State of the Art, Quality, Guarantee

are what the experts see in the new steel manufacturing facility

On March 2, 2008 the steel making facility of LLC Electrosteel located in Kurakhovo (Mar’inskiy Rayon, Donetsk Region) underwent hot testing. As a result of a successful commissioning performed by the specialists of LLC Electrosteel and STB (Italy), the first commercial billets as cast squares with 135×135 size were produced.

The intention of manufacturing quality products is suggested by the fact that the first heat cast at the CCM was such a complicated steel grade as 65G. As of today, the company has mastered production of the following steel grades: 70G, 65G, 45, 35G, St3SP and St5SP. Analyzing steel grades and steel microstructure demonstrated high quality of the steel that meets every requirement of GOSTs. More than 50 per cent of the commercial billet production is intended to be exported.

The new facility planned capacity exceeds 300 thousand tons of continuous cast billets per year. The CCM casts square billets with size from 120×120 mm to 135×135 mm.

The design work of the facility construction was undertaken by the research institute Giprostal (City of Kharkov). The master metallurgical equipment was supplied by STB which is a well-known Italian company.

The facility equipment includes a 50-ton electric arc steel-making furnace with eccentric bottom tapping, a ladle furnace equipped with emergency argon lance and a billet three-strand CCM of radial type with a billet bending radius being six meters and an average speed of casting being 3.5 m/min.

The CCM tundish is equipped with MNC system of Interstop intended for a fast replacement of metering nozzles resulting in prompt restart of lost strands, increase in sequences and effective control of the casting speed.

For the first time in the history of mini steel mills construction, the steel making facility of LLC Electrosteel was placed in close proximity to a thermal power plant. This location is very advantageous because it eliminates problems of electrical power interruptions and electrical power transportation. The thermal power plant and Electrosteel share the water supply system and transportation flows. The steel making facility is provided with heat carriers in full measure.

In the future, should it be necessary to build a unit for vacuum degassing of steel, the thermal power plant will be capable of supplying steam to the steel making facility for steam jet pumps.