Technology, mechanics, automation, and electrical engineering – high productivity casters, top flexibility, and life cycle support

As the world's leading supplier of slab casters, Siemens VAI offers a comprehensive range of integrated equipment and system solutions for top productivity, fast ramp-ups, and high flexibility of production.

In the past five years, Siemens VAI has supplied 45% of all new slab casters worldwide and carried out over 65% of all slab caster upgrading projects. Compact and modularly designed slab casters from Siemens VAI feature the world’s most advanced technological packages and special casting equipment and components. Siemens VAI’s modular approach allows us to find solutions to fit client needs, from minor component upgrades to turnkey projects.

Main benefits of Siemens VAI's slab casting solutions:

Top quality and productivity coupled with increased yield
SIMETAL Connect & Cast packages ensuring rapid ramp-ups
High flexibility with regard to product requirements
Service and support from plant start-up through the entire life cycle of the plant

Siemens VAI slab casters include SmartMold with DynaWidth hydraulic width adjustment, DynaFlex Oscillator, Smart Segments, and SIMETAL DynaGap Soft Reduction, as well as integrated automation and quality control systems.

SIMETAL LiquiRob

Robot-aided automation for the casting floor

SIMETAL LiquiRob enables fully automated casting floor operation, from the start of casting to finalizing a sequence. This system is capable of a multitude of tasks such as temperature and oxygen measurement, steel sampling, and tundish powder dosing, monitored by the operator from the safety of the control room. The imminent danger of handling liquid steel above floor level is thus avoided. SIMETAL LiquiRob is a major advance in operator safety and also enhances product quality and productivity.

SIMETAL LiquiRob for CC

SIMETAL DynaWidth

The dynamic mold width adjustment system for higher plant productivity

SIMETAL DynaWidth is the Siemens VAI solution for fast, remote width adjustment of slab caster molds. Width adjustments are made via hydraulic drives, which are directly linked to the narrow faces of the mold. This technical solution can be installed even in cases of very limited space availability. Moreover, it guarantees minimal mechanical backlashes and high guiding accuracy.

SIMETAL DynaWidth

SIMETAL Smart Mold

Easily adjustable mold for reduced turnaround time

The core of a slab caster is the mold, upon which the final surface quality is produced. SIMETAL Smart Mold is designed to avoid any deformation of the strand shell. Each copper plate is fixed to a stiff and rapidly changeable backup plate, forming what is known as a “changeable cassette”, which is then mounted by fixation bolts to the support wall of the mold. This cassette approach can reduce mold turnaround time by more than 50%.

SIMETAL Smart Segment

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Online roller gap adjustment with SIMETAL Smart Segment

The SIMETAL Smart Segment is a specially designed strand-guide segment. It features integrated rotary joints for water supply to the rollers and a hose-free connection. Self-joining water and air connection are available when the segment is placed on the support structure. The SIMETAL Smart Segment also features dynamic soft reduction via SIMETAL DynaGap Soft Reduction and SIMETAL Dynacs.

SMART Segment & DynaGap Soft Reduction

SIMETAL 3D Sprays

Dynamic secondary cooling with continuous spray width adjustment

SIMETAL 3D Sprays enable flexible adjustment of cooling nozzles throughout the entire casting process. The nozzle positioning is carried out in such a manner that the slab center is adequately sprayed and cooled. Additionally, the system determines the best nozzle distance to the slab corner to avoid overcooling of the corners. A uniform temperature profile over the entire slab can thus be achieved even with variable slab widths.

SIMETAL 3D Sprays

SIMETAL DynaGap Soft Reduction®

Optimized internal cast product quality with dynamic soft reduction.

Without soft reduction, casters frequently face problems with internal quality, especially for pipe and plate grades. The SIMETAL Dynacs thermal tracking model precisely determines the final point of solidification, and the SIMETAL DynaGap model automatically adjusts the set points for the SIMETAL Smart Segment for optimum roller gap. SIMETAL Smart Segments automatically readjust the roller gap taper for optimum soft reduction, even with varying casting speeds.

SMART Segment & DynaGap Soft Reduction

SIMETAL LevCon

Mold level control and stabilization at utmost precision

SIMETAL LevCon applies an advanced control algorithm that takes into account delayed system reaction, clogging, and mechanical wear of the tundish stopper or slide gate through improved dynamic behavior. Automatic starting and resumption of the casting process are available for single, twin, triple, and multistrand casting. The newly included bulging compensation feature allows to reliably overcome instationary bulging effects by precisely modeling the mold level behavior and applying a compensating signal thus assuring stable mold level conditions. Thanks to the modular concept, all common types of mold level measurements, flow control mechanics, and actuators can be used.

LevCon 2.0

SIMETAL Mold Expert

Breakout prevention and mold monitoring

The SIMETAL Mold Expert consists of a number of packages, so-called ‘Experts’, that are combined to meet the demands of existing or new casting machines and allow metallurgists to take advantage of additional expertise in the processes influencing solidification in the mold. Ease of integration into existing environments has been demonstrated in many installations worldwide. The SIMETAL Mold Expert reliably reduces sticker-related breakouts to an absolute minimum.

Mold Expert 2.0

SIMETAL DynaFlex

Flexible adjustment of oscillation parameters for improved surface quality

The SIMETAL DynaFlex oscillation system allows the online adjustment of non-sinus factor, stroke and oscillation frequency for optimizing positive and negative strip time during casting. This results in substantial operational and metallurgical improvements such as minimization of oscillation mark depth. Wear-free mold oscillation is assured by a leaf-spring guiding system which is superior to other systems based on the use of bearings.

DynaFlex

SIMETAL Star Roller Family

The SIMETAL Star roller family is the ideal strand support for all conditions

SIMETAL Star rollers ideally support the continuous cast steel strand in the segment. Whether you are looking for a solution to optimize your costs or want to update to the absolute state of the art in strand guide rollers technology: Siemens VAI can offer an answer to all of your requirements. Our wide range of application optimized roller concepts allows you to easily find the perfect fit to your specific demands.

Strandguide Roller

SIMETAL DynaJet

Variable water flow and spray patterns for precise adjustment of cooling intensity

Spray cooling is a key technology in the continuous casting process and has a significant influence on the surface quality of the product. In order to ensure high quality standards for different operating conditions, modern continuous casting machines feature a highly adjustable cooling process, particularly in terms of intensity.

Caster Technology Consulting

Expert assistance for optimal performance in continuous casting

Based on decades of experience in the engineering, installation, start-up and commissioning of continuous casting machines, our specialists are skilled in identifying caster deficiencies and weaknesses. Our expertise is available at short notice and covers all aspects of continuous casting technology. The detailed optimization solutions proposed by Siemens VAI can help producers meet their production, quality and business targets, as well as save money.

Caster Technology Consulting

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Slab Casting Technology