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Siemens to Supply Slab Caster, RH Degasser for Posco Gwangyang Works

06/23/2008 - Posco places orders with Siemens VAI Metals Technologies to replace an existing caster with a new high-speed twin-strand slab caster, and to supply a new twin-station RH degassing plant at its Steel Making Plant No. 1 site in Gwangyang, Korea.

Posco has placed orders with Siemens VAI Metals Technologies to replace an existing caster with a new high-speed twin-strand slab caster and to supply a new twin-station RH degassing plant at its Steel Making Plant No. 1 site in Gwangyang, Korea.
 
The project scope includes engineering and the supply of key components, equipment, systems and technological packages. The project will be implemented in consortium with Posco E&C (Posco Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd.).
 
In the Gwangyang Works’ Steel Making Plant No. 1 Siemens will dismantle and replace a slab caster that was originally installed in 1986 by another supplier in support of Posco’s strategy to satisfy increased performance and product-quality demands. The new high-performance twin-strand slab caster will have an annual casting capacity of 3.2 million tonnes of carbon, alloyed and silicon steel grades. Important casting targets were to avoid center strand segregation through the application of dynamic soft reduction technology as well as to ensure the highest possible slab-surface quality, particularly important for silicon steel sheets.
 
The new caster will have a casting-bow radius of 9.0 meters, and slabs will be cast with a thickness of 250 mm in widths ranging from 900 to 1600 mm. With a relatively long strand-supported length of 41.6 meters, the caster will be capable of achieving high casting speeds of up to 2.1 meters per minute.
 
The new caster will be equipped with specialized equipment and a wide range of technological packages, including DynaFlex for the online flexible adjustment of the mold-oscillation parameters; SmartMold, which features a cassette-type mold design that allows copper plates to be quickly exchanged; and the automatic mold-level-control system LevCon 2. Dynamic mold-width adjustment will be possible with DynaWidth for fast slab-width changes, and advanced SmartSegment caster segments will enable online, fully automatic adjustment of slab thicknesses. DynaGap SoftReduction technology will facilitate dynamic adjustment of the strand taper in the area of final solidification for improved internal strand quality.
 
The new caster’s Level 2 Dynacs secondary-cooling system featuring dynamic strand-cooling management will help to ensure ideal cooling conditions according to the respective steel grade. With the employed 3D-Spray system the spray width is automatically adjusted according to the slab width, providing optimum slab cooling. According to Siemens, the new caster will allow the facility to cast approximately 70% more steel in comparison with the previous machine output, resulting in a greater overall yield and considerably lower maintenance costs. The improved slab quality will allow the rolled steel products to be used for a much broader range of industrial applications.
 
In a separate contract, Siemens Metals Technologies will also supply a twin-station 280-tonne RH degassing plant designed to reduce the steel’s hydrogen and nitrogen gas content as required for more demanding product uses.
 
The combined contract value for Siemens is a two-digit million euro figure. The start-up of both plants is scheduled for mid-2009.
 
Dynacs, SmartSegment and DynaGap SoftReduction are registered trademarks of Siemens AG in certain countries.
 
The Siemens Industry Sector (Erlangen, Germany) is a leading supplier of production, transportation and building systems. The Sector comprises six Divisions: Building Technologies, Industry Automation, Industry Solutions, Mobility, Drive Technologies and Osram. In fiscal 2007 (ended September 30), Siemens Industry generated sales of approximately EUR40 billion (pro forma, unconsolidated) with around 209,000 employees worldwide.
 
With the business activities of Siemens VAI Metal Technologies (Linz, Austria), Siemens Water Technologies (Warrendale, Pa.), and Industry Technologies (Erlangen, Germany), the Siemens Industry Solutions Division (Erlangen, Germany) is one of the world's leading solution and service providers for industrial and infrastructure facilities. Using its own products, systems and process technologies, Industry Solutions develops and builds plants for end customers, commissions them and provides support during their entire life cycle.