IPSCO steel is custom-made in electric arc furnaces. The continuous caster and state-of-the-art rolling technology, which includes exacting width and gauge control, provide IPSCO customers with superb surface finish and uniform mechanical properties on the finished product.

IPSCO began producing steel at its Regina Steelworks in 1960. Its annual capacity is 1,000,000 tons of coil up to 76" wide and 0.750" thick and cut plate up to 76" wide and 3" thick.

In 1997, IPSCO began producing steel at its Montpelier Steelworks. The Montpelier Steelworks annual capacity is 1,250,000 tons of plate up to 120" wide and up to 3" thick and hot rolled coil up to 96" wide and 0.750" thick. 

A third state-of-the-art 1,250,000 ton per annum steelworks in Mobile County, Alabama commenced operations in 2001. A virtual twin of the Montpelier facility, the Mobile Steelworks produces discrete plate and coiled hot rolled plate.

Melt Shop
The IPSCO steelworks are electric arc furnace based facilities, which use scrap metal as the primary raw material. After tapping into the receiving ladle, the steel is transferred to a ladle metallurgy station which refines and, if necessary, reheats the steel to the optimum consistency for casting.

Continuous Caster
The ladle is then transferred to the continuous casting machine which converts molten steel into slabs. The casters are equipped with the most modern techniques for the production of slabs with optimum quality ready to be directly charged to the reheat furnace without conditioning.

Reheat Furnace
Every effort is made to reheat the slab in the most uniform condition possible before rolling it.
 

Steckel Mill
From  the reheat furnace the slab proceeds to the rolling mill for rolling to final product. The steckel mill is a unique type of rolling mill which allows the rolling of a very large slab (up to 75 tons) by providing heated reels on both sides of the mill to store the increased length produced during rolling. These drums allow for additional heat retention and thermal consistency in the rolled piece, which in turn produces improved uniformity throughout the rolled product. The rolling mills are capable of producing products to dimensional tolerances tighter than standard ASTM. Any such request must be negotiated and agreed at time of order.

Plate Finishing
On the U.S. steelmills, which specialize in plate products, the product, once rolled, is divided into 240' mother plates - as many as 8 per piece depending on gauge. The plates then leave the mill after an in-line pass through the first of a pair of powerful levelers onto the cooling bed. The cooling bed is a disc roll type bed. This protects the bottom surface from damage which can arise when dragging plate over conventional static skids. From the cooling bed the plate is then sheared to final length, side trimmed (5/8" max), leveled again and then stenciled and bundled ready for shipment.

Coil Finishing
The Regina Steelworks, which produces more coiled product, produces slabs which are then rolled on a hot rolling line into strips of steel from .090" to .750" thick and up to 3000' long. These strips are then coiled up for ease in handling and transport.

View the steelmaking process fIowchart.

Once the product is complete, IPSCO will design a transportation package that assures convenient delivery, by road or rail to all destinations in North America.

Major Product Groups
U.S. Steel Mill Products - Montpelier and Mobile
Coil

• 0.188" through 0.750" thick
• 60" through 96" wide
• Grades: Low Carbon, Medium Carbon, High Carbon, HSLA (up to 80,000 psi yield), Abrasion Resistant, ABS & Lloyds Certified