A slab caster capable of casting slabs in thicknesses up to 400 mm was recently started up at the steelworks of the Qinhuangdao Shouqin Metal Material Co., Ltd., located in Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province.
Siemens VAI received an order from Qinhuangdao Shouqin in June 2008 for the engineering and supply of key equipment for an ultra-thick, straight-mold, vertical-bending-type slab caster capable of casting up to 1.1 million tonnes of steel per year. The caster was designed with a bow radius of 11 m and a metallurgical length of 45 m.
Slabs can be cast in thicknesses between 250 and 400 mm and in widths from 1600 to 2400 mm. The product mix includes low- to high-carbon, peritectic, structural, and HSLA (high-strength, low-alloy) grades for the production of pipes and plates for use in, for example, the shipbuilding and petroleum industries.
Liquid-core unbending of all strand thicknesses, including 400-mm formats, is performed to enable high slab quality at an increased caster output compared to solid-core unbending of the strand, according to Siemens.
Advanced systems and technological packages include solutions for automatic mold-level control, strand break-out prediction, dynamic and on-line mold-width change, as well as flexible and on-line setting of the mold-oscillation parameters in the caster head area. Smart Segments in the strand-guidance system make the fully automatic online adjustment of the strand thickness possible.
Siemens notes that the Dynacs 3D secondary cooling model is being applied for the first time in Asia. This technology enables the temperature at any point within the entire strand to be accurately calculated in real time and in a full 3-D mode. This information allows the optimum secondary-cooling setpoints as well as the point of final strand solidification to be defined.
The roller-gap taper in the area of final strand solidification can then be precisely adjusted by applying DynaGap Soft Reduction technology, minimizing strand segregation as required by high-quality plate applications. Dynamically adjustable spray nozzles are used to avoid overcooling of the slab corners for all slab widths.
Qinhuangdao Shouqin is a company of Shougang Group Co., one of the leading steel producers in China.
The Siemens Industry Sector (Erlangen, Germany) is a leading international supplier of environmentally friendly production, transportation, building and lighting technologies. The Sector comprises six divisions: Building Technologies, Drive Technologies, Industry Automation, Industry Solutions, Mobility and Osram. With around 207,000 employees worldwide (September 30), Siemens Industry achieved in fiscal year 2009 total sales of approximately €35 billion.
The Siemens Industry Solutions Division (Erlangen, Germany) is one of the world's leading solution and service providers for industrial and infrastructure facilities comprising the business activities of Siemens VAI Metals Technologies, Water Technologies and Industrial Technologies. Activities include engineering and installation, operation and service for the entire life cycle. With around 31,000 employees worldwide (September 30), Siemens Industry Solutions posted sales of €6.8 billion in fiscal year 2009.