China's Wuhan Iron & Steel Co. Ltd. (Wisco) has awarded a contract to SMS Demag, Germany, to design and construct a new twin-strand CSP^® (Compact Strip Production) plant.

The CSP plant consists of two casters, a roller hearth furnace with swivel transfer car, seven-stand finishing mill, laminar strip cooling system with intensive cooling, and two downcoilers. SMS Demag’s scope of supply comprises the entire engineering, main mechanical equipment components, and the complete electrical and automation systems.

The CSP plant will be designed for an annual capacity of 2.5 million tonnes of hot strip in widths ranging from 900 to 1,600 mm and thicknesses from 0.8 to 12.7 mm. Depending on the requirements of the process and the final product, the slab thickness can be set in an infinitely variable manner from 55 to 90 mm.

Wisco will use the plant for the production of particularly high-quality steel grades, including electrical sheet. The product spectrum will also cover pipe grades, dual-phase steels for the automobile industry and sheeting for containers.

The CSP process offers good preconditions for the profitable production of high-quality steel grades, particularly for electrical sheet. Decisive factors in the production process for electric sheet are quick solidification during the casting process, direct charging into the furnace at a high temperature, and uniform rolling conditions.

SMS GmbH is the holding for a group of companies internationally active in plant construction and mechanical engineering relating to the processing of steel, non-ferrous metals and plastics. The group is divided on the one hand into the Business Areas SMS Demag and SMS Meer under SMS metallurgy and, on the other hand, into the Business Area SMS Plastics Technology. In the year 2005 some 9,250 employees worldwide generated a turnover of about EUR 2.33 billion.