According to the equipment supplier, Primetals Technologies, the caster and rolling mills were brought on-line in October. The equipment is the backbone of the Dangjin plant, which is designed to produce 400,000 metric tons of wire rod and 600,000 metric tons of straight bar and bar-in-coil for engine and gearbox parts, Primetals said.

Hyundai Steel is part of the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group.

Primetals said the 4-strand continuous bloom caster has an annual capacity of 1.1 million metric tons and is equipped with its Mold Expert mold-monitoring system. It also features air-mist spray cooling and interior-cooled rollers in the strand guidance system.

Primetals said the caster will feed hot blooms directly into the bar lines. 

The large-bar mill has a dual reversing breakdown stand and a finishing train with rolling and sizing stands, Primetals said. The mill also provides billets to be further processed in the small-bar and wire rod mill.

This combination mill has a capacity of 800,000 tons and is designed to roll 160 tons per hour. It includes a continuous roughing and intermediate mill feeding a sizing block supplied by Germany’s Friedrich Kocks GmbH & Co. KG for production of bars; a rod outlet with a rod reducing sizing mill; and a bar-in-coil outlet.

Both the rod and bar-in-coil outlets have slow and fast cooling capability, Primetals said.