September 07, 2008

POSCO orders for a 400mm thick slab caster

Siemens Metals Technologies announced that it received an order from the Korean steel producer POSCO for the installation of a slab caster capable of casting 400 mm thick slabs at its steel works site in Pohang. Siemen said that the machine will be the largest slab caster ever supplied worldwide. The first slab is scheduled to be cast on the new caster in February 2010.

POSCO in response to the growing demand for ultra thick plates in Asia required for the construction of pipelines as well as in the shipbuilding industry, it decided to install a 2 strand ultra thick slab caster in Pohang which will have a nominal casting capacity of 1.3 million tonne per year.

The overall engineering concept was jointly developed by POSCO and Siemens. Siemens will provide engineering, key equipment, technological packages and advisory services. The project will be implemented in consortium with POSCO Engineering & Construction Co Ltd and POSCON, an affiliated company of the automation division of POSCO.

Mr Helmut Resch of Siemens said that “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. 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.”

He added that “It is also unique is the extension of the uppermost section of the strand guide system to promote the ascension and subsequent removal of any inclusions present in the liquid steel. This is important to meet the quality standards required by the demanding downstream applications.”