An outstanding success story: 50 years of continuous casting in Salzgitter

• Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH celebrates 50th anniversary of continuous casting
• Multiple new plant facilities and continuous investment in modern plant technology
• Leading position in technical equipment and end product quality

50 years of continuous casting: This significant anniversary has been cause for celebration at Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH in September. When the first continuous casting line was commissioned in Salzgitter in 1973, this marked a milestone in the company’s history. Gradually it took over from the ingot casting process, and in the following decades the company has invested in three more continuous casting lines, thereby ensuring that the plant technology remained up to the latest standard. Thanks to this investment, Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH has secured a international leading position in terms of both technical equipment and end product quality.
 
With its continuous casting lines, Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH supplies its own downstream plants, as well as those of other Salzgitter Group member companies. Following on from the first continuous casting line, today’s No. 2 concast line, the No. 1 line was commissioned in 1982 to meet the increased demand for continuously cast material.
 
This was followed in 2004 by the No. 3 continuous casting line in order to continue to serve the quality needs of the automobile industry at the highest level. In order to meet even the highest, stringent demands for purity, the plant incorporates a vertical turn-out facility and adjustable strand guides.
 
The commissioning of the No. 4 continuous casting line in 2010 marked the provisional completion of the new plant buildings. The No.4 line serves the particular requirements of Ilsenburger Grobblech GmbH. By means of hydraulic thickness adjustment at the roller stand, the No. 4 concast line can be readily reset from 250 mm thickness to 350 mm so as to meet the needs of Ilsenburger Grobblech GmbH for “thick” slabs.
 
The input material produced by the four continuous casting lines is in subsequent processing stages converted into products that are to be found in a variety of industries and application areas: from the construction industry via domestic appliance manufacturers, automobile makers and cold rolling businesses and all the way through to tube manufacturers.

• Casting width: steplessly adjustable from 850 to 2,600 mm (dependent on plant)
• Capacity: approx.. 500 slabs per day (equivalent to 10 trains each with 10 freight cars), that’s well in excess of 4 million tonnes per year
• Amount of steel so far produced in 50 years: approx. 156 million tonnes.