Phenomena that occur at the meniscus in the CC mould have a major effect on product quality. The mechanism of slag rim behaviour and flux infiltration are reported based on the results of industrial characterization and of fluid dynamics modelling of the effect of oscillation and shell velocity.
Lubrication stability is not established as the slag film happens to be broken down and renewed several times during casting. A mechanism of slag infiltration is put forward and the main factors for oscillation marks formation are pointed out.

To improve quality of the automotive steel grades, Posco has revamped the caster of the Gwangyang Works in 2003. The caster has been basically changed from curved mold to vertical bending. The caster also features new technologies such as stopper rod flow control, multi mode EMS, hydraulic mold oscillator, optimized segment roll pitch, dynamic soft reduction and secondary cooling, hot slab grinding, Posco monitoring package.

Energy savings are among the most important goals of steel users. But generally, the increase of Tensile Strength for a given metallurgy is obtained to the detriment of ductility. Arcelor develops new ultra high strength steel with TWinning Induced Plasticity (TWIP) effect for weight reduction and impact resistance. This product, based on manganese (Mn) alloying metallurgy, has a tensile stress higher than 1000 MPa for a total elongation superior to 50%. Properties of these new steel grades are reported, in terms of tensile and forming behaviour, weldability and fatigue.
Crash resistance is investigated by using a dynamic axial compression test and a dynamic three point bending test on structural components with closed and open cross sections. Optimised designs are presented for safety parts in FeMn TWIP 1000 and assessed against conventional UHS steel. For each steel grade, the weight saving potential is estimated with respect to parts manufactured in high drawing ability steel.


Revised European standards are to be introduced in the near future that will allow the use of high strength quench and tempered steel plates for pressure vessel applications. Such steels have been successfully used for offshore applications.
Following the ECOPRESS project that was supported by the European Commission, this paper describes the detailed properties of the state of the art European quenched and tempered plates that are produced for pressure vessel applications by Dillinger Hütte GTS.

To assess the impact of particulate emissions from Port Talbot Works on local air quality, a detailed mathematical analysis of ambient particulate data collected in the borough over several years has been completed, with a special focus on the period following the stoppage of n° 5 Blast Furnace in 2001. This work was done following the declaration of an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) adjacent to Port Talbot Works, in order to tackle the high incidence of exceedances of the 24 h PM10 objective in this area.

This paper presents a predictive maintenance technique being used at CST, the diagnosis of AC rotating electrical machines. These diagnosis techniques are based on variables monitoring that indicate the insulation contamination and degradation levels, making possible to assess the machine remaining lifetime, optimizing the maintenance planning and reducing the impacts over production and company assets. A case study of overhaul maintenance, based on the result of a diagnosis recommending the motor stator re-wedging, confirm the diagnosis techniques efficiency.