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The AFM® Solution

A New Quality for Steel Production

Thin-slab casting has become a firmly established mode of production for flat steel manufacturing. KME Engineering now offers steel works a longer life time and optimized productivity of their casting machines by introducing the AFM® mould (Advanced Funnel Mould) specially developed for near net-shape thin-slab casting.

Today, more than 45 million tons of flat steel per year are produced by use of the thin-slab casting process. This means that every process optimization can provide decisive economical benefits. KME Engineering, specialized in the development of copper moulds for continuous casting, found a way to solve this task at the core by optimizing the casting mould that constitutes the heart of every casting machine.
 
The new AFM® mould offers convincing advantages. Special copper alloys developed and optimized by KME for the continuous casting process provide for outstanding mechanical and thermal properties in a broad temperature range. The vertical range of KME manufacture offering any step from the exact casting of optimized copper alloys to the completely processed mould plate and finally all after sales services out of one hand is another distinct benefit for customers.
 
The special mould plate design and the novel water „gap-type“ cooling design make for a homogeneity of the mould temperature profile that was so far unreached – a crucial fact for lower material stress and higher product quality. Furthermore, the AFM® mounting technology for the connection between mould plate and adapter plate patented for KME allows for stress-free and therefore material-protecting use in the casting machine.
 
Steel works all over the world are already profiting by using AFM® moulds. In many cases they were able to achieve improved mould lifetimes along with prolonged maintenance intervals. KME Engineering can modify the AFM® mould on demand to meet the special process and material parameters of the individual steel producer.

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KME - Engineering Copper Solutions
info-mouldplates@kme.com