9th ECCC European Continuous Casting Conference – ECCC 2017

A new vertical caster for special steel grades was started up at Zhongyuan Special Steel Co., Ltd., in Jiyuan, China in June 2015. The 2-strand vertical round bloom continuous caster has a capacity of up to 370,000 metric tons per year, which enables Zhongyuan to produce additional high-quality steel grades, since the company only had an ingot casting plant for the production of mainly steel forgings. A newly designed multi-roller driver unit ensures optimum support of the 120-ton strand during casting. This is the first plant of its type, worldwide. The new continuous caster is designed as a vertical plant with a height of 40 meters and a metallurgical length of 23 meters. It produces heavy blooms with diameters of 400, 600 and 800 millimeters and lengths of between 2.5 and 6 meters. The casting speed is up to 0.55 m/min. The caster is equipped with a straight SIMETAL DiaMold tubular mold that is 700 mm long. The SIMETAL DynaFlex tubular mold oscillator helps to provide flexible adjustment of the oscillation parameters. Technology packages such as the SIMETAL LevCon casting level control system and the SIMETAL Mold Expert breakout detection system ensure trouble-free casting. An advanced air mist secondary cooling system, including the SIMETAL Dynacs 3D metallurgical cooling model and the SIMETAL DynaJet cooling nozzles ensure optimum quality. The latest solution for heavy-bloom round casting and the corresponding operational results are presented to demonstrate the special features of vertical bloom casting.