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Siemens to Build World’s Largest Slab Caster for Posco
11/28/2007 - Siemens Metals Technologies will supply a twin-strand ultra-thick slab caster with a nominal casting capacity of 1.3 million tonnes/year for Posco’s Pohang Works.
Korean steel producer Posco has placed an order with Siemens Metals Technologies to install a slab caster capable of casting 400-mm thick slabs at its Pohang Steelworks.
The machine will be the largest slab caster ever supplied worldwide.
Posco’s decision to add the new caster was prompted by growing demand in Asia for ultra-thick plates as required for the construction of pipelines as well as in the shipbuilding industry. The new machine—a twin-strand ultra-thick slab caster with a nominal casting capacity of 1.3 million tons per year—will be the largest machine of its kind. The caster’s overall engineering concept was jointly developed by Posco and Siemens.
“The enormous forces necessary to bend, support and straighten the ultra-thick-slab sizes requires a highly robust and rigid design of the entire strand-guide system, commented Project Leader Helmut Resch. “At the same time, the high internal- and surface-quality standards of the cast slabs are to be met. It is only through the use of advanced modeling techniques such as finite-element analyses that this machine can be designed.”
The uppermost section of the caster’s strand-guide system will be extended to promote floatation and subsequent removal of any inclusions present in the liquid steel. This step is important for meeting the quality standards required by demanding downstream applications.
Siemens Metals Technologies will provide engineering, key equipment, technological packages, and advisory services for start-up and commissioning. Siemens will supply many of the technological packages in its product portfolio for slab casters, including DynaFlex mold-oscillation, DynaWidth slab-width adjustment, SmartSegments with DynaGap SoftReduction and Level 2 Dynacs secondary-cooling. Siemens’ new 3-D Spray System optimizes cooling for slabs of different widths. With the DRI-Star rollers, which do not require spray-water cooling, the ultra-thick slabs can be bent and straightened at a wide temperature range in accordance with the process requirements.
The project will be implemented in consortium with Posco E&C (Posco Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd.) and Poscon, an affiliated company of Posco’s automation division. Siemens’ contract value is a two-digit million figure.
The first slab is scheduled to be cast on the new caster in February 2010.
With a crude-steel output exceeding 30 million tons in 2006, Posco (Pohang Iron and Steel Co. Ltd.) is the fourth-largest steel producer in the world. At its production sites in Korea and elsewhere in Asia, the company produces a wide range of carbon, stainless and electrical-steel grades that are sold as coils, sheets, plates and wire rod for use in a multitude of industrial applications.
Metals Technologies (MT), a Division of the Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services (I&S) Group, is one of the world's leading engineering and plant-building companies for the iron and steel industry as well as for the flat-rolling sector of the aluminum industry and for open-cast mining. MT, which was created from the integration of Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau, Linz/Austria, plus the electrical engineering product business and automation solutions of Siemens, provides a comprehensive range of supplies and services for all related technological processes and integrated automation solutions for the entire life-cycle of metallurgical plants.
The Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services Group (I&S) is the integrator of systems and solutions for industrial and infrastructure facilities and global service provider for the plant and projects business covering planning, installation, operation and the entire life cycle. In fiscal 2007 (to September 30) I&S employed a total of 37,000 people worldwide and achieved total sales of EUR 8.894 billion, according to U.S. GAAP.
