Third Siemens continuous slab caster goes into operation at Dragon Steel

Siemens VAI Metals Technologies put a new continuous casting plant into operation in August at the Taiwanese steelmaker Dragon Steel Co. The two-strand caster was installed at the Taichung, Taiwan location and is designed to produce approximately two million tons of slabs made of carbon and micro-alloyed steels annually for high-quality flat-rolled products. Previously, two continuous casters had already been installed by Siemens and were already in operation at the site.

The new S3 continuous casting plant at the Taichung metallurgical plant of Dragon Steel produces slabs in a thickness of 250 millimeters and in widths ranging between 750 and 1880 millimeters. High-quality steel grades for rolling applications are cast at the plant, including low- and mediumcarbon steels, peritectic steels and pipeline grades. The caster is of arc design with a straight mold and features a metallurgical length of nearly 40 meters. The line is equipped with a series of technology packages specially developed by Siemens for continuous slab casters, including DynaFlex for flexible adjustment of oscillation parameters, LevCon to control the liquid metal level in the mold, the Mold Expert breakout detection system and DynaWidth for adjustment of the slab width.

Minimum-maintenance Smart Segments are implemented in the straightening and horizontal zones. Internally cooled and long-lasting I-Star rolls support uniform cooling of the slab surface. The Dynacs secondary cooling system controls the slab cooling process, and quality assurance is performed by the VAI-Q control system. Siemens VAI also supplied the complete automation and process control systems for the continuous slab caster, making it possible to perfectly match the operating parameters of the individual components.

With the new caster, Dragon Steel now owns three continuous slab casters. Previously two Siemens continuous slab casters were in operation in the Taichung works. One was installed in October 2009 and the other in February 2010. A blast furnace and a sintering plant are also in operation at the site. An additional blast furnace and a second sintering plant are currently being supplied by Siemens.

Dragon Steel is a subsidiary company of China Steel Corporation, the largest steel producer in Taiwan. Through constant expansion of the facilities in Taichung over the past few years, Dragon Steel has continuously increased production capacity and become more prominent in the flatrolled-product market.

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

A photo supplements this press release. Please see: http://www.siemens.com/mt-picture/IMT201212291

(Two-strand continuous slab caster S2 supplied by Siemens to Dragon Steel in Taichung, Taiwan)

The Siemens Industry Sector (Erlangen, Germany) is the world’s leading supplier of innovative and environmentally friendly products and solutions for industrial customers. With end-to-end automation technology and industrial software, solid vertical-market expertise, and technology-based services, the Sector enhances its customers’ productivity, efficiency, and flexibility. With a global workforce of more than 100,000 employees, the Industry Sector comprises the Divisions Industry Automation, Drive Technologies and Customer Services as well as the Business Unit Metals Technologies. For more information, visit www.siemens.com/industry

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Based on Siemens (Industry Sector, Metals Technologies) information