SMS Siemag to modernize Nucor Steel CSP plant

Nucor Steel has awarded SMS Siemag a contract for the modernization of its compact strip production (CSP®) plant in Berkeley, S.C. The revamp is designed to increase the finished-strip width from 66.14 to 74.02 in. and to allow the production of thinner strip gauges. The modernization will be completed in 2014.

SMS Siemag will enlarge the width of the first casting strand and of the rolling mill. In the area of the caster, this will include the installation of new molds, a new four-cylinder oscillator, wider segments, and a new bending and straightening unit. The strand guide system will be equipped with liquid core reduction (LCR 3) to allow the thin-slab thickness to be infinitely adjustable between 1.89 and 2.48 in.

For producing strip with smaller final gauge, inductive heaters will be installed between the CSP furnace and the entry into the rolling mill. With the induction heaters, the company can increase the thin-slab temperature as required, achieving larger reductions in the mill stands. A seventh finishing stand also will be installed. The entire rolling mill will receive a new level-2 automation system.