form the world’s largest steel group ARCELOR. In 2006 ARCELOR was absorbed by Mittal Steel.
Steel Nerd
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