Five strand billet caster, Saarstahl AG, Germany

The new five-strand continuous caster is designed for versatile billet production across a wide range of steel grades. The plant is designed to produce 180 mm sq. billets with an annual capacity of 850,000 tons to meet shifting market and customer demands. SMS and Saarstahl extend their 20-year partnership with the new five strand billet continuous caster, reinforcing Saarstahl’s presence in the German steel market.

The new five‑strand bow-type continuous casting machine is fitted with the latest technologies such as CONVEX molds, hydraulic mold oscillators, mold and strand electromagnetic stirrers, air-mist nozzles in the secondary cooling and mechanical soft reduction (MSR) modules. This new casting machine is the world’s first caster designed with mechanical soft reduction (MSR) technology for a billet cross section of 180 millimeters square. The overall  product range covers a broad spectrum of steel grades, including bearing, spring, cold‑heading and free‑cutting steels. 

Saarstahl AG was the first company globally to introduce mechanical soft reduction in billet casting. The new caster further reinforces Saarstahl’s leading position in this technology and enhances its ability to meet increasingly volatile market demands. 

Beyond its core technological features, the caster incorporates a sophisticated discharge system and a turnover cooling bed with forced cooling, enabling billets to be cooled down to 100 °C.