The caster, CCM 3, will be set up in the Baosteel production site in Guangdong Province in South China, where Baosteel Zhanjiang already operates two slab casters supplied by Primetals Technologies since late 2015. CCM 3 has an annual capacity of 2.8 million metric tons of high-quality, high-strength steel grades. It will supply slabs for a 1,780 millimeter hot strip mill, complements the new Zhanjiang facility and is part of a second phase of site development with the aim to reach an annual steel plant capacity of 12.35 million metric tons per year. Start-up of the new casting machine is expected for early 2021.
The continuous slab caster CCM 3 is similar to the previously supplied casting machines CCM 1 and CCM 2, allowing for interchangeability of equipment and employing the same automation concept and configuration, as well as the same operation and maintenance procedures. It is designed as a bow type caster with straight mold, a machine radius of 9.5 meters and a metallurgical length of 37.2 meters. It produce slabs in widths from 900 to 1,650 millimeters and thicknesses of 230 or 250 millimeters. The casting speed can be varied between 1 and 1.95 meters per minute. Steel grades to be produced include the whole spectrum of carbon steel, from ultra-low to high carbon, deep-drawing, structural, peritectic and HSLA grades, micro alloyed to high alloyed steels, as well as pipe, strip and silicon grades.
The casting machine has straight SmartMold cassette-type molds, DynaFlex mold oscillators, and DynaWidth for automatic adjustment of the slab width. DynaGap Soft Reduction ensures that the slabs have a consistently high interior quality. The strand guide is equipped with Smart Segments. The combination of the Dynacs 3D cooling model with internally cooled I-Star rollers offers maximum flexibility in the secondary cooling.
Two-strand continuous slab casters from Primetals Technologies at Baosteel Zhanjiang, a subsidiary of Chinese corporation Baoshan Iron and Steel Co Ltd. (Baosteel).