Numerical simulation of multi-mini-pot pouring process of a 13-ton steel ingot

Abstract

Heavy ingots up to several hundred tons for power plant forgings exhibit large scale grain size and morphology differences, which are harmful to the design of forging parameters, and severe macrosegregation, which could not be eliminated during the subsequent forging and heat treatment processing. To cast these ingots with more homogeneity, a multi-mini-pot (MMP) poring technique is proposed, in which liquid metal is poured by multi-mini-pot (MMP) with intermission between each pot and solidification occurs step by step. In this paper, we are focus on the prediction of macrosegregation in MMP pouring process. A three-phase model is employed to study the MMP pouring process for a 13-ton heavy ingot. The main features of this three-phases model in such a heavy ingot can be quantitatively modelled: growth of columnar dendrite trunks; nucleation, growth and sedimentation of equiaxed crystals; thermosolutal convection of the melt; solute transport by both convection and crystal sedimentation; and the columnar-to-equiaxed transition (CET). The results shown that the MMP pouring technique tend to decrease the macrosegregation significantly by compared with the conventional method.