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Primetals Completes Caster Modernization at German Slab Mill

According to the company, the upgrades to ArcelorMittal Bremen GmbH’s caster will improve its availability and reliability and further improve product quality. The project could also save the mill as much as 600 megawatt-hours in electricity usage, Primetals said.

A modernization of the caster’s first strand was completed in October 2014.

ArcelorMittal Bremen is an integrated flat steel producer that makes high-quality steel grades primarily for the automotive and construction industries. The continuous slab caster can produce nearly 4 four million metric tons per year in widths of up to 2,670 mm.
voestalpine installed the caster in 1973, and it has been upgraded twice since then, once in 1991 and again in 2005, by third-party companies.

In the latest round of improvements, Primetals equipped the machine head with new molds as well as the DynaWidth and DynaFlex technology packages.

“The DynaWidth technology package ensures that the slab width is set dynamically and precisely at maximum casting speed. The hydraulic DynaFlex mold oscillator flexibly adjusts the oscillation parameters to match the particular operating conditions,” the company said in a statement. 

Primetals Technologies also supplied rugged cassette-type SmartMolds with quick-change copper plates and narrowfaces to increase the caster’s availability and reliability.

The new equipment was designed to fit without modifications to the two strands. As a result, construction costs were reduced and the downtime required for the installation was shortened, Primetals said.