Nucor’s Vulcraft division received the first order for its strip casting of steel sheet products.
"We are very pleased with the progress that has been made since the first cast at Nucor Crawfordsville in early May," said Richard Wechsler, president of Castrip LLC. "The fact that Nucor has been able to sell prime, galvanized UCS (Ultra-thin Cast Strip) within two months of start-up is a tremendous statement about the technology and the team of people that has put it together."
"We can't speak highly enough about the teamwork we've witnessed during construction, commissioning and early operations, and we've started active discussions with steelmakers worldwide about licensing the Castrip technology to them," Wechsler said.
"Over the coming weeks, the team of people from Nucor, BHP Steel, IHI and Siemens will be focused on improving product quality and moving to regular sequence casting. The first two-ladle sequence was completed last week, and Nucor's goal is to get to three-ladle sequences. They are routinely draining complete ladles, which represents about 100 minutes of uninterrupted casting. Within a few months, they will also get an opportunity to test the productivity of the plant around the clock. Nucor has been operating with two crews during the commissioning phase, and they are hiring two additional crews which will allow 24-7 operations."
Nucor Steel broke ground on the new Castrip facility in late February 2001, with construction of the plant completed in April this year. Nucor is the first licensee of the Castrip process.
Castrip LLC is a joint venture of Nucor Corporation, BHP Steel Ltd. of Australia and Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries (IHI) of Japan. The partnership was formed to market and license the intellectual property developed jointly by its three owners, related to the twin-roll casting of carbon and stainless steels.