OAO Lipetsk Metallurgical Plant Svobodny Sokol, the oldest enterprise in the city of Lipetsk, has celebrated a century of history. The production specializes in products unique to Russia - pressure pipes made of ductile iron.
Historical reference
Lipetsk Metallurgical Plant was founded in 1899 by Belgian entrepreneurs. Since the production facilities were located in the village of Sokolsk, which later became part of the city limits of Lipetsk, the enterprise was called the Sokolsky Metallurgical Plant. The company reached full capacity in 1900 after the launch of two blast furnaces.
In the Soviet period, production was renamed the Lipetsk Metallurgical Plant "Free Falcon". For many years, the company has been producing high-quality industrial cast iron. Since 1934, the organization switched to the production of cast iron water pipes.
Iron production
Today, the Lipetsk Metallurgical Plant includes 14 industries. The main ones are blast furnace and pipe foundry. The blast furnace shop has two furnaces with a capacity of 700 m 3 each with a complex of casting and auxiliary equipment. They provide the release of liquid and pig iron. The workshop produces foundry and ultimate cast iron of various categories.
Due to the small volume of blast furnaces, metallurgists are capable of smelting metal of very high quality in any quantities, even in small batches. The casting technology allows to achieve the highest quality of the metal, the structure of which is characterized by stable mechanical properties, the absence of free cementite in the microstructure, minimal tendency to the edge section and excellent machinability. Cast iron is made in ingots up to 9 kg; it is convenient to transport them in bulk in freight railway cars.
Pipe production
In 1990, on the eve of the collapse of the USSR, a pipe foundry equipped with modern equipment was put into operation at the Lipetsk Metallurgical Plant for the production of pressure pipes from ductile iron, in the structure of which graphite is in a spherical (spherical) state. This material combines unique properties - the mechanical qualities of steel and the corrosion resistance of cast iron:
- high elongation;
- impact resistance;
- tensile strength;
- plastic.
These properties are obtained by modifying ordinary gray cast iron with magnesium. Modified graphite particles in high-strength material are in the form of microscopic spheres-balls. They exclude the formation and propagation of cracks, giving the cast iron both hardness and ductility.
Shaped castings
The Lipetsk Metallurgical Plant has mastered mass production:
- Water cooling chillers for a blast furnace cooling device. They are made of low-alloy chrome cast iron of various overall dimensions, weighing from 1.58 to 2.9 tons.
- Gutters for cast iron, as well as slag from blast furnaces.
- Castings from cast iron grades -15, -20 with dimensions of 3x1.2x1 m and a maximum weight of 3.5 tons.
- Castings from aluminum alloys up to 8 kg.
The plant plans to master the production of parts for the nozzle device of blast furnace air heaters (nozzle grids, support columns).
Syntikom
The Svobodny Sokol plant has mastered the industrial production of a new class of synthetic composite metal charge with the commercial name Syntikom. The charge for metallurgical production is a material consisting of cast iron and iron oxides, the composition, properties and future behavior of which are set at the manufacturing stage.
“Syntikom” is produced from pig iron of grades P1, P2 or foundry pig iron of cast iron PL2 and oxidizing agent (iron ore pellets of Lebedinsky or Mikhailovsky GOKs) in the form of pyramidal castings weighing 7-10 kg, similar to pig iron pigs.
Other products
OJSC Lipetsk Metallurgical Plant produces a wide range of products:
- Shaped casting: cast iron hatches for cable telephone and viewing wells; fence grates; grinding cast iron balls. The latter are made of white cast iron with a perlite-cementite structure and are intended for grinding various materials in ball mills.
- Blast furnace slurry. It is used when casting castings in iron foundries. Due to the small volume of the plant’s blast furnaces and modern equipment, metallurgists receive L1-L6 foundry cast iron of sufficiently high quality.
- Nodular cast iron is used in the manufacture of critical castings.
- Cast iron is necessary for the production of conventional castings.
- Crushed stone from blast furnace slag fractions: 0-5 mm, 10-20 mm, 20-40 mm.
- Slag blast furnace slag : fraction 40-250 mm.
- Coke breeze: fraction 0-10 mm, ash content not more than 18%, humidity not more than 24%.
- Dust top.
- Scrap metal 5A, 12A.
Prospects
Today, the "Free Falcon" is going through hard times. Despite the unique products in the form of ductile iron pipes, the plant is actually bankrupt. However, bankruptcy proceedings do not necessarily mean the closure of production. The shareholders and the administration have time to rehabilitate the enterprise. Neither creditors nor city authorities are interested in stopping production.