According to Primetals Technologies, the caster, designated as the No. 3 unit, will join two other Primetals casters in operation at the Guangdong Province mill. It will have a capacity of 2.8 million metric tons annually and will feed a 1,780 mm hot strip mill.

The bow caster is being designed with a straight mold, a machine radius of 9.5 m and a metallurgical length of 37.2 m. It will produce slabs in widths ranging from 900 mm to 1,650 mm and in thicknesses of 230 mm or 250 mm.

“The continuous slab caster CCM 3 is similar to the previously supplied casting machines CCM 1 and CCM 2, allowing for interchangeability of equipment and employing the same automation concept and configuration, as well as the same operation and maintenance procedures,” Primetals Technologies said in a statement.

Start-up is scheduled for early 2021.

Primetals Technologies said the order is part of a second phase of the mill’s development, which is intended to take its capacity of 12.35 million metric tons annually.