Liuzhou Iron & Steel, Guangxi Zhuang, China, has awarded SMS Demag AG, Germany, a contract for the supply of a single-strand slab caster.

Scope of supply includes the mold with resonance oscillation system, strand guide, electrical equipment and Level 1 and Level 2 automation systems, as well as erection, commissioning and supervisory services.

The slab caster will incorporate SMS Demag's patented hydraulic segment adjustment to perform the Dynamic Soft Reduction^® (DSR) process. This system features dynamically controlled segment adjustment to minimize core segregations and suppress core porosities, allowing the production of high-quality, first-class steels and making the caster a highly variable production unit.

The caster will be equipped with an adjustable mold to ensure constant casting conditions, while the hydraulic-type mold oscillator with variable oscillation frequency, stroke length and curve will help to improve the product surface. The dynamic temperature control system monitors strand solidification and temperature profile, thereby ensuring a uniform strand temperature profile to reduce the sensitivity to cracking.

The continuous caster is designed to produce slabs with thicknesses of 180, 200 and 220 mm and widths ranging from 1,000 to 1,650 mm. The planned annual capacity is 1,200,000 tonnes.

Commissioning is scheduled to take place at the end of 2005.

Liuzhou Iron & Steel has a BOF meltshop, four billet and four slab casters and is one of China's largest heavy-plate manufacturers for the shipbuilding industry, supplying its products also to Japan, Germany, Singapore and Thailand.

SMS Demag AG forms part of the Metallurgical Plant and Rolling Mill Technology Business Area of the SMS group. The SMS group is internationally active in plant construction and mechanical engineering relating to the processing of steel, nonferrous metals and plastics. The group is divided into the Business Areas of Metallurgical Plant and Rolling Mill Technology, Tube, Long Product and Forging Technology and Plastics Technology. In the year 2003 around 9,500 employees worldwide generated a turnover of around EUR 2.20 billion.