TimkenSteel commissions vertical caster supplied by SMS group

TimkenSteel announced this week that it has successfully commissioned its vertical continuous caster, and it is presently ramping up production to full capacity.  The new facility features special equipment for casting high-quality blooms: the vertical-type caster has been designed to process a wide range of steel grades, including plain, low-alloyed and high-strength carbon steels, Mo-, Cr- and Ni-alloyed tool steels as well as high-performance bearing steels. 

The caster was designed, manufactured and supplied by SMS Concast. It has an annual production capacity of 1 million tons of special steel grades. This vertical caster is the heart of a quarter-billion dollar investment by TimkenSteel in its Faircrest Steel Plant. The caster measures 80 meters from the top of the ladle turret down to the foundations in the basement. The “Jumbo” caster is designed to produce for two bloom sizes: 460 x 610 millimeters and 280 x 430 millimeters.

“In combination with the new ladle treatment station, the caster will not only boost the production capacity of the Faircrest plant by 25 percent. It will also facilitate the production of a wider range of large-diameter bars,” explains SMS Concast CEO Luis Hernandez. The unique design requirements and the exacting process variables asked for very close collaboration between the international teams of TimkenSteel and SMS Concast throughout the entire project time.  Currently, the engineering teams of TimkenSteel and SMS are preparing hot commissioning of the plant. “We aim to gradually ramp up production to 60 percent over the course of 2015 and to reach full capacity by the middle of 2016,” said Tom Moline, Vice President of Manufacturing at TimkenSteel.”