OREANDA-NEWS. GMP was awarded the Gold Medal and First Degree Diploma for its "Volumetric Hardness Grinding Ball " by the IV-th Siberian Industrial Forum "Metallurgy. City. Man. Energy Efficiency" and the Specialized Exhibition Fair "Metallurgy", "Machine Building", "Welding", "Automation", "Industrial and Municipal Power Engineering", "VVTK-2007", "Siberian Ecology" in the nomination for "Promotion and Sales of Products from Steel Making Industry". This big scientific-technical forum was attended by more than 150 enterprises coming from Russia, Poland, Ukraine and Estonia.                          

Gurievsk Metallurgical Plant is the only enterprise in Russia with a focus on production of steel grinding balls. The only ball-rolling line at the plant is one of the most state-of-the art lines in Russia today equipped with two ball-rolling mills with the total capacity of 160-170 thousand tons a year.

The plant has commenced practical implementation of the investment project to upgrade its finishing lines of the ball-rolling plant allowing it to commercialize production of super hard balls with superior quality as compared to existing GOST. 

The enterprise is completing the preparatory work to commission the air tempering furnace for thermal treatment of steel grinding balls. GMP will become the first steel making company in Russia to use the technology of low-temperature ball tempering that provides substantial quality improvements. 

"The ball market is developing fast which generates demand for better quality products as regards GOST requirements not only with extra hardness but with extra durability, too," said Alexander Studenov, GMP's Managing Director, sharing his view of the steel grinding balls market. 

"In this respect, manufacturing volumes for the 'Hardness Rating 4' balls in Russia are very limited indeed unable to fully satisfy the needs of interested end-users. Today, the balls consumers are considering the option of replacing the Russian-made balls of the 2d and 3d hardness rating with the Western-made products whose firmness is three to six times higher than the balls manufactured in this country."

Once the new equipment is commissioned, a more abrasion-resistant and harder ball will be manufactured. Tempered alloyed ball featuring the same figures of non-metal inclusions in steel is 3.5-fold more impact-resistant and 1.5-fold harder than the balls made using the old technology. These are new high-tech products of the fourth conversion with some real export prospects.