Primetals to supply Chinese customer with 3-strand continuous slab caster

Recently, Chinese steel producer Tangshan Donghua Iron and Steel Enterprise Group placed an order with Primetals Technologies to supply a new 3-strand continuous slab caster for its plant in Tangshan, Hebei province, China. The machine will supply slabs to a recently installed hot rolled rolling mill. Startup is expected for December 2022.

This caster will feature a unique design of the segment roller drives and the protective shields for the middle strand. It is the first ever 3-strand slab casting solution. Tangshan Donghua will benefit from a higher capacity compared to employing a 2-strand slab caster – at lower space requirements in comparison with the installation of an extra caster.

The 3-strand slab caster will be equipped with the latest casting technology. Straight cassette-type Smart Molds ensure optimized primary solidification of the strand. The DynaWidth mold-width adjustment system is used for flexible and fast slab-width changes. The DynaFlex hydraulic oscillator flexibly adjusts the mold-oscillation parameters, resulting in improved strand-surface quality of the slabs. The secondary cooling features DynaJet spray cooling with a center/margin setting for an even more precise cooling of the slab edges, which reduces corner cracks when casting advanced steel grades.

In addition, the 3-strand caster will be delivered with a sophisticated automation package. DynaPhase, Dynacs 3D, and DynaGap Soft Reduction 3D are dynamic secondary cooling and soft-reduction packages that significantly contribute to quality improvements during the continuous casting process by taking into account thermodynamic effects such as shrinkage and phase transitions. LevCon is a system for automatic mold-level control, with "autostart" casting functions and auto-adaptive dynamic bulging compensation. Mold Expert helps to prevent caster-mold breakouts and digitally monitors the mold in real time.

Established in 2009, Tangshan Donghua’s wide scope includes sintering, ironmaking, steelmaking, and bar and high-end wire rod rolling. As a business open to new technologies geared toward increasing their domestic footprint in steel production, Tangshan Donghua has found a valuable partner in Primetals Technologies. Since 2017, Primetals Technologies provides Donghua with metallurgical services and offline maintenance for their continuous casting machines.

Source and Photo: Primetals