A mold simulator for the continuous casting of steel: Part I. The development of a simulator
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INTRODUCTION
ONE of the difficulties in studying the effects of operational parameters on the initial solidification behavior of steel in a continuous casting mold is the interdependence among different variables. It is not always feasible to conduct controlled experiments on an industrial continuous caster that will allow the effects of different operational parameters on the initial solidification of steel to be studied due to practical constraints. Therefore, most of the information developed on the formation of defects during the continuous casting of steels is collected under uncontrolled conditions. In the past, this constraint has led to the development of different types of mold simulators to study various aspects of continuous casting. Mold simulators can generally be divided into four types— dip tests, static molds, dip simulators, and small-scale casters. The major issue in designing mold simulators is to ensure that the apparatus and the experiment are a true simulation of reality. This has led to the development of experimentspecific simulators that simulate the conditions in a casting mold to different degrees. For example, to study the effects of mold fluxes on the heat transfer between steel and a copper mold, Machingawuta et al.[1] developed a dip-type simulator specifically for that purpose. Another dip-type simulator was used by Bouchard et al.[2] to investigate the effects of mold surface conditions on the heat-transfer rate and attendant surface quality of the cast product. These dip simulators involved chilled plates that were immersed into a molten metal bath without any of the sophistication of continuous caster systems, such as oscillation and shell extraction. The dip simulators are very useful for determining fundamental A. BADRI is with Shell Oil, Malaysia. T.T. NATARAJAN, Senior Research Engineer, C.C. SNYDER, Senior Technician, and K.D. POWERS, Project Analyst, are with the U.S. Steel Research and Technology Center, Monroeville, PA 15140. F.J. MANNION, General Manager, is with U.S. Steel, Slovakia. A.W. CRAMB is with the Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213. Contact e-mail: [email protected] Manuscript submitted February 4, 2004. METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS B
interactions in the continuous casting process, but are not true simulators since they do not mimic the dynamic nature of continuous casting. Related to the dip test simulators are the bottom-pouring molds, which are in essence similar to dip-type mold simulators, with the exception that the bottom-pouring simulators have the metal contained in the mold, instead of having the mold dipped into the metal. This configuration has the advantage that it is easier to observe the surface of the casting during solidification. Tomono et al.[3] used a bottom-filling mold to investigate the behavior of the liquid steel meniscus during casting and projected the results to explain the formation of oscillation marks. Wray[4] developed a simulator to determine the mechan
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