Special Beams for Sludge Water Treatment Tanks
For a major energy sector project, Montanstahl manufactured nearly 200 tonnes of custom laser fused stainless steel beams for use in sludge water treatment tanks. The structural elements — supplied in AISI 304L and partially 316L — ranged in height from 180 mm to 613 mm, with web and flange thicknesses from 10 to 30 mm, and cut lengths between 1.1 m and 8.5 m. With 1,848 individual pieces delivered, the project placed exceptional demands on material optimisation, dimensional consistency, and quality assurance at every stage of production.
1,848 Custom Beams, One Project
The scale and dimensional variety of the order made standard production workflows insufficient. Each beam had a unique combination of height, thickness, and cut length, requiring a chaotic length optimisation strategy to minimise material scrap across the full order volume. The project specification required 100% non-destructive testing on every supplied piece, along with full lifetime traceability — each of the 1,848 components had to be individually identified, logged, and traceable through every production step with operator accountability recorded at each stage.
Laser Fused Beams with Full NDT Programme
Montanstahl produced the beams using the laser fusion process, which joins separately rolled flat bars into a precise I or T cross-section without filler material. Each beam was cut to its specified custom length and assigned a unique part ID. A complete traceability matrix was developed for the project, recording all production steps and the operators responsible for each. All pieces underwent 100% visual inspection, macro etching, and dye penetrant testing; ultrasonic testing was applied to all webs of 20 mm thickness or above.
Application Context
This project is part of Montanstahl’s Energy & Power Generation segment, where laser fused special beams are specified for infrastructure requiring corrosion-resistant structural steel in aggressive media. Sludge water treatment structures represent a demanding application class: permanent immersion or splash exposure, varying chemical load, and long design service lives make material selection and weld quality equally critical. Montanstahl supplies laser fused stainless steel beams for projects of this type worldwide.