The Russian steel producer Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) has announced that, within the framework of the implementation of its investment project for the creation of a complete cycle for plate production, on December 30 it has commissioned its new continuous slab caster No. 6 at its oxygen-converter shop.
The equipment for MMK's new continuous slab caster No. 6, located on an area of 87,500 square meters, was supplied by German plant building company SMS Demag, under the contract signed in November 2006.
The new continuous slab caster No. 6 has a designed capacity of up to 1.6 million mt per year of high quality slabs of 190 mm, 250 mm and 300 mm thickness and of 1,400-2,700 mm width. The maximal slab casting speed equals 1.0 m/min. The caster will satisfy the slab feedstock requirements of MMK's new plate mill 5000, commissioned in the second half of July this year.
The high quality of the new caster's slab micro-structure will allow MMK to produce plates with special strength and plasticity characteristics. Due to the unique technologies applied at the continuous slab caster No. 6, plate mill 5000 will be able to produce plates of high strength grades, which will secure the leading position of MMK among high strength grade plate producers in Russia.
The leading Russian pipe manufacturers are key customers of MMK. MMK's shipments to the pipe industry in 2008 amounted to 1.63 million mt, which is 23 percent of the overall domestic sales of the company.