Austria-based plantmaker Siemens VAI has announced that in March this year it started up a two-strand ultra-thick slab caster capable of casting up to 1.3 million mt of slabs per year in thicknesses up to 400 mm at leading South Korean steelmaker POSCO's Pohang Works in Korea.
Accordingly, POSCO's new caster is equipped with numerous technological packages to ensure the reliable and consistent production of the highest quality slabs for sophisticated product applications in, for example, the oil and shipbuilding industries.
POSCO's new slab caster is the only ultra-thick slab caster in South Korea. This start-up follows the commissioning by Siemens VAI of a 400 mm ultra-thick slab caster in June 2010 at Qinhuangdao Shouqin Metal Material Co. in Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province, China.