Annual report 2009 - Siempelkamp

Siempelkamp Casting technology
Foundry
In the area of general machine engineering Siempelkamp castings are used as gearbox housings, machine beds or roll housings. For
rolling mills, Siempelkamp Foundry casts both the roll housing and frame as well as the smaller chocks and inserts from cast iron with
nodular graphite. The mill housings have a raw cast weight of up to 160,000 kg (176 US tons). The smaller chocks and inserts can
weigh up to around 15,000 kg (16.5 US tons).
Another market for our products is in press construction. Especially in regard to our cooperation with the machinery and plants
business unit, we have had a high demand for our products for the construction of metal forming presses, tile presses and plastic
injection molding machines. On May 19, 2009 we cast the world’s heaviest casting made of cast iron with nodular graphite, an upper
beam for a straightening press with a raw cast weight of 252 t (278 US tons).
For the nuclear technology business unit we produce cooling elements for the Core Catcher, a safety structure in nuclear power plants
(see page 87).
Record casting in May 2009: world’s heaviest casting made
of nodular graphite cast iron
In 2008 Dillinger Hüttenwerke AG commissioned Siempelkamp
with a new straightening press for heavy plates. For the upper
bolster of the press the company poured within two minutes 270 t
(297 US tons) of molten iron into a mold with a length of approx.
10 m (33 ft) and a width of 3.2 m (10.5 ft). With this casting the
Krefeld company beat its own world record from 1998. The
project was a technological and logistical challenge. The entire
amount of molten iron had to be available in fi ve pouring ladles
at the same time with exactly identical properties and the same
temperature of 1,350 °C (2,462 °F). After the casting process, the
iron required approx. four weeks to cool down to a temperature
of approx. 300 °C (572 °F). Not until then were the Siempelkamp
specialists able to remove the bolster from the mold and fi nd out,
after fettling and inspection, whether the casting was successful!
Removing a casting from the casting pit
Core Catcher cooling elements for a nuclear power plant
in China
In cooperation with Siempelkamp’s nuclear technology business
unit, we offer the casting of Core Catcher cooling elements. In
2009 SNT ordered from the foundry further elements for a Core
Catcher cooling structure at the nuclear power plant Taishan, unit
I and II. This is the third order for the manufacture of cast parts
for the safety system Core Catcher of the EPRTM reactor that the
foundry has carried out.
Molding of the Core Catcher fl oor elements
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