Following the engineering order in March 2012, ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe has now contracted SMS Siemag, Germany, to provide the delivery for the revamp of its continuous caster no. 1 at the Duisburg-Beeckerwerth works in Germany. The revamp will be carried out in 2014 during a planned shutdown period.

True to the motto "Experience counts," ThyssenKrupp is relying on SMS Siemag once again for this revamp. "In connection with the previous orders, we have already made very positive experience with SMS Siemag," says Heinz Liebig, head of crude steel production at ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe. "The SMS engineers have in-depth knowledge of the plant and support us in finding solutions on how we will be able to increase the quality of the steel produced even further in the future."

The aim of the planned revamp of the two-strand bow-type caster is to improve the slab quality and extend the product portfolio. The caster will be rated to produce slabs that are between 1,000 and 2,150 mm wide and 257 mm thick.

The plant will be equipped with an air-mist cooling system with adjustable, width-dependent breakdown of the cooling zones (ten control circuits per segment). After the revamp, casting will be effected dry, starting with segment nine. It is also planned to increase the strand length (segments 14 and 15).

The SMS Siemag scope of supply comprises the delivery of all mechanical components as well as the entire X-Pact® electrical and automation package (extension of the 5-kV plant, drive technology, level 0, the entire process control system, the technological functions, level 1, and the process models, level 2). This also includes a new ladle turret (S-type) and an 80-t-tundish as well as a tundish car with hydraulic lifting mechanism. The mold supplied by SMS Siemag will be a curved mold with Delta Speed narrow-face adjustment for high adjusting speeds during casting. Furthermore, the scope of supply comprises a five-row breakout prediction system with longitudinal facial crack detection as well as the hydraulic mold oscillator. The strand guiding system with hydraulic segment adjustment and dynamic soft reduction, a dynamic solidification model (Dynamic Solidification Control), the slab removal system as well as the entire hydraulic system and utility services will also be supplied by SMS Siemag.

In the future, the dimensions of the continuous caster no. 1 segments will be taken with the aid of a laser tracker and the measuring system developed by SMS Siemag.

Last but not least, the SMS Siemag scope of supply also includes training of the customer personnel and the supervision of installation and commissioning.

SMS Siemag was awarded this contract after more than 400 technical criteria had been reviewed by ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe. SMS Siemag supplied the continuous caster no. 1 in 1974 and modernized it in 1985 and 1998. It is used for the production of highquality starting material for high-strength steel, ULC and IF steels as well as tinplate, thin sheet, pipe and tube strip and quarto plate.