Continuous Bloom Caster from Siemens Goes On Stream at Zenith Steel
08/15/2013 - In July, Siemens Metals Technologies put a continuous bloom caster into operation at Chinese steel producer Changzhou Zhongtian Iron & Steel (Zenith Steel).
The plant has an annual production capacity of around 1.3 million metric tons of blooms. Up to now Zenith has only produced billets. Blooms with diameters of 360, 400 and 500 millimeters are further processed into seamless pipes, while those with a diameter of 600 millimeters are used to produce forging steels.
Pictured below: Continuous bloom caster from Siemens at Changzhou Zhongtian Iron & Steel (Zenith Steel)
Zenith Steel belongs to China's Top 20 steel producers. It is privately owned and runs an integrated iron and steel works in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province. The company's steel works has three BOF (LD) converters with a production capacity of 10 million metric tons of steel per year. Zenith Steel produces a wide range of end products, including steel pipes, bearing and spring steels, as well as a range of structural steels.
The five-strand casting plant built by Siemens is designed to produce round blooms with diameters ranging from 360 to 600 millimeters. It can cast structural steels, high-carbon, alloyed and low-alloyed steels, as well as pipe steel grades, at a speed of up to 0.8 meters a minute. The continuous casting plant has a machine radius of 14 meters and a metallurgical length of 32 meters. It is equipped with a curved casting mold, a DynaFlex hydraulic mold oscillator and LevCon mold level control. The drawing unit for rectangular blooms consists of three segments, and works with DynaGap Soft Reduction, preventing center segregation and ensuring that the interior quality of the blooms is homogeneous.
Siemens designed the continuous casting plant, supplied key components and technology packages, the complete basic and process automation, as well as the VAIQ quality management system. The scope of services also included advisory services during construction and commissioning, and customer training.
