Tunnel Furnance

 Tunnel Furnance

The Tunnel Furnace maintains and equalizes the temperature of the slabs arriving from the caster and delivers them to the rolling mill.

• The tunnel furnace provides a buffer of up to six hot slabs, available for rolling when the mill is ready.
• The furnace is roughly 675-foot long, divided into 11 zones. Natural gas burners maintain a temperature of 1800° F - 2100° F in the fired zones. A door at the rolling mill exit end of the furnace prevents heat losses, opening when it is time to roll a slab.
• The furnace rollers can move slabs in either direction: toward the mill or back toward the caster.
• The tunnel furnace is equipped with a furnace computer system that calculates slab temperature, controls heating profiles and tracks material through the furnace.