AG der Dillinger Hüttenwerke recently placed an order with SMS Siemag for the supply of a two-strand vertical-type continuous caster, which is scheduled to be commissioned in spring 2014. Dillinger Hütte is investing around EUR 300 million in the manufacture of high-quality slabs for the production of heavy plates.
SMS Siemag is supplying the casting platform, mold, hydraulic oscillator, strand guide system, edge-controlled secondary cooling, and position-controlled segment adjustment as well as the pinch-roll units for the dummy bar and hot strand.
Also included in the supply scope is the complete X-Pact® electrical and automation package including commissioning. The continuous caster is equipped with proven technological systems for mold-level control, hydraulic oscillator, hydraulic segment adjustment with dynamic soft reduction, and load compensation control. In cooperation with the R&D departments of Dillinger Hütte, SMS Siemag has developed a hydraulic adjustment system for the pinch rolls specifically for this continuous slab caster.
Dynamic soft reduction is used to manufacture semi-finished products with optimized internal quality, a process that involves pressing the strand shell together during casting to enable the material properties to be homogeneous to the core.
To satisfy the customer's specifications, the vertical external walls of the deep parts of the foundation are not built on a rectangular ground-plan area as usual, but rather on a circular area. The self-supporting effect of this cross-sectional layout makes it possible to do without costly and time-consuming horizontal anchoring, which makes it easier to perform the work on site, according to SMS Siemag.
The design of the CC6 essentially corresponds to that of the CC5 continuous caster. SMS Siemag supplied the first vertical-type continuous slab caster to Dillinger Hütte in 1961, followed by a circular-arc caster in 1964, and then again a vertical-type continuous slab caster in 1968 and in 1998.
Since 1998, Dillinger Hütte has been producing 400-mm-thick slabs on the CC5 facility. The CC5 was modernized in 2010 and 450-mm-thick slabs are now cast on it. With the new CC6 continuous caster, Dillinger Hütte plans to further expand its market leadership in the production of heavy plate.
SMS Siemag AG is a company of the SMS group which, under the roof of the SMS Holding GmbH, consists of a group of companies internationally active in plant construction and mechanical engineering for the steel and nonferrous metals industry. With about 11,000 employees, the group generates sales of over EUR 3 billion.