Initially solidified shell growth of hypoperitectic carbon steel in continuous casting mold

Abstract

The occurrence of longitudinal surface cracks in hypo-peritectic carbon steel slabs depends largely on the cooling capacity of the mold and the flow velocity of molten steel below the meniscus. The influence of both flow velocity of the molten steel below the meniscus and the heat flux in the copper mold were examined using continuous casting tests and numerical simulation of the molten steel flow. The casting speed was fixed, and the meniscus flow velocity was controlled by adjusting the port size of the submerged entry nozzle. The molten steel flow velocity was predicted by a three-dimensional unsteady-state numerical simulation. Heat flux in the copper mold was calculated based on temperature readings from thermocouples arranged in the direction of both the mold width and mold length. When the difference in flow velocity of molten steel in the mold width direction became large, longitudinal surface cracks occurred in the central region of the slab. In these cases, the heat flux below the meniscus in the mold width direction was not constant. Small holes were drilled along the central region of the mold width. This decreased both the heat flux and tensile strength of the central region of the slab width, and successfully reduced the occurrence of longitudinal surface cracks.