Continuous Casting Machine Maintenance Guide

The highest-priority tasks are mold copper plate thickness measurement per campaign, thermocouple array completeness verification before each campaign, and segment roller bearing condition monitoring per segment change. These three tasks address the components most directly linked to breakout risk. Mold copper wear below the replacement threshold directly reduces heat extraction and thins the solidifying shell. Incomplete thermocouple arrays remove the primary sticker detection capability. Degraded segment roller bearings cause misalignment that creates uneven shell thickness. Sign up for OxMaint to configure these as structured inspection routes.

Tundish refractory life is most reliably tracked by heat count against a heat limit threshold that accounts for steel grade and temperature profile. OxMaint connects to Level 2 production counters to update heat count automatically each sequence. When the count approaches the grade-adjusted limit, an inspection work order is generated for refractory assessment before the next campaign. Visual inspection findings are logged against the tundish ID, and replacement work orders are raised if erosion exceeds acceptable limits. This prevents the uncontrolled refractory wear that generates inclusions and flow disruption. Book a demo to see heat-count-based PM triggers configured.

Each segment is registered as an individual asset in OxMaint with its own roll gap measurement history, bearing condition log, and service record. Gauge measurements taken at each segment change are logged against the segment ID, and deviation from nominal per position is tracked on a trend chart accessible to the maintenance engineer. When any roll gap exceeds the acceptable tolerance — typically linked to internal crack risk thresholds for the grades being cast — a corrective work order is generated for the next scheduled segment exchange. The complete measurement history is retained for quality audit and process improvement analysis.

The most effective approach is a per-campaign nozzle flow test combined with a visual blockage inspection. Nozzle blockage builds gradually from scale particle accumulation and water chemistry precipitation. A nozzle operating at 85–90% of nominal flow creates no visible alarm but produces a cooling uniformity gap that generates internal quality issues in the slab. OxMaint inspection routes configure per-nozzle pass/fail capture with zone-level blocked nozzle percentage tracking. When blockage exceeds the configurable threshold per cooling zone, a cleaning work order is generated automatically for the next planned outage window. Start free to configure spray nozzle inspection routes.