Continuous Slab Caster
Where liquid steel is cast into solid, uniform slabs.
The twin-strand, curved-mold caster has a capacity of 160,000 tons a month with a maximum speed of five feet a minute for 9-inch-thick slabs. The caster has a width range of 24 to 63 inches. Severstal Warren caster operators implement different casting speeds and cooling practices to produce the range of custom and commodity grades desired by Severstal Warren customers.
Ladles of liquid steel from the BOF/LMF are raised onto a turret for positioning over the caster. Steel flows from the ladle into preheated tundishes – bathtub-shaped devices – that distribute the steel into one of two casting molds. As the steel travels the casting length, it is gradually cooled and solidified into slab form. Torches cut the slabs to lengths of up to 446 inches long.
The slabs are then transported by mobile carriers to the hot strip mill.