SMS Siemag, Germany, has successfully commissioned the fourth XCast®* continuous slab caster for Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH (SZFG), Germany.
The single-strand circular-arc design caster produces slabs in widths ranging from 1100 to 2600 mm and in thicknesses of 250 and 350 mm. The slab dimension of 350 x 2600 mm currently represents the largest section size for continuous casters in Central Europe.
SMS Siemag’s order scope comprised basic and detail engineering as well as the supply of all mechanical components and the complete X-Pact® electrical and automation systems, including technological control systems and process models. The supply scope also included the solid structures and structural steelwork, a new water supply and treatment system, and erection, commissioning and supervision.
Salzgitter Flachstahl will use the caster for the production of highly demanding micro-alloyed steels, heavy-plate grades and sour-gas resistant tube and pipe grades according to the API-5L and HIC standards. The 350 mm thickness option makes it possible for the company to provide slabs for heavy-plate production in a completely new range of dimensions that are most attractive for future requirements.
The caster’s equipment includes several Intelligent Slab Casting (ISC®) modules that control quality and production, including a hydraulically driven resonance oscillation system, remote-controlled mold narrow faces for width change during casting, and position-controlled CYBERLINK segments for performing dynamic soft reduction. The modules, in combination with a width-dependent air-mist secondary cooling system and the technological Dynamic Solidification Control process model, enable the production of slabs with high internal quality.
The machine is designed as a circular-arc caster with a constant radius of 11.5 meters to minimize stresses in the strand shell and enable excellent surface quality, thus enabling the company to cast steel grades with critical crack susceptibility in a reliable and productive manner.
Prior to installation of this caster, SMS Siemag also supplied and put into operation Salzgitter Flachstahl’s three existing continuous casters, SGA 1, 2 and 3.
*X-Cast is an SMS Siemag trademark from the Continuous Casting Division. It is the brand name for plants that set standards for the economical production of high-quality slabs.
SMS Siemag AG is a company of the SMS group, which is, under the holding SMS GmbH, a group of companies internationally active in plant construction and mechanical engineering for the steel and nonferrous metals industry. It comprises the two Business Areas SMS Siemag and SMS Meer. In 2009, some 9000 employees worldwide generated a turnover of EUR 3.9 billion.