Vertical continuous casting technology for flat and long products

　　The vertical continuous caster was initially used in continuous casting technology. It is an important part of ingot production, which can greatly save operating costs. Arc continuous caster is a new type of improved continuous caster, which plays a more and more important role because it can further save the downstream production cost. However, when the production of special steel grades and high quality requirements are met, the ingot and vertical continuous casting routes are retained and still the preferred solution today. Preventing bending and reducing straightening force, high cleanliness, and uniform and homogeneous slab or square billet are the outstanding features of vertical continuous casting technology.

　　It is very difficult to pour a series of high critical alloy steels on the traditional arc caster, because this kind of material is very strong and sensitive to cracks, which means that this kind of material cannot be easily bent from vertical to horizontal in the bending and straightening area of the caster. In order to meet the most stringent quality requirements and the development needs of continuous casting of new steel grades, a steel plant has built a single strand vertical slab caster with an annual output of 270000 tons. The caster can continuously cast a wide range of highly specialized products, including high alloy and ultra-high alloy carbon steel, special steel and stainless steel. The caster is 40 meters tall and 13.6 meters long. The slab thickness is 150 and 200 mm, and the width is 600 ~ 1300 mm. The casting speed varies from 0.7 m / min to 1.3 m / min depending on the steel type and the thickness to be poured.

　　This unique caster adopts the following advanced process technology packages and special designs to ensure reliable operation of the equipment and produce high-quality slabs:

　　Butterfly ladle turret with independent lifting arm and ladle weighing device; Semi gantry tundish truck with trough tundish and Sen stop rod system; Smart mold intelligent crystallizer with mold expert system, levcon crystallizer liquid level control system and soft clamping system; Diaface design of narrow side copper plate, small friction and uniform heat dissipation in the mold; DYNAFLEX hydraulic vibration table with online adjustment of stroke, frequency and waveform; Intelligent vertical frame and intelligent sector with dynamic roll gap soft reduction system; Rotating roll; Dynajet cooling nozzle; Rigid dummy bar with bottom feeding system; DYNACS dynamic secondary cooling model; Flame cutting machine; Level 1 and level 2 systems; Sector replacement system; Tilting roller table; Blank drawing device, etc.

　　The typical steels cast by this caster include: nickel base alloys (Incoloy800H, GH3030, GH140); Precision alloy (hfni36, 4J29, 1J50); Special stainless steel; Wear resistant steel (20cr5cu, etc.); Heat resistant steel (1cr6si2mo, etc.); Low magnetic steel (20mn23alv, etc.); Tool steel, die steel (T8, T10); Structural steel (35CrMo, 42CrMo, 50CrV, etc.).

　　Vertical casters can cast almost all types of steel, especially those that cannot be cast on arc casters. These special steel grades require the continuous caster to have better flexibility. Through continuous improvement and upgrading of modern process technology, the application of vertical continuous casting technology can be extended to more steel grades and product section specifications, and can improve product quality and production efficiency.