Effect of vertical alignment of ladle shroud on transient steel quality output from multistrand tundish

Abstract

Slight misalignments of the ladle shroud in a multistrand continuous casting tundish can lead to significant differences in the amounts of slag entrained into individual moulds during transient operations. In this full scale water modelling work, the effects of ladle shroud alignment on steel quality was measured in terms of ‘slag’ entrainment into the individual moulds. The ladle shroud was purposefully biased by about 4–5° off vertical, and the numbers of ‘slag particles’ entering individual strands of the four‐strand billet caster were measured during a ladle change and compared with the no bias condition. Given the great sensitivity of steel quality to this slight misalignment during a ladle change, possible remedial actions are discussed for equivalent steel plant operations.