ArcelorMittal Brasil has placed an order with Concast AG (Switzerland), a company of the SMS Group, for the supply of a secondary metallurgy center and a continuous caster for the production of SBQ billets for the manufacture of wire for tires. The facilities to be supplied – a ladle furnace and continuous caster – will be incorporated into the existing iron and steel works in Monlevade, Brazil. This will increase the present capacity to 2.4 million tons of liquid steel annually. Commissioning is scheduled for June 2010.
The ladle furnace has a capacity of 130 tons and a 24 MVA transformer. The continuous caster produces square billets in the section sizes 130 x 130 mm (5.1 x 5.1 inches) and 155 x 155 mm (6.1 x 6.1 inches). A wire-rod mill connected to the continuous caster has been ordered from SMS Meer.