Abstract
Water flux distribution largely influences the heat transfer and solidification of continuously-cast steel billets. In this paper, a secondary cooling strategy of transverse non-uniform water flux (i.e., higher flux density on billet center), was established and compared with the uniform cooling strategy using mathematical modeling. Specifically, a heat transfer model and a cellular automaton finite element coupling model were established to simulate the continuous casting of C80D steel billet. The water flux was measured using different nozzle configurations to assist the modeling. The mathematical results were validated by comparing the surface temperature and the solidification structure. It is shown that the non-uniform cooling strategy enables the increase of corner temperature and reduction in surface temperature difference, while a higher reheating rate is found on the surface center of the billet. Moreover, the non-uniform cooling strategy can enhance the cooling effect and refine the solidification structure. Accordingly, the liquid pool length is shortened, and the equiaxed crystal density is increased along with the decreased equiaxed crystal ratio. The uniform cooling strategy contributes to reducing internal cracks of billet, and the non-uniform one is beneficial for surface quality and central segregation. For C80D steel, the non-uniform cooling strategy outperforms the uniform one.
Highlights
Continuous casting is the main method of steel production at present, and its cooling and solidification process largely influences the quality of blanks
Ma et al [18] optimized secondary cooling water distribution to improve billet quality. Their works mainly focus on the total water flux and its distribution along the casting direction, and is not related to the uniformity of transverse water flux distribution, which depends on the nozzle type, installation parameter, and inevitable aging and clogging
The transverse water flux distributions of square billet under different nozzle collocations have drawn little attention, and the heat transfer behavior and solidification structure of the billet are still unclear under different transverse water flux distributions
Summary
Continuous casting is the main method of steel production at present, and its cooling and solidification process largely influences the quality of blanks. Wang et al [14] optimized the water flux distribution along slab width direction through the arrangement of spraying nozzles, and the centerline macro-segregation and transverse cracking were improved significantly. Ma et al [18] optimized secondary cooling water distribution to improve billet quality Their works mainly focus on the total water flux and its distribution along the casting direction, and is not related to the uniformity of transverse water flux distribution, which depends on the nozzle type, installation parameter, and inevitable aging and clogging. The transverse water flux distributions of square billet under different nozzle collocations have drawn little attention, and the heat transfer behavior and solidification structure of the billet are still unclear under different transverse water flux distributions. The main differences between the two cooling strategies were compared on the solidification behavior of the billet, and the advantages of each cooling strategy were discussed
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