Existing vertical continuous casters have outlived their normal service life of 30–35 yrs, and they are physically worn out
and technically obsolete. This limits the possibilities for using them to cast metal that goes into products intended for
critical applications (thick plates, ship plate, skelp for gas and oil pipelines, etc.). However, there are several technical
and technogical innovations that could be used to rebuild these units. One example is the reconstruction of the vertical caster
used by Severstal’ to cast slabs in its electric steelmaking shop. Severstal’ itself, the Korad Corporation, and the company
Ormeto-YuUMZ were the main organizations involved in the design, rebuilding, and startup of the modernized caster.
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Translated from Metallurg, No. 5, p. 60–62, May, 2006.