Metinvest Group’s KAMETSTAL plant in Dnipro Metallurgical Plant (Kamianske, Dnipro region) has mastered a new steel casting technology using continuous casting machine No. 1 to increase the output of high-quality billets.
According to the press release, in 2024, KAMETSTAL’s BOF Shop expanded the range of high-quality billets and increased the production of CCMs using this technology. This year, steelmakers are facing new challenges to improve the efficiency of stop casting.
It is explained that the main feature of this technology is to cover the steel jet with a dipping cup in the gap between the tundish and the crystallizer of the continuous casting machine. In this way, the hot metal is protected from the negative effects of secondary oxidation, which gives the billet improved quality to meet the requirements of consumers in both the European and domestic markets. This technology makes it possible to produce metal with higher requirements for chemical composition and macrostructure, and the margin profit from it is higher than from conventional billets.
Last year, as part of the program for the development of new products, Section CCM No. 1 successfully mastered the production of continuously cast billets with a cross section of 200×200 mm with increased requirements for chemical composition and macrostructure from 40X, 45X1 and 45 steels, which are used to produce 130 mm diameter wheels.
“Successful mastering of the required quality parameters made it possible to transfer the production of such a billet from CCM #2 to the first machine and make the products more efficient. In 2024, 2,940 tons of new billets were cast and shipped to Ukrainian and European customers, as well as for the internal needs of Kametstal’s rollers,” the plant’s information states.
It adds that the key tasks currently being addressed by the team of specialists involved in the program, in addition to expanding the product line, include testing the automatic start-up of the machine’s jets during stop casting. Starting CCMs in the AutoStart mode means, first of all, improving the quality of the cast metal by minimizing the influence of the human factor on this process.
“Kametstal was established on the basis of PJSC Dneprovsky Coke and Chemical Plant (DKKhZ) and the Centralized Steel Mill of PJSC Dneprovsky Metallurgical Plant (DMK).
According to the 2020 report of Metinvest Group’s parent company, Metinvest B.V. (Netherlands) owned 100% of the shares in DCCP.
