Schedule
20–21 October 2026 • Central Station Memphis Hotel • Memphis, Tenn., USA
Monday, 19 October 2026 | |
| 4–6 p.m. | Registration |
Tuesday, 20 October 2026 | |
| 7 a.m. | Registration and Continental Breakfast |
| 8 a.m. | Historical Perspective of Continuous Casting With Design and Technology of Slab and Long Products Greg Geist, Cleveland-Cliffs Cleveland Works LLC A brief history of continuous casting types of continuous casters reasons for choosing specific type of continuous caster advantages of continuous casting over ingot casting. |
| 8:45 a.m. | An Operator’s Guide to Continuous Casting Flux, What It Is, What It Does and How It Is Used Marc McClymonds, HWI Steelcasting Inc. An overview of mold flux technology, including design principles, properties, functions and application practices. |
| 9 a.m. | Break |
| 9:15 a.m. | Initial Solidification and Oscillation Mark Formation Hongbin Yin, ArcelorMittal Global R&D – East Chicago Key fundamental concepts related to solidification inside the mold will be presented. Industrial implications related to caster productivity and product quality will also be discussed. |
| 10:15 a.m. | Caster Breakouts and Their Prevention Joseph Laughlin, SMS group Inc. Causes of breakouts at the continuous caster will be discussed, along with ways to detect and prevent them. |
| 11 a.m. | Flow Control From Tundish to Mold Vesuvius This session will present the different refractories that control the liquid steel flow, how they interact with steel, how they can impact on quality, how to evaluate different designs through modeling, and the latest technologies and trends in the market, from flow control systems to automation and robotics. |
| 11:45 p.m. | Lunch |
| 12:45 p.m. | Sources of Reoxidation and Why to Avoid Ronald O'Malley, Missouri University of Science and Technology To produce high-quality cast products, steel must be protected from reoxidation. Reoxidation can occur in the ladle, in the secondary ladle metallurgy operation, and also in the transfer operations from ladle to tundish and tundish to the mold. Various techniques will be described that can be used to minimize reoxidation. |
| 1:30 p.m. | Break |
| 1:45 p.m. | Caster Quality Defects and Their Potential Causes Ronald O'Malley, Missouri University of Science and Technology The surface and internal quality of continuously cast slabs and billets is intimately linked to the caster design and to the operating and maintenance practices employed in the continuous casting process. Common causes for five classes of continuous casting defects (longitudinal cracking, transverse cracking, slivers and lamination defects, internal cracking, and segregation defects) will be reviewed and linked to these design and practice influences. |
| 2:45p.m. | Break |
| 3 p.m. | Mold Copper Alloys, Design and Influence of Operating Factors on Performance Warren Adolphe, SMS Concast Canada Inc. Introduction to the material properties and requirement for molds used for the continuous casting of steel, including: the most common copper alloys, influence of mold design features, operating factors that impact mold life and typical mold issues experienced. |
| 3:45 p.m. | Mold and Copper Maintenance and Coating Technologies Chad Donovan, SMS group Inc. Discuss mold types and maintenance needs, with specific discussion on variety of mold coatings and their advantages and disadvantages. |
| 4:30 p.m. | Ian Bakshi Memorial Panel Discussion and Reception Panelists: Rudolf Moravec, United States Steel Corporation; Ronald O'Malley, Missouri University of Science and Technology; Hongbin Yin, ArcelorMittal Global R&D – East Chicago; Bill Schlichting, United States Steel Corporation; Greg Geist, Cleveland-Cliffs Cleveland Works LLC; Bob Heil, Charter Steel; Moderator: Jeff Brower, Primetals Technologies USA LLC |
| 6 p.m. | Adjourn |
Wednesday, 21 October 2026 | |
| 7 a.m. | Continental Breakfast |
| 8 a.m. | Caster Secondary Cooling and Water Treatment Ronald Jones, Delavan Spray Technologies A general guide to the various types of technology and key attributes of secondary cooling, nozzle basics, cooling factors, and maintenance and monitoring. |
| 8:45 a.m. | Caster Roll Maintenance and Overlay Technologies Jeff Brower, Primetals Techologies Caster roll and segment life can be significantly increased through the use of customized weld overlays and base materials. This session details the operational impact on caster rolls and technologies developed to improve roll performance. |
| 9:30 a.m. | Break |
| 9:45 a.m. | Caster Hydraulics – Failure Modes and Preventive Maintenance Failure modes and preventive maintenance. Different types and styles of cylinders, cylinders used in casters, cylinder failure, preventive maintenance, and effective cylinder reconditioning programs. |
| 10:30 a.m. | Billet and Bloom Caster Operations and Maintenance Bill Schlichting, United States Steel Corporation Insights into the casting of billets and blooms. |
| 11:15 a.m. | Caster Bearings — Types or Bearings, Failure Modes and Preventive Maintenance Cory Langhoff, The Timken Co. Continuous casters utilize a variety of different bearing types throughout the various positions. Understanding the purpose of these bearing types, how to maintain them, and how to diagnose and fix common damage modes is key to unplanned downtime and uninterrupted production. |
| Noon | Lunch |
| 12:45 p.m. | Plant Tour of Big River Steel 2 or Hybar |
| 4:30 p.m. | Return From Plant Tour and Adjourn |