Plant and process for the continuous production of hot-rolled ultra-thin steel strips

A plant for the continuous production of hot-rolled steel strips with a minimum thickness of 0.3 mm including in sequence, along the direction of movement of the material being processed:

• a device for continuous casting of thin or medium slabs with a thickness between 40 and 150 mm and a maximum width of at least 2100 mm,
• a roughing mill comprising three to five stands,
• a first induction furnace,
• a water descaler,
• a second induction furnace,
• a finishing mill comprising five to seven stands,
• a cooling station,
• a cutting station, and
• a winding station with a pair or more of carousel coilers or single coilers, and a system to feed a protective atmosphere containing ≤3% vol. oxygen from the inlet of said second induction furnace to at least the third stand of said finishing mill, said plant further comprising, between said continuous casting device and said roughing mill, an initial section of thermal conditioning and descaling comprising in sequence an induction edge heater, an induction heater for the rest of the slab surface and a first water descaler.