Abstract
Direct thin strip casting is an economically end energetically smart process for the production of steel strip. In a single process step, liquid steel can be cast and directly rolled to hot strip in thicknesses ranging from one to four millimeters. With the use of specifically profiled casting rolls it is possible to produce strip with optimized cross-sections, allowing this process to compete with tailor welded and tailor rolled blanks for the production of a class of products already widely applied in industry. Numerical and experimental studies proved the feasibility of this concept and additional simulations were used to optimize the profile to be used for the experiments. A thickness variation of one millimeter from the edge to the center could be successfully achieved. However, the dimensional precision and the roughness distribution along the cross section of the produced strip were not satisfactory. Additional profiles were applied for the experimental analysis leading to better roughness distribution and geometrical accuracy. In order to further improve the uniformity of properties along the profiled section it is necessary to increase the homogeneity of the microstructure. The coating and surface preparation of the casting rolls play a very important role in the strip casting process as they strongly affect the solidification behavior. This observation lead to the idea of selectively coating the casting rolls, applying a less conductive layer on the areas where the casted profile is thinner. Thus, a more homogeneous solidification front can be obtained. The effect of a locally modified casting roll coating on the solidification is numerically investigated and the results applied for the selection of the coating parameters to be used for the experiments.
Published Version
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