Continuous Caster Mold & Mold Copper Maintenance Services

Primetals Technologies specializes in continuous caster mold repair, mold copper reconditioning, and precision machining. Our dedicated facilities, advanced equipment, and expert personnel support the application and machining of both traditional and advanced high-hardness coatings for new and used mold coppers. By combining extensive casting expertise with ongoing innovation in copper coating technology, we deliver reliable, cost-effective solutions that support record-setting mold life campaigns. These services help steel producers achieve superior product quality, improved operational efficiency, and long-term cost savings — ensuring a competitive edge in today’s demanding market.

We offer both conventional and proprietary mold copper coatings engineered to reduce wear under high-temperature casting conditions. Our plating and coating processes support copper plates for thin- and thick-slab casters, as well as high-speed, bloom, and beam blank casters. Using proven electrolytic plating methods — both in tanks and boxes — we ensure consistent coating quality.

Our coatings are fully customizable in thickness, hardness, and profile to address the operational conditions of each casting application and caster type. With a broad portfolio of coating types, we provide tailored solutions to support all casting applications.

1. Copper: base copper alloy used to build up narrow-face edges to extend the overall copper lifespan. It is also used as a base build-up layer for nickel edge-plated coppers.
2. Nickel Sulfamate: nickel sulfamate is applied through the proven and reliable electrolytic plating process. It is a pure nickel-plating providing a ductile coating used to extend copper lifetime for many caster types and is also used as a base layer for advanced coating options.
3. Hiper Coat: the most widely used high-hardness coating and the hardest nickel-based alloy in the industry, HiperCoat can be applied with consistent or variable hardness. Also applied through the electrolytic process, this nickel-boron alloy can be customized to suit any casting application. When used with variable hardness, a ductile layer is featured in the mold's high-temperature meniscus region, transitioning to a customizable, high-hardness coating in the lower two-thirds for superior wear resistance.
4. Ceramic Hiper Coat: applied through the High Velocity Oxygen Fuel (HVOF) process, this tungsten carbide thermal spray is layered on top of base copper alloy, nickel, or Hiper Coat, providing exceptional hardness, durability, and wear resistance for extreme casting conditions.
5. Chrome Plating: applied in a thin layer over plated hotface surfaces, this coating is commonly applied to billet, bloom, beam blank, and specialized conventional casting applications.
6. XLL Coating: a high-hardness, wear-resistant coating applied using HVOF technology. It features a homogeneous coating structure and coating profiles of any geometry.

Mold Refurbishment Services

• Complete disassembly and inspection of molds that have achieved their useful service life
• New and reconditioned spare parts—mold coppers, hydraulics, electrical, water, and grease systems, wearing parts, and consumables
• Fleet tracking and preventative/predictive maintenance scheduling via the Maintenance and Asset Technology (MAT) platform
• Retrofit of existing molds to the latest technology, including SMART technology and hydraulic width adjustment
• Replacement of all wearing parts and damaged components with new or reconditioned parts
• Reassembly of the mold to precise specifications while performing several in-process inspections to assure accuracy, determine the final mold settings (clamp/unclamp gaps, passline, footrolls, etc.), and perform pressurized grease, water, and hydraulic system tests following established parameters