Gerdau Long Steel North America plans to enhance the capability of the continuous casting machine at its special steel mill in Monroe, Michigan, which was originally installed in 2012. The upgrade will allow the machine to process 240 mm square bloom as part of the company’s overall initiative to “enhance the steel cleanliness necessary for evolving critical applications in the automotive market and other industries.”
The project is expected to be completed by September 2018.
In a statement, the company said the global push for energy efficiency has “significantly increased the importance of clean steels in the automotive industry.” The company recently invested in diagnostic equipment to evaluate steel cleanliness, including automated scanning electron microscopy (SEM), image analysis for extreme value analysis (EVA) and ultrasonic immersion testing equipment with various frequency capabilities.