Siemens to Replace Slab Caster and Supply New RH Degassing Plant at Posco Gwangyang Works, Korea – Improved Slab Quality and Higher Output

Siemens VAI Metals Technologies received orders for the replacement of an existing caster with a new high-speed 2-strand slab caster as well as for the supply of a new twin-station RH degassing plant at Posco's Steel Making Plant No. 1 site in Gwangyang, Korea. The project scope includes engineering and the supply of key components, equipment, systems and technological packages. The project will be implemented in consortium with Posco E&C (Posco Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd.). The combined contract value for Siemens is a two-digit million euro figure. The start-up of both plants is scheduled for mid-2009.

In the Steel Making Plant No. 1 of Posco's Gwangyang Works, a slab caster originally installed in 1986 by another supplier will be dismantled and replaced in order to satisfy increased performance and product-quality demands. Siemens Metals Technologies received the contract to install a new high-performance 2-strand slab caster which will have an annual casting capacity of 3.2 million tons of carbon, alloyed and silicon steel grades. Important casting targets were to avoid center strand segregation through the application of dynamic soft reduction technology as well as to ensure the highest possible slab-surface quality, particularly important for silicon steel sheets.

In a separate contract received by Siemens Metals Technologies from Posco E&C, a twin-station 280-ton RH degassing plant will also be supplied to reduce the hydrogen and nitrogen gas content of the steel as required for more demanding product uses.

The 2-strand caster will have a casting-bow radius of 9.0 meters. Slabs will be cast with a thickness of 250 millimeters in widths ranging from 900-1,600 millimeters. With a relatively long strand-supported length of 41.6 meters, high casting speeds of 2.1 meters per minute will be possible. The caster will be equipped with specialized equipment and a wide range of technological packages. These include DynaFlex for the online flexible adjustment of the mold-oscillation parameters, SmartMold with its cassette-type mold design that allows the copper plates to be quickly exchanged and the automatic mold-level-control system LevCon 2. Dynamic mold-width adjustment will be possible with DynaWidth for fast slab-width changes. Advanced caster segments of the type SmartSegment will enable the online and fully automatic adjustment of the slab thicknesses. DynaGap SoftReduction technology will allow the strand taper in the area of final solidification to be dynamically adjusted for improved internal strand quality. The Level 2 Dynacs secondary-cooling system featuring dynamic strand-cooling management ensures ideal cooling conditions according to the respective steel grade. With the employed 3D-Spray system the spray width is automatically adjusted according to the slab width, providing optimum slab cooling.

With the new caster approximately 70 percent more steel will be cast in comparison with the previous machine output. The overall yield will be greater and maintenance costs considerably lower. The improved slab quality will allow the rolled steel products to be used for a much broader range of industrial applications.

Additional information on solutions for steel works, rolling mills and processing lines is available at http://www.siemens.com/metals.