Influence of electropulsing treatment on the solidification and heat transfer behavior of mold flux

Abstract

An Electropulsing-assisted Mold Flux Heat Transfer Simulator technique (EPMFHTS) has been developed in this article, through which the pulsed electric current was applied to the molten mold flux pool during the initial solidification process in the continuous casing mold. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of pulsed electric current on the mold flux crystallization and heat transfer behavior in the casting mold. The results suggested that the general variation trend of the responding temperature and heat flux were nearly same, which were divided into four stages, namely, rapidly rising, sharp declining, gradually declining and relatively stable. The temperatures and heat fluxes showed a faster reduction rate in the declining stage and their steady state values are lower under the Electric Pulse treatment (EPT) condition due to the increase of the thermal resistance resulted from the enhancement of the crystallization of the mold flux. The interface thermal resistance at the mold/slag film interface and the total thermal resistance of the slag film increased due to the improved crystallization through the accelerated particles movement resulted from EPT. The SEM image showed a larger crystalline fraction, thicker crystalline layer and smaller grain size under EPT, indicating that the EPT did promote the molten mold flux crystallization and refine crystals size in the continuous casting mold.