Austria-based plantmaker Siemens Metals Technologies has announced that in July this year it put a continuous bloom caster into operation at Chinese steel producer Changzhou Zhongtian Iron & Steel (Zenith Steel). The continuous bloom caster has an annual production capacity of around 1.3 million mt of blooms.
Up to now Zenith has only produced billets. The five-strand casting plant built by Siemens is designed to produce round blooms with diameters ranging from 360 to 600 mm. It can cast structural steels, high-carbon, alloyed and low-alloyed steels, as well as pipe steel grades, at a speed of up to 0.8 meters a minute. Blooms with diameters of 360, 400 and 500 mm are further processed into seamless pipes, while those with a diameter of 600 mm are used to produce forging steels.
Zenith Steel produces a wide range of end products, including steel pipes, bearing and spring steels, as well as a range of structural steels.
