According to project contractor Primetals Technologies, which originally built the Endless Strip Production line in 2009, the work entailed modifications to the caster that increased mass flow.

“The metallurgical length of the line´s caster was elongated to 21.8 meters by adding two caster segments, and provisions for an additional segment 13 were also made. This allows an increase of casting thickness to 105 millimeters, resulting in a mass flow of 450 tons per hour which is the highest mass flow for a thin-slab casting plant worldwide,” the company said.

The project also included the replacement of the ladle turret with a larger unit, Primetals Technologies said.
Work was carried out during planned outages in December 2019 and August 2020.

“In the first month of operation after restarting, production exceeded previous levels,” Primetals Technologies said.