Nucor Shatters Strip-Casting Record with the Castrip Process

The facility, a part of Nucor Corp.’s Crawfordsville, Ind., steel plant, cast 24 ladles of steel, continuously, over a 38-hour period in late December. Total throughput for the record was 2,467 tons cast, while producing 2,387 tons of prime coils.

The previous record of nine ladles and 12 hours of casting had stood until early December when it was eclipsed with a 14-heat sequence, followed a week later by an 18-heat sequence. Within 10 days, both achievements were shattered by this world-record performance, according to Nucor.

"This record highlights not only a step change in productivity but also the remarkable strides made in product quality over the past 12 months," says Dan DiMicco, Nucor's chairman and CEO. "We are very proud of the dedication and focus of the Crawfordsville team that continues to push the envelope of strip casting. Nucor looks forward to the operation of the second Castrip facility under construction in Blytheville, Ark., which is scheduled for start-up in late 2008,” DiMicco says.

In addition to the new sequence length record, the Crawfordsville plant will enjoy a new high-water mark in monthly production and shipments for December to complement an annual production record in 2007.

Based in Charlotte, N.C., Castrip LLC (http://www.castrip.com) is a joint venture of Nucor Corp., BlueScope Steel Ltd. of Australia and IHI Corp. of Japan. The company was formed to market and license intellectual property related to the twin-roll casting of carbon and stainless steels developed jointly by its three owners. Castrip is a registered trademark of Castrip LLC.