Nucor Corporation has selected SMS group for the supply of a single-strand caster for ultra-wide and thick slabs. Designed for an annual capacity of 1.45 million tons (1.6 million short tons), it will be a core element of the production chain of the Nucor’s new plate mill facility in Brandenburg, Kentucky, U.S.A. The new casting machine will be one of the largest casters worldwide.

”SMS group and Nucor make a good team, and the caster will be essential to the success of our new plate mill facility,” said Johnny Jacobs, Vice President and General Manager of Nucor Brandenburg.

The caster will produce slabs of 8 to 12 inch (200 to 305 millimeter) thickness up to 124 inch (3,150 millimeter) width. Slab lengths vary from 104 to 600 inch (2,642 to 15,240 millimeter).

To meet Nucor’s challenging project objectives, several special technological features will be incorporated into the new vertical bending caster. These include robotic applications on the casting platform and an HD mold with fiber optics and electromagnetic stirring. In addition, a customized roller apron, a quenching unit and a secondary cutting line will also be incorporated. 

Various X-Pact^® technological packages like Process Guidance, Solid Control, Tech Assist with Liquid Core Reduction and Dynamic Soft Reduction^®, integrated in the SMS Electric & Automation system will support the caster performance. An integration test with virtual 3D production and active participation by Nucor personnel will take place in the SMS test field.

About Nucor

Nucor and its affiliates are manufacturers of steel and steel products, with operating facilities in the U.S. and Canada. Products produced include: carbon and alloy steel − in bars, beams, sheet and plate; hollow structural section tubing; electrical conduit; steel piling; steel joists and joist girders; steel deck; fabricated concrete reinforcing steel; cold finished steel; precision castings; steel fasteners; metal building systems; steel grating; and wire and wire mesh. Nucor, through The David J. Joseph Company, also brokers ferrous and nonferrous metals, pig iron and hot briquetted iron / direct reduced iron; supplies ferro-alloys; and processes ferrous and nonferrous scrap. Nucor is North America's largest recycler.

About SMS group

SMS group is a group of companies internationally active in plant construction and mechanical engineering for the steel and nonferrous metals industry. It has some 14,000 employees who generate worldwide sales of more than EUR 2.8 billion. The sole owner of the holding company SMS GmbH is the Familie Weiss Foundation.