Thin slab casting
The thin slab casting is a way of hot-rolled strip with significantly reduced demand for energy and therefore produce at reasonable costs. This goal is achieved by continuously casting a thin slab in the thickness range from 40 to 100 mm, which is only heated in an equalizing furnace before hot rolling .
CSP process
The most frequently installed variant is the CSP process ( Compact Strip Production ) from SMS Siemag . The liquid steel is cast in a continuous casting machine into a thin slab about 70 mm thick. This is cut in pendulum shears and brought to rolling temperature in a roller hearth furnace. After descaling , the thin slab is rolled in the 6- to 7-stand hot strip mill .
ISP procedure
In the ISP process (Inline Strip Production), the thin slab with a thickness of 70 mm is reduced to 55 mm with a liquid core, rolled to an intermediate thickness of 10 to 12.5 mm in a pre-rolling mill at the exit of the continuous casting plant, then continuously heated and inductively heated then wrapped in a cremona oven . The strip is then rolled in a 5-stand hot strip mill.
Advantages and disadvantages
With thin slab casting, hot strip can be produced at low cost and with low capital investment . Disadvantages are the low flexibility, the difficult control of the coupled process stages of continuous casting and hot rolling, and the material quality, which has not yet reached that of conventional rolling mills in all respects.