Casting Technologies
Bloom and Billet Casters
The continuous casting of blooms has become a well-established technology for the production of semis for high-quality applications. Similarly, continuous casting of billets is the basis for highly productive steelmaking. INTECO TBR supplies robust continuous casting machines with highest quality of the final product, low maintenance requirements and high operator friendliness.
Special Casting Applications
Continuous casting machines for special techniques, such as horizontal or vertical casting round up the product portfolio in the field of the production of special steels. A flexible and intelligent design and the implementation of customer demands emphasize our competence in this product segment.
Types of casting machines
- Bow type or vertical bending machines
- Vertical casting machine
- Horizontal casting machine
- Segment casters
Distinctive features of INTECO Design
- Modular design
- Operator friendly casting floor
- Advanced and in-house developed solutions for mould level control
- High precision mould oscillator with innovative drives
- Dynamically controllable spray cooling coupled with online solidification model
- Continuous straightener concept for lowest strain rates
- Customised transport systems
- Rigid cooling bed
- Optional hot charging equipment
- Production safety through integrated automation
- Best possible end product quality based on metallurgical model
The main fields of application of ingot casting are nowadays the production of all types of alloyed steels and unalloyed steels (e. g. tool steels), special alloys and all kinds of forging and rolling ingots. Ingots are being produced in a very wide range of weight, starting from 500kg up to 700t or even more and geometry, of square flat round polygonal / octagonal.
There are in principal two different ways of ingot casting:
- Bottom Pouring
- Vacuum Ingot Casting
In case of Bottom Pouring the ingots are teemed via a trumpet from the bottom into the mould. This technology is used for all types of ingots up to 160t in the shape. For bigger ingots from 120 up to 700 t the Vacuum Ingot Casting is used. The reason for this technology is to prevent any increase of the hydrogen content, which is essential to eliminate the tendency to flaking.
INTECO offers different solution to facilitate the work in the casting pit and to optimize the process to ensure reproducibility and increasing yield of the products.
Variations
- Ingot Casting Car (Portal, Semi-Portal)
- Vacuum Ingot Casting Equipment
- Brick Laying Station
- Funnel Tube Preparation Station
- Plate Tilting Station with enclosed Sand Preparation
- Hydraulic Ingot pusher
- Optical Mould Inspection
- Mould Cleaning Unit
- Hot Top Cleaning Station
- Movable Operating Platforms
USP‘s of INTECO Design
- “ATS” Semi Automated Teeming System
- Design of Mould and Casting Setups
- Automatic Casting Flow Control
- Metallurgical and Process Consulting
Segment Casting in Semi Continuous Operation (SC) and Continuous Operation (VCC)
Segment Casting (SC) is a semi-continuous vertical casting process, which is widely used for the production of nonferrous alloys. In the field of steel metallurgy, the application of this process can be found in some special niche applications.
INTECO has further developed this idea in the last years targeting at an improved production of round blooms with various diameters up to Ø1.500mm, special sized slabs as well as special steel grades that cannot be casted on a bow-type caster.
Additionally, the Segment Casting process has the potential to replace many applications of Ingot Casting due to its excellent performance regarding productivity, yield and quality. Because of some patent pending features like a powerful stirrer in combination with a special hot top treatment device and a ladle heating system for ultra-low casting speeds, Segment Casting represents one of the most promising new products of INTECO for special steel producers worldwide.
Variations
- Sections: round, polygonal, rectangular, hollow
- Sizes up to Ø1500 or comparable for other geometries
- Lenght up to 13-15m with cutting to final product size
- Grades: no limits
- Yield: highest, more than 90-95% from liquid in ladle to cut ingot
- Plant deign: Semi-continuous (SC) to ingots from 1 to 4 strands in parallel and subsequent offline cutting and/or Continuous (VCC) in sequences of multiple ladles with inline cutting and subsequent ingot manipulation
USP‘s of INTECO Design
- Dynamic electromagnetic stirring system (EMS)
- Inductive feeder for maximum hot top yield
- Retractable heat insulation system
- EPH-system for ladle heating at ultra-low casting speeds
- Liquid steel protection from ladle to mould
- Servo drive oscillation
- Fully automatic dummy bar system
- Fully automatic discharge system
