Korea’s Posco has ordered a new 6-strand Convex Technology® caster from Concast for the high quality wire rod plant at its Pohang Works. The new unit will replace the facility’s existing No. 1 caster.

The new caster will produce 160 mm square billets in a wide range of premium quality steel grades including tire cord wire rod, bearing and spring steels, cold heading, free cutting and high strength steels, among others. The new caster will produce 690,000 tonnes per year, up from the existing caster’s 510,000 tonnes per year capacity.

In addition to Concast’s tundish stopper flow control systems, the caster will also employ three sets of Concast’s electromagnetic stirrers: Mould-, Strand- and Final EMS’s.

Posco’s new caster will also include Concast’s Mechanical Soft Reduction technology for high quality steel grades. The Mechanical Soft Reduction will help to provide optimum macrostructure and center porosity in the cast billets through control features including DSC Dynamic Solidification Calculation and HSA Hydraulic Segment Adjustment.

The caster is scheduled to start up in late 2006.