Precipitation and growth of titanium nitride during solidification of clean steel

With the help of solidification kinetics, precipitation and growth of TiNhave been studied theoretically and the effect of cooling rate on the growth of TiN has beendiscussed. Through induction electric furnace experiment and electroslag remelting experiment withdifferent cooling rates, the distribution and particle size of TiN were investigated. It is provedthat the higher cooling rate is, the smaller the final size of TiN is and the more TiN particles canbe found in the steel. That TiN can restrain the growth of columnar crystal and enhance theproportion of equiaxed crystals to refine solidification structure as the heterogeneous nucleationsites of δ-ferrite is confirmed preliminarily. A new method to reduce macrosegregation incontinuous cast steel is provided.

Heat Transfer and Central Segregation of Continuously Cast High Carbon Steel Billet

A numerical model of heat transfer was developed to investigate the heat transfer of continuously cast billet with the aid of surface temperature tests by ThermaCAMTM researcher and nail shooting experiments. The effects of secondary cooling practice and casting speed on the solidification process and central segregation of carbon were investigated as well with the actual central segregation tests. The results show that the surface center and billet center temperatures exhibit a different pattern during solidification, and the solidified shell thickness is presented as an ＂S＂ type. With the increase of secondary cooling intensity and the decrease of casting speed, the end points of the solidus line and the liquidus line move forward, and the central segregation level of carbon decreases. The optimal casting condition is suggested for continuously cast high carbon billet with F-EMS （final electromagnetic stirring）.

Simulation of Mould Level Velocities During Continuous Casting of Round Bloom Strands With Mould-Electromagnetic Stirring

In modern continuous casting of round steel blooms rotating electromagnetic fields are commonly employed to improve the product quality.Mould-electromagnetic stirrers(M-EMS)are used to excite a rotary motion along the solidification front in the liquid core.These velocities lead to a better strand surface quality as well as enhancing the transition from columnar to equiaxed solidification.Although the usage of electromagnetic stirrers is widespread,not all effects are fully known or understood.Due to harsh conditions at the plant,measurements are scarce and limited.Water model experiments-an established alternative for investigating continuous casting of steel-cannot be used due to the low electrical conductivity of water.Experiments with liquid metals like mercury,Galinstan or Wood’s metal are either expensive or difficult to perform.Thus numeric simulations are essential to gain a better understanding of the processes involved in continuous casting with electromagnetic stirring.However numeric simulations should always be validated with experiments and/or measurements.While the velocity field inside the liquid core of the bloom cannot be measured at the caster,the velocity at the mould level can be measured by dipping a nail into it.The skull forming at the tip of the nail is directly linked to the occurring surface velocity.These measurements can then be compared with numeric simulations of the nail dipping process.The numeric model is restricted to the upper part of the strand.The lower part of the strand is also taken into account through adjusted boundary conditions(velocity field etc.taken from a simulation of the whole strand).In this work the influence of the stirring field strength on the simulation results will be investigated.In the future these nail dipping simulations will be validated with plant measurements.This can then to a certain extentvalidate the simulation of the strand with M-EMS too,as it serves as the basis for the nail dipping model.