Anniversary at Dillinger: Heavy plate rolling mill WW2 celebrates 50 years

Dillinger has been rolling plate since 1804 – and this long experience and tradition was put to use during the construction of “Walzwerk 2” (Rolling Mill 2), or WW2 for short, as the new plant was named to distinguish it from the existing heavy plate rolling mill. It marked a new phase in Dillinger’s development towards further specialization in heavy plate of continuously improving quality and ever-larger dimensions. The production equipment was entirely made up of prototypes, from the slab pusher furnace to the rolling stand and the revolutionary shearing line. The largest possible rolling stands, rolls and drive motors were installed in the rolling mills in particular.

Over the past five decades, the WW2 has been continuously upgraded to roll even larger and heavier slabs. Today, processing the 600-millimeter thick slabs from the new CC6 continuous caster makes it possible to produce heavy plate with unit weights of up to 42 tons. These super-heavy plates are largely used in the monopiles of offshore wind turbines. With this, Dillinger is already making an important contribution to the sustainable generation of renewable energies.

To develop this competitive edge and further leverage the possibilities of CC6 – the world’s largest continuous casting plant, located in Dillingen – pusher furnace 2 in Dillinger’s rolling mill is now being modernized and reinforced in order to bring the 600-millimeter-thick slabs up to the required temperatures for plate rolling. The investments in pusher furnace 2 will significantly increase capacity for production of heavy plate. This will allow optimization of the monopile design, which will provide significant efficiency benefits for Dillinger’s customers. The company is thus contributing in important ways with its products to a successful energy transition and to achieving the climate targets in Europe and worldwide.