The project includes the replacement of obsolete or redundant features via the modernization of the mold and the installation of proven technology packages. The aim is to increase flexibility, product quality and to minimize breakouts. The upgrade will also consider possible additional enhancement features in future. Start-up of the modernized caster is expected in mid-2018.
China Steel Corporation (CSC) is the leading flat steel producer in Taiwan with an annual production capacity of around 9.9 million metric t/a. Around two thirds of the production is for the domestic Taiwanese market, the rest is exported. The CSC plant in Kaohsiung includes two BOF shops with a total of seven 2-strand slab casters and three 4-strand bloom casters. The slab casters mainly produce carbon and low alloy steels.
The two-strand continuous slab caster S6 originally started up in 1996 and is equipped with a straight mold. The machine radius is around 9 m and the metallurgical length is around 44.7 m. It produces slabs with a thickness of 250 mm with widths ranging from 750–1,880 mm. Grades cast include ultra-low and low carbon steels, peritectic and high-strength low-alloy (HSLA) steels, micro alloyed and low alloyed steels as well as pipe grades.
Primetals will equip the caster with three new technology packages, namely the DynaWidth hydraulic mold width adjustment to allow accurate slab width change during or between casting, the Mold Expert breakout prevention and mold monitoring system to minimize the possibility of breakouts, and the DynaFlex hydraulic mold oscillation with a new frame type oscillator which gives complete flexibility over oscillation control during casting to maximize as cast product surface quality. Primetals will be responsible for design and supply, and will also provide advisory services during erection and commissioning. New mold parts and a new frame type DynaFlex oscillator will be manufactured in Taiwan by CSC-owned China Steel Machinery Corporation (CSMC). The casters S4 and S5 in the same shop were revamped by Primetals in 2005.
_{(Source: Primetals Technologies, Limited)}