Giant Austrian-based plantmaker Siemens VAI Mining and Metals Technologies has announced that it started up a new one-strand slab caster for the largest Brazilian flat steel producer Companhia Siderúrgica Paulista (Cosipa).
The new slab caster, with an annual production capacity of about 1.2 million mt, is able to cast both high-quality carbon and low-alloyed steel grades. Slabs can be cast in thicknesses between 210 and 260 mm and in widths ranging between 1,000 and 1,900 mm.
Moreover, the new slab caster is equipped with the LiquiRob system, which operates on the casting platform to automatically perform steel sampling and temperature measurements in the tundish, and is also equipped with "thickness-on-demand" capability to allow the strand thicknesses and widths to be quickly and flexibly adjusted. The above mentioned features make the Cosipa's caster unique in South America.
Following the startup of the caster earlier this year, a total of nearly 100,000 mt of steel were cast during the hot-commissioning period and all single performance tests were successfully carried out.