ADVANCES IN THE OPERATION OF THE MITTAL STEEL SOUTH AFRICA (SALDANHA) THIN SLAB CASTER

摘要

From January 2002 to July 2004, the average monthly production at this facility (expressed as three-month averages) has increased by 27 % from 83 939 t/month to 106 933 t/month. This was achieved by an increase in steel-in-mould time utilization of 10 % (from 76 % to 84 %); a tempo increase of 16 % (from 2.75 t/min. to 3.20 t/min.) and a 1.8 % increase in yield (from 96.0 % to 97.8 %). An important breakthrough was the implementation of a funnel shaped mould with a new SEN design, which had a dramatic effect on the sequence factor (increasing from an average of 4.5 in 2001 to 9.0 currently). The following projects had and still have the greatest influence on progress at the Saldanha Steel thin-slab caster. They are discussed in detail: 1. Submerged entry nozzle (SEN) development to achieve stable flow conditions inside the mould at steel flow rates up to 4.0 t/min. 2. Reducing the effect of bulging in the machine on mould level variations. 3. Reducing operating cost and increasing availability by increasing the campaign life of mould copper plates.