Development of healing control technology for reducing breakout in thin slab casters

This paper presents a novel casting technology designed to reduce the number of breakouts in thin slab casters. Since thin slab casting is generally performed at casting speeds greater than 4 mpm, it is extremely sensitive to sticking-type breakout. Although breakout prediction systems (BOPS) are capable of predicting breakouts, these systems are unable to significantly reduce the number of breakouts because they only notify the operator to examine potential symptoms of breakouts. To increase production rates and improve the production technology for hard-casting materials, a new healing technology was established by developing an active curing methodology. By applying the proposed technology to a POSCO thin slab caster, the recovery rate from breakout was markedly increased from 0% to 92%. Furthermore, an additional annual profit of 6.14 million dollars is anticipated due to fewer casting interruptions and the subsequently more efficient production of high-valued steel.