Concast to Supply Billet Caster, Secondary Metallurgy Station for ArcelorMittal Brasil
09/25/2008 - Concast will supply ArcelorMittal Brasil with a secondary-metallurgy center and a six-strand continuous billet caster capable of producing SBQ billets for tire cord.
ArcelorMittal Brasil S.A., Belo Horizonte, Brazil, has placed an order with Concast AG, Switzerland, for the supply of a secondary-metallurgy center and a continuous caster for the production of SBQ (Special Bar Quality) billets for the manufacture of tire cord.
The new facilities—a ladle furnace and a continuous caster—will be incorporated into the existing integrated iron and steel works at Monlevade, Brazil. The expansion will help to increase the facility’s capacity from its present 1.2 million tonnes of liquid steel per year to 2.4 million tonnes per year.
The ladle furnace, with a capacity of 130 tonnes and a 24-MVA transformer, allows a heating rate of around 4.5 °C/min. The six-strand continuous caster has a casting radius of 10.25 meters and produces square 130- x 130-mm and 155- x 155-mm billets. It will be equipped with mold stirrers and a hydraulic compact oscillation system. SMS Meer was previously contracted to supply a wire-rod rolling mill connected to the continuous caster.
Concast’s scope for the project comprises supply of the complete mechanical and electrical equipment and automation for Levels 1 and 2, as well as training, supervision of erection and commissioning. The new facilities are scheduled to be commissioned in June 2010.
This order marks the fourth successive ladle furnace that ArcelorMittal Brasil SA has ordered from Concast. The continuous caster will represent the latest state-of-the-art in the group’s facilities for the production of wire for tire carcasses.
SMS group is, under the holding SMS GmbH, a group of companies internationally active in plant construction and mechanical engineering for the steel and nonferrous metals industry. It consists of the two Business Areas SMS Demag and SMS Meer, which jointly form SMS metallurgy. In 2007, some 8000 employees worldwide generated a turnover of about EUR 3.0 billion.