Development of High Quality Heavy Plates on Steelmaking Process at Kimitsu Works

Nippon Steel Corporation Kimitsu Works produces heavy plate steel for line-pipes in sour gas service and for offshore structure. As these are high-performance steels, Nippon Steel Corporation has developed advanced manufacturing technology, such as desulfurization, non-metallic-inclusion control, and inner defect free technology for slab. At Kimitsu Works, the No.6 continuous slab caster was put into operation in 2006. By optimizing the conditions of the soft reduction, center segregation and porosity has been drastically reduced and high productivity has been achieved. Along with desulfurization technology and oxide metallurgy Nippon Steel Corporation developed, we have established mass production technology of high quality heavy plate.