3. Steels for continuous annealing

3.1 Tinplate

For the production of thin strips for tinplate, continuous annealing, developed over the last 40 years, is more economical. It eliminates the risk of sticking and surface defects due to strip unwinding and handling, and enables the production of stiff grades.

Initially, the same steels were used for coil annealing and continuous annealing. However, as continuously annealed aluminum-killed steel is stiffer and more sensitive to aging, the usual practice has been to reserve the soft stamping grades (T ₁ andT ₂ ) for coil annealing and use continuous annealing for the stiffer grades (T ₃ ,T _4...