Once the steel has been prepared, it is tapped into a ladle. The most common method of producing semi-finished forms is continuous casting. In this process, the steel is poured from the ladle into a tundish. The tundish acts as a reservoir for the molten steel, ensuring that a continuous and even flow of metal enters the mold. The tundish also serves to enhance the separation of inclusions from the molten metal.

As it leaves the tundish, the steel is formed and initial cooling is performed in the mold. In this step, it is imperative that the surface of the steel be cooled quickly and evenly, to sustain the mold shape.

As the shaped steel emerges from the mold, it is subjected to direct contact cooling water sprays to further solidify the steel. This cooling water is typically provided by a cooling tower system. As the water comes in contact with the hot steel, it picks up scale, iron oxide and oil. The cooling tower, as always, is a source of airborne particles, sand, silt, algae and microbiological growth. Together, these particles can clog the spray nozzles or erode their outlets. The result would be an uneven flow of water, which can degrade product quality.

ORIVAL filters are an excellent solution for protecting the spray nozzles and mold jackets. For the spray nozzle system, the ideal solution is to filter the scale and iron oxide prior to the tower, and filtering again just prior to the spray nozzles to remove the suspended solids. The jacket cooling water system should also be filtered just prior to entering the mold jacket.