The segments are critical core components in Continuous Casting Machine (CCM), specially designed and installed to steadily solidify high-temperature molten steel into qualified solid steel slabs in the metallurgical continuous casting process. After completing the primary crystallization process inside the water-cooled crystallizer, the newly formed steel slab still retains a liquid core inside and features an unstable semi-solid outer shell. In this fragile state, the slab cannot be directly cooled or transported, which makes the segment system an indispensable intermediate processing unit in the entire continuous casting production line.
Once exiting the crystallizer, the incompletely solidified slab immediately enters the precision-aligned segments. Each segment is equipped with a set of high-precision continuous casting rollers and auxiliary cooling devices. These orderly arranged rollers provide uniform and stable mechanical support and accurate motion guidance for the moving slab. They effectively prevent the deformation, bulging or cracking of the thin steel shell caused by internal molten steel pressure during operation. Meanwhile, the matching secondary cooling system in the segments continuously sprays cooling water on the slab surface, realizing gradual and uniform heat dissipation.
This scientific collaborative working mode ensures the high-temperature slab achieves smooth, gradual and full solidification from the outer shell to the inner liquid core. It effectively avoids internal defects such as porosity and segregation that easily occur during rapid cooling. With reliable structural stability and precise control performance, CCM segments guarantee the overall quality, flatness and dimensional accuracy of finished steel slabs. They also maintain the continuity and stability of high-speed continuous casting production, greatly reducing production failures and product waste, and serving as a key guarantee for efficient and high-quality metallurgical steel production.
