New vertical caster from Siemens expands range of products in Chinese steelworks

• Vertical continuous caster to produce 370,000 tons of high quality blooms with round cross-sections of up to 800mm diameter.

• New multi-roller drive unit reduces load during vertical casting

• First order from China for plant of this type

The Chinese company Zhongyuan Special Steel Co. Ltd. has placed an order with Siemens Metals Technologies for a vertical continuous caster to produce heavy blooms with a round cross-section. The continuous caster has a capacity of up to 370,000 metric tons per year, which will enable Zhongyuan to produce additional high-quality steel grades. A newly designed multi-roller drive unit ensures optimum support of the 120-ton strand during casting. This is the first plant of this type Siemens is to supply to China. Commissioning of the continuous caster is scheduled for the end of 2014.

Zhongyuan Special Steel Co. Ltd. operates an electric steel plant in Jiyuan, Henan Province. Until now, the company only had an ingot casting plant for the production of mainly steel forgings. With the new two-strand vertical continuous caster from Siemens, Zhongyuan will in future also be able to produce blanks for construction steel, tool and bearing steels, as well as heat-resistant stainless steels. At the heart of the plant is a multi-roller drive unit developed by Siemens which allows for compensation of the high downward forces of the strand during casting and reduction of the tensile stresses around the edge and in the center. This ensures homogeneous internal quality of the cast ingots.

The new continuous caster is designed as a vertical plant with a height of 40 meters and a metallurgical length of 23 meters. It produces heavy blooms with diameters of 400, 600 and 800 millimeters and lengths of between 2.5 and 6 meters. The caster is equipped with a straight DiaMold tubular mold and the DynaFlex oscillator which helps to provide flexible adjustment of the oscillation parameters. Technology packages such as the LevCon mold level control system and the Mold Expert breakout detection system ensure trouble-free casting. Siemens is supplying the entire process equipment, the secondary cooling system, including the DynaSpeed metallurgical cooling model and the DynaJet cooling nozzles, as well as the complete basic and process automation.