A Thermal Simulation Method for Solidification Process of Steel Slab in Continuous Casting

Abstract

Eighty years after the invention of continuous cast of steels, reproducibility from few mm3 samples in the laboratory to m3 product in plants is still a challenge. We have engineered a thermal simulation method to simulate the continuous casting process. The temperature gradient (GL) and dendritic growth rate (v) of the slab were reproduced by controlling temperature and cooling intensity at hot and chill end, respectively, in our simulation samples. To verify that our samples can simulate the cast slab in continuous casting process, the heat transfer, solidification structure, and macrosegregation of the simulating sample were compared to those of a much larger continuous casting slab. The morphology of solid/liquid interface, solidified shell thickness, and dendritic growth rate were also investigated by in situ quenching the solidifying sample. Shell thickness (δ) determined by our quenching experiment was related to solidification time (τ) by equation: δ = 4.27 × τ0.38. The results indicated that our method closely simulated the solidification process of continuous casting.