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Siemens to Supply Ultra-Thick Slab Caster for Shougang Qinhuangdao Works

08/14/2008 - Siemens VAI Metals Technologies will supply a continuous slab caster to Shougang Group that is capable of casting slabs that are 250 to 400 millimeters thick.

Shougang Group Co., China, has awarded Siemens VAI Metals Technologies a contract to supply a continuous slab caster capable of casting slabs in thicknesses ranging from 250 to 400 millimeters. The new caster will make Shougang the first steel producer in China capable of casting ultra-thick slabs.
 
Siemens will install the new caster in the existing Qinhuangdao ShouQin Metals Material Co. Ltd. Steelworks, which is located in the coastal city of Qinhuangdao in Hebei Province. Slabs will be rolled to plates in an existing plate mill for use in the shipbuilding and petroleum industries.
 
Shougang, one of China’s largest steel producers, produces finished steel products including high-quality wire and bar, heavy plates, hot- and cold-rolled strip and sheets, and galvanized products. The company is in the process of relocating the Beijing-based liquid phase of its iron and steel production in order to comply with environmental requirements.
 
As part of the relocation, a new steelworks named Qinhuangdao ShouQin Metals Material Co. Ltd.—an 80:20-joint-venture company between Shougang and the Korean industrial conglomerate Hyundai—was built 270 kilometers east of Beijing in Qinhuangdao City. For this steelworks, Siemens VAI Metals Technologies will supply engineering and key equipment for a continuous slab-casting machine capable of casting up to 1.1 million tonnes of steel per year.
 
Slabs will be cast in thicknesses ranging from 250 to 400 millimeters and in widths from 1600 to 2400 millimeters. The casting-bow radius will be eleven meters and the metallurgical length 45 meters. To facilitate the flotation and removal of steel inclusions, the vertical length of the caster will be increased by approximately one meter (as compared with conventional Siemens VAI caster designs), which will help to further improve the internal quality of the cast product,.
 
The new caster will be capable of liquid-core unbending of 400-millimeter-thick slabs, which will help to enable higher casting speeds of up to 0.7 meters per minute, which means a higher caster output in comparison with solid-core-unbending solutions.
 
Siemens’ scope of supply for this caster project includes detail engineering for core systems and equipment, basic engineering for the run-out area and maintenance facilities, Level 1 and Level 2 automation, and a wide range of technological packages. Technological packages for the caster-head area include LevCon 2 for improved automatic mold-level-control, MoldExpert 2 for enhanced strand-break-out protection, SmartMold cassette-type molds which allow worn copper plates to be quickly replaced, and DynaWidth for the dynamic and on-line adjustment of mold width. DynaFlex will facilitate flexible and on-line adjustment of the mold-oscillation parameters.
 
Technological packages for the strand-guide system include the remotely adjustable SmartBender and the subsequent SmartSegment caster segments, which, in combination with DynaGap automation, will enable quick, fully automated adjustment of slab thickness. The Level 2 Dynacs secondary-cooling model calculates the stand-temperature profile at any position along the strand. Based on this information, the system defines the optimum secondary-cooling setpoints as well as the point of final strand solidification taking into account the casting speed and steel grade, even during transient casting conditions. DynaGap SoftReduction technology will help to provide improved internal strand quality by adjusting the roller taper in the area of final strand solidification in accordance with the Dynacs-calculated setpoints.
 
With the new 3-D Spray system, slabs of different widths will be ideally cooled. Only a minimum of external spray-water for machine cooling is required with I-STAR Revolver rollers, thus reducing the danger of slab-surface overcooling during the casting of ultra-thick slabs.
 
Additional equipment to be supplied includes molds for casting 250- and 400-mm-thick slabs, special parts and components for the tundish car and strand-guidance equipment, package units such as the mold-powder feeder, marking machine, roll-gap checker as well as spare parts for one year of operation. Siemens will also provide advisory services for local manufacturing, erection, testing, start-up and commissioning in addition to personnel training.

This project follows Siemens’ successful implementation of two 2-strand slab caster projects for Shougang Qian'an in December 2006 and January 2007 respectively. Plant start-up of the new Qinhuangdao ShouQin Metals Material slab caster is scheduled for June 2010.
 
Shougang Group Co., one of the leading steel producers in China, produced more than 12.4 million tonnes of finished steel products in 2007, primarily for the domestic market. Products included high-quality wire and bar, heavy plates, hot- and cold-rolled strip and sheets, and galvanized products.
 
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.