North American Stainless (NAS) recently produced its first billets on a new 4-strand caster at the company’s steelmaking facilities in Ghent, Ky.

The 10-meter radius machine is designed to produce 130 to 200 mm square billets at rates of up to 95 tons per hour depending on steel grade and cast size. Provision has been made for the future addition of a 5th strand and for associated production output increase. The facility will cast a wide range of stainless steels including austenitic, austenitic low Carbon, austenitic with titanium, and martensitic and ferritic grades.

The new caster feeds an existing Danieli bar, rod and bar-in-coil mill that has been in operation since 2003. Adding the new caster to the company’s existing facilities has provided NAS, which is part of the Acerinox Group, the ability to be self-sufficient in the supply of stainless steel billets.