Abstract
Maintaining high accuracy temperature measurements at the cooling section is
essential in order to attain the overall quality of the finished product, and to realise the correct
properties. A series of “heat” numbers or batches of molten steel from an Electric Arc Furnace
(EAF) for the production of Y12 mm reinforced bars (rebars) were observed at a steel plant to
establish the optimum temperature of the rebar at the cooling bed. The casting was done in
billet casters and the billets with 100mm×100mm cross-section were then hot rolledto the
required size. The finish rolling temperature was between 850-900℃ at 11m/s rolling speed.
Therebars were water quenched in the water box, and lastlysent for cooling on the cooling bed.
Tensile tests and bend tests were carried out on rebars every after 15 minutes during the
production to ensure that correct mechanical properties were achieved. It was observed that
850℃ was the bestfinishing temperature and 250 ℃ was the optimum temperature at the
cooling bed after equalization.Theresults for the tensile tests and microstructures
wereconsistent with prescribed standards. The rebar samples were all of low carbon steel.